BoJack Horseman season 6 bows out with two weddings, an (almost) funeral, and a poignant farewell

The following review contains some spoilers for episodes 9-16 of BoJack Horseman season 6. Read a review/recap of episodes 1-8 of season 6, here . *** BoJack Horseman went out the same way it came in: on a high note, and with a tremendous amount of heart. Part 2 of the final season, a set of eight episodes that released on 31 January, traces the happenings in BoJack and the gang’s life, from where we left them at the end of part 1. BoJack is now Professor Horseman at Wesleyan College, teaching acting. Hollyhock is studying there, and her relationship with BoJack is — after what she learnt of his behaviour with Penny and her friends — strained. Diane has finally confronted her depression. Princess Carolyn is easing into her role as a working mom. Mr Peanutbutter is attempting to mend fences with Pickles. And Todd is readying for yet another Classic Todd Shenanigan. Overarching these strands of their individual lives is the ongoing investigation by The Hollywoo Reporter, into the mystery surrounding the last few hours of Sarah Lynn’s life and BoJack’s possible role in her death. As BoJack deals with the repercussions of the report, his relationships are tested, as is his newfound sobriety and reformation. Part of BoJack’s genius has been in how it unerringly reflects or coincides with cultural and social movements. If its  fifth season was the indictment the entertainment industry — and the audiences who prop it up — needed in the wake of #MeToo, then this sixth season showed a path for what accountability looks like. It comes at a time when fans of Kobe Bryant have been bitterly divided over what place (if any) a 2003 sexual assault case should have, in analyses of his legacy, after his death at the age of 41 in a tragic accident that also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter and at least seven others. It comes at a time when we’re asking ourselves — after beloved idols have been found to have feet of clay — how to engage with their body of work. Season six of BoJack attempts to answer these questions, and it does so with unflinching honesty, and compassion. [caption id=“attachment_7995741” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Scenes from the final episodes of BoJack Horseman season 6. Netflix[/caption]

*** BoJack Horseman nearly ends the way it began: with BoJack sprawled on his couch in an inebriated haze, watching old episodes of Horsin’ Around. Juxtaposing BoJack past and present is to see the vast journey he’s covered. From the horse who once asked Diane how he was expected to be responsible for his own happiness when he couldn’t even be responsible for his own breakfast, BoJack has evolved into a horse who now (however unwillingly) takes responsibility for his actions. In part 1 of this sixth season, we cheered as BoJack effected a physical and personal transformation. But part 2 shows that healing and change aren’t smooth sailing: It’s a rocky road, with hurdles aplenty to trip you up. What matters, is that you pick yourself up and continue down the path, as BoJack and Diane both find when trying to escape their previous self-defeating behaviours. Diane is cheerier because of anti-depressant medication, but she continues to struggle with writing her memoir. Because she’s in a relatively happier place, she finds that she cannot summon the melancholy frame of mind she feels is required to write her treatise on trauma. Even as her book refuses to come together, she finds herself writing a wholly different story — the fun capers of a teen mall detective. When her partner Guy and Princess Carolyn both plump for this new book instead of her memoir, she breaks down, explaining in a moment of vulnerability that if she doesn’t write about it then all the damage and misery in her life will have been for nothing. Meanwhile, BoJack learns what it means to make amends, and that a better-human-being-makeover cannot be a get-out-of-jail-free card when your actions have had real and devastating consequences for others. His sobriety and new persona are both tested as the truth about Sarah Lynn’s death comes out, as does information about his other transgressions, big and small. As Princess Carolyn helps him do damage control, he ‘performs’ penitence on television, with a boilerplate apology that briefly sways public opinion on his side, until he unravels under a harsher interrogation about his misdeeds, and becomes persona non grata. The loss of his reputation is followed by the loss of his teaching job, his house, some of his closest relationships.

It’s like BoJack himself says in the context of his addiction, “Every time I thought I’d hit rock bottom, I discovered another rockier bottom”.

Elsewhere, Hollywoob (yes, it’s rechristened courtesy Mr Peanutbutter) is finding innovative ways to deal with the fallout of various scandals. Horsin’ Around is being re-edited to remove all of BoJack’s scenes, so it can be known only as Around. The network is inspired by the do-over of The Cosby Show, in a new and improved and scrubbed-clean avatar known simply as The Show. Lenny Turtletaub offers Princess Carolyn the chance to head up a new wing of his production company — a studio to promote female talent — all to distract attention from a sexual harassment case against one of the top executives. In including these plot elements, BoJack looks at the ongoing rehabilitation project for male reputations, and exposes the cynicism that propels it. *** And yet, for all all its tough, no bullshit stance, this final season of BoJack is also perhaps its most compassionate. It shows its characters — and us — that there’s a better way to be. In these final episodes, the technique is flawless: storytelling formats are experimented with, there are frames of striking beauty, and there’s layer upon layer of meaning to uncover. As always, all of this only enhances the emotional core. In the show’s final hour (episode 15-16), there are a few terrible, anxiety-filled moments when BoJack reaches his rockiest bottom yet, and in a surreal sequence, sits down for dinner and a show with Herb Kazzaz, Sarah Lynn, Corduroy Jackson Jackson, Beatrice Horseman and her older brother Crackerjack Sugarman, Zach Braff — and Secretariat. As each of the dinner guests puts on a little act and then drops down through a black doorway, the darkness reaches out for BoJack in a tense sequence. What stands out, in the end, however, are the quiet moments between BoJack and his — our — friends. A car ride with Mr Peanutbutter. A dance with Princess Carolyn. A walk on the beach with Todd. A smoke on the roof with Diane, as they say goodbye to each other and to us, and Catherine Feeny sings ‘ Mr Blue ’ — I told you that I love you Please believe me Mr Blue I have to go now Darling don’t be angry I know that you’re tired I know that you’re sour and sick and sad For some reason So I’ll leave you with a smile Kiss you on the cheek And you will call it treason That’s the way it goes Some days a fever comes at you Without a warning And I can see it in your face You’ve been waiting to break Since you woke up this morning Mr Blue Don’t hold your head so low that you can’t see the sky Mr Blue It ain’t so long since you were flying high Mr Blue I told you that I love you Please believe me This is how we see them at the end. They are all — to varying degrees, and against all odds — okay: Todd, Mr Peanutbutter, Princess Carolyn, Diane, BoJack. And we’re okay too. Our top six moments from the final eight episodes: Judah sings to Princess Carolyn Diane tells Princess Carolyn why she wanted to write her memoir Mr Peanutbutter and Diane talk about their relationship and themselves Secretariat recites a poem about his suicide, ‘The View from Halfway Down’ BoJack and Princess Carolyn dance at her wedding reception BoJack and Diane, sharing one last conversation on the roof Rating: ★★★★★ The final episodes of BoJack Horseman season 6 are now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer here —