[7.4/10] So here’s the big problem. BoJack is a show that revels in building things up just to tear them down. Sure, it has people making slow but steady progress, Todd in particular, but it’s also a show that relishes in gut punches. That makes you (or at least me) brace for them, and gives them less impact. Things were going too well for Princess Carolyn -- that means things had to predictably fall apart, and the parade of horribles that happen to her just starts to feel inevitable and almost indulgent in how things pile up.
It also doesn’t help that the shocking twist of the conceit is basically a repeat of something How I Met Your Mother pulled not that long ago. I still really enjoy the frame story, which has plenty of great riffs on “the future” and storytelling machinery that brings the comedy in an otherwise harrowing plot. And Amy Sedaris delivers her last lines about “what I do when I’m feeling down” so well. But again, the way this all felt telegraphed weakens the force of what could otherwise be a knife-twisting moment.
Still, Princess Carolyn losing her biggest client, her baby, her boyfriend, and even the sense of place and history that came from the necklace her mother gave her is genuinely harrowing. Her reasons for pushing Ralph away feel simultaneously a bit unfair but also understandable. It’s a scene that feels very real, even if it starts with a wild array of dentist clowns.
Overall, it’s a creative episode, but one whose misery seems too preordained to land as well as it needs to.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-09-21T04:06:04Z
[7.4/10] So here’s the big problem. BoJack is a show that revels in building things up just to tear them down. Sure, it has people making slow but steady progress, Todd in particular, but it’s also a show that relishes in gut punches. That makes you (or at least me) brace for them, and gives them less impact. Things were going too well for Princess Carolyn -- that means things had to predictably fall apart, and the parade of horribles that happen to her just starts to feel inevitable and almost indulgent in how things pile up.
It also doesn’t help that the shocking twist of the conceit is basically a repeat of something How I Met Your Mother pulled not that long ago. I still really enjoy the frame story, which has plenty of great riffs on “the future” and storytelling machinery that brings the comedy in an otherwise harrowing plot. And Amy Sedaris delivers her last lines about “what I do when I’m feeling down” so well. But again, the way this all felt telegraphed weakens the force of what could otherwise be a knife-twisting moment.
Still, Princess Carolyn losing her biggest client, her baby, her boyfriend, and even the sense of place and history that came from the necklace her mother gave her is genuinely harrowing. Her reasons for pushing Ralph away feel simultaneously a bit unfair but also understandable. It’s a scene that feels very real, even if it starts with a wild array of dentist clowns.
Overall, it’s a creative episode, but one whose misery seems too preordained to land as well as it needs to.