[8.7/10] I loved the structure of this one. The way it fit the BoJack/Hollyhock story, the Governor’s race, the Princess Carolyn plot, and Todd’s dentist clowns into one intersecting timescape was absolutely wonderful, giving everything a sense of flow while also allowing the show to develop some momentum from jumping between stories.
For one thing, I really enjoyed the way the show used the “one week later/one week earlier” bit to drive home how fickle the electorate is. The hoopla over Woodchuck’s new hands, the origin of those hands, and Biel’s anti-avocado position driving the fortunes of the election and the media’s coverage of it is great satire of the 2016 election that nevertheless works well as broader satire of political races and news coverage generally. It also drops more nice hints at bumps in the road between Diane and Mr. PB, with Biel’s “magic eye” story providing a metaphor for why Diane might want to stick it out while waiting for something magical to click between the two of them.
Todd’s story was mainly just for laughs, but they were great laughs. His interactions with the representative of the Better Business Bureau had the dependable comedy from a square interacting with a goofball, and his group’s escapades to put on a show and get Princess Carolyn in position were zany fun.
Princess Carolyn’s story was good stuff too. I like the idea that she’s despondent and slipping after all that’s happened to her, but that the serendipity of receiving a script titled “Philbert” strikes a chord and gives her a reason to get out of bed and try to produce it. Her interactions with Turtletaub are a hoot as always, and I’m interested by the moral ambiguity of her forging BoJack’s signature to make it happen.
But the peak of the episode comes in its bookends, which center on BoJack’s relationship with Hollyhock. I’d naturally assumed that Hollyhock had passed out from starving herself due to BoJack’s blob comment, but it’s a good fake out. The show earns it’s angst from BoJack who reveals how much he knows and cares about his daughter in his efforts to see her in the hospital. His interactions with her eight dads strike the right balance of comedy and tragedy, and you really feel for BoJack in how he’s losing something that enriched his life and which he was on the road to being deserving of for once.
And man, the reveal that his mom was secretly dosing Hollyhock’s coffee with amphetamines is a doozy. It wraps up BoJack’s parental issues in both directions nicely, and makes for an absolute dagger when he bundles her up and gets ready to drop her off at the worst nursing home he can find. It’s the cherry on top of all his past resentments, and that’s what makes her recognizing him at the very end such a splash of cold water. Right when he’s at his emotional low point, she finally figures out who he is and he has to confront his anger and his desire to be seen by her at the same time. It’s a hell of a note to go out on.
Overall, it’s an episode with a creative interlacing of stories, each of which hit, and in the case of the last one, packs a wallop. Superb stuff.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-09-21T20:36:54Z
[8.7/10] I loved the structure of this one. The way it fit the BoJack/Hollyhock story, the Governor’s race, the Princess Carolyn plot, and Todd’s dentist clowns into one intersecting timescape was absolutely wonderful, giving everything a sense of flow while also allowing the show to develop some momentum from jumping between stories.
For one thing, I really enjoyed the way the show used the “one week later/one week earlier” bit to drive home how fickle the electorate is. The hoopla over Woodchuck’s new hands, the origin of those hands, and Biel’s anti-avocado position driving the fortunes of the election and the media’s coverage of it is great satire of the 2016 election that nevertheless works well as broader satire of political races and news coverage generally. It also drops more nice hints at bumps in the road between Diane and Mr. PB, with Biel’s “magic eye” story providing a metaphor for why Diane might want to stick it out while waiting for something magical to click between the two of them.
Todd’s story was mainly just for laughs, but they were great laughs. His interactions with the representative of the Better Business Bureau had the dependable comedy from a square interacting with a goofball, and his group’s escapades to put on a show and get Princess Carolyn in position were zany fun.
Princess Carolyn’s story was good stuff too. I like the idea that she’s despondent and slipping after all that’s happened to her, but that the serendipity of receiving a script titled “Philbert” strikes a chord and gives her a reason to get out of bed and try to produce it. Her interactions with Turtletaub are a hoot as always, and I’m interested by the moral ambiguity of her forging BoJack’s signature to make it happen.
But the peak of the episode comes in its bookends, which center on BoJack’s relationship with Hollyhock. I’d naturally assumed that Hollyhock had passed out from starving herself due to BoJack’s blob comment, but it’s a good fake out. The show earns it’s angst from BoJack who reveals how much he knows and cares about his daughter in his efforts to see her in the hospital. His interactions with her eight dads strike the right balance of comedy and tragedy, and you really feel for BoJack in how he’s losing something that enriched his life and which he was on the road to being deserving of for once.
And man, the reveal that his mom was secretly dosing Hollyhock’s coffee with amphetamines is a doozy. It wraps up BoJack’s parental issues in both directions nicely, and makes for an absolute dagger when he bundles her up and gets ready to drop her off at the worst nursing home he can find. It’s the cherry on top of all his past resentments, and that’s what makes her recognizing him at the very end such a splash of cold water. Right when he’s at his emotional low point, she finally figures out who he is and he has to confront his anger and his desire to be seen by her at the same time. It’s a hell of a note to go out on.
Overall, it’s an episode with a creative interlacing of stories, each of which hit, and in the case of the last one, packs a wallop. Superb stuff.