Okay, so wow. We got ourselves a whole new Bojack with today’s episode. Escape from LA is the biggest departure from the usual show format since the thematically challenging episode Hank After Dark. Last episode, Bojack had abandoned his movie, his friends and his life in LA and drove out to New Mexico to meet up with his old flame, Charlotte. On today’s episode, we get a second hand account of what Bojack has left behind, and a first hand account of what may be his new life.
Except that it turns out Charlotte has a family (Kyle and the Kids!) and a whole life set up. Despite this, Bojack decides to stick around. What follows is perhaps the only episode of the series to focus on only one story line for the entirety of the episode. And let me tell you folks, it’s a doozy.
Here we go.
1. Kyle and the Kids!
In a total headscratcher, when Bojack visits Charlotte and is introduced to her family, a title sequence for a sitcom (I assume) called Kyle and the Kids starts playing which is mostly just bouncing around from picture to picture of the family. I couldn’t tell if it was a weird, surreal commentary on Bojack and his sitcom past, or the writers trying to fill time. Either way, totally bizarre
2. Bojack has just the worst luck
He decides to abandon everything and go to New Mexico to make the simple life work. And it turns out the girl he was going to be with has a family. It really seems like this guy can’t catch a break. I mean, he’s a kind of a terrible person, but you can’t deny his luck is just out of control bad.
3. Boner jokes
Charlotte has a (human) son who is constantly getting boners. “Why are you getting a boner at breakfast with your parents, your sister, and an old man? What about that turns you on?” “I don’t have any control over it!” I mean, if you had to sum up what being a teenage boy is like, you could do a lot worse than this example. It’s pretty awful.
4. Two months later!?
TWO MONTHS!? Bojack has been in New Mexico for two months now and all we know from back home is that the Secretariat film is going ahead, with computers simulating a Bojack performance. Has Bojack really just left everything behind? Does anybody besides Princess Carolyn know where he is? Bojack has done some pretty irresponsible things in the past, but this kind of takes the cake. That along with buying a giant boat so as to have an excuse for why he was in New Mexico in the first place. I have a feeling this is going to end poorly.
5. Pete Repeat is something else is something else
Pete Repeat is a friend of Charlotte’s daughter. Bojack is bringing her to prom to show some guy she likes that she doesn’t need him or something. Pete Repeat is a friend of hers they’re bringing along. He goes by Pete Repeat because he supposedly repeats everything. Except he doesn’t. Ever. It’s a weird joke, I’m not really sure what it’s doing here. Another space filler? Either way, maybe kill it.
6. Bojack is not a good person
After Pete’s date drinks too much, they bring her to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. But Bojack convinces Pete that he and Charlotte’s daughter have to peace out, through some really flimsy rational, in effect leaving two minors at a hospital where one of them may possibly die. That is not super responsible behavior. And just when I thought he was turning into a character we could trust to do the right thing. Nope.
7. Bourgeoise girl is annoying
That girl is really annoying, though. Her go to word is ‘bourgeoise’ to describe basically everything. Woof.
8. This:
This is turning into straight up prestige television.
9. Okay, Bojack is really not a good person
After taking Charlotte’s daughter home after the failed prom, she tries and seduces him. He rejects her saying she doesn’t know what she wants. But after Charlotte rejects him in a moment of his own weakness, she catches him and her daughter about to make it on the boat. So while technically the law says it’s not statutory rape, it’s might be the worst thing Bojack has attempted in the series so far. Yeesh. I don’t know how many more levels of unlikable this character can get.
10. Diane!?
Bojack slinks away back to his home in LA after his awful, awful mistake and who does he find is still living in his house? Diane. I assumed she went back to Mr. Peanutbutter! Apparently, she is in just as much of a funk as Bojack. God, all of our main characters are severely damaged and depressed. Hopefully, there will be some kind of resolution in the finale, because this penultimate episode left me really down in the dumps.
Check out previous 10 Thought installments of Bojack Horseman below!
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Yes, And
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – The Shot
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Let’s Find Out!
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Hank After Dark
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Higher Love
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Chickens
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – After the Party
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Still Broken
10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Brand New Couch & Yesterdayland
