Finally done with the season. Stray takes:
Todd untethered from Bojack is the funniest he has ever been in the entire series. He's really the tonic the show
needs to not be overbearing with the frequent personal tragedies of the rest of the cast.
I fully expected the season to end with Beatrice dying. What I did not expect was for the sympathy for her upbringing to thematically tie together the season about the many ways people have at their disposal to hurt and permanently scar each other, from her disintegrating family to the crushing disappointment of what happens when she tries to do better than a broken home only to land in one of her own. Her desperate plea to Beatrice just ended me.
I'm not into Princess Carolyn's arc this season. I saw the markers for her relationship getting rocky, but the
payoff and her turning into a mini-Bojack for a while was a bit too straightforward. I expected more swerves, particularly from Judah or Rabbitowitz or Stilton. I'm not sure I really enjoyed the relatively conventional payoff to Carolyn's fall into despair and I hope the next season makes more with her life of clinging on while clawing back up from every downturn.
I'm very relieved that the Peanutbutter/Diane dynamic got to play out with zero interference from Bojack this season, it makes the hits more raw and less the result of misunderstanding. Diane's pain is more real when it has more to do with how much she finally accepts her understanding of her situation than being misled into worse behavior by a bad influence. When Mr. Peanutbutter finally speaks his mind instead of being an aloof catchphrase,
the realest of shit goes down.
I thought episode 6 is where I'd get my soul torn out because things felt like they were winding down from there, but 11&12 just ripped me apart. Instead of living in Bojack's mind for 24 minutes we live inside Beatrice, and how her story connects to Hollyhock's gives that final line
got me all
Season 3 felt like a lot of catharsis, between Todd finally shedding the iron weight of Bojack's sins on his life and the restaurant fight between Princess Carolyn and Bojack. Season 4 was far more introspective, as the cast assesses their own personal damage and tries to answer where happiness is actually going to come from, even if there's no direct replies for most of them. Todd's message is a truly affirmative one, even if it's as hilarious as everyone in a restaurant wearing his clothes or as true to life as him connecting with and learning about his sexuality. I don't feel like I'm being conned into cheering for him, Forrest Gump style. I genuinely want his character to develop into the one example of carefree joy this show has.