7.3/10. There was a lot of good stuff here. I particularly appreciated the idea that for however much BoJack trying to establish his legacy by winning an Oscar, for however much he was struggling to decide whether he wanted to connect with people or do challenging work, it turns out that he made an impact via the dumb show that he tried to distance himself from. There's a tendency among critical folks like yours truly to disdain TGIF fare, and not without good reason, but for however unchallenging and unadventurous that sort of show is, it does provide a service and comfort to a lot of people. Not every work of art has to be as bold or creative as BoJack Horseman, sometimes it's enough to just give people a glimpse of something warm and inviting, and I like that the show recognizes that through Dianne telling BoJack how his show was a comfort to her when she was young.
That, of course, leads to BoJack agreeing to do "Ethan Around." And it seems like he's made a change for the better. He's generous with Ethan, letting him have the spotlight. He's kind to his child co-star, being encouraging and sweet rather than self-centered. But it all falls apart when he realizes that the kid wants to be like him, and that flares up the guilt of what happened to Sarah Lynn. So he can't take it, seems to come close to committing suicide and then...sees a herd of what seem to be wild horses.
That's really my only beef with this episode. In many ways, it felt more like a set up for the next season than it did a finale to this one. Maybe the real culmination happened in the last one, with enough of an epilogue between Dianne's conversation here and the flashback to Sarah Lynn reaching out for a friend and BoJack still pitching his show to her, to put the cherry on it.
Instead, here, we get the lampshaded implausible resolution to Mr. PB's collection of spaghetti strainers and fleet of Abra Cadabra drivers, to Margo Martindale's escape, and to Dianne's unemployment. It's all fine enough, but again, seems like hastily clearing the decks of Season 3 to set the table for Season 4. Beyond that, we get the reveal that Todd is asexual, and the complete walking back of his getting eight million dollars from the sale. Oh, and despite Princess Carolyn's seeming happy ending, she decides to become a manager rather than an agent and everything sort of goes back to normal. There's a lot reset button pressing going on here, which is fine enough, but doesn't really do justice to the good work the season did to get all these characters to this point. That's disappointing, but still, there's a lot of good stuff here anyway.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-09-01T18:26:49Z
7.3/10. There was a lot of good stuff here. I particularly appreciated the idea that for however much BoJack trying to establish his legacy by winning an Oscar, for however much he was struggling to decide whether he wanted to connect with people or do challenging work, it turns out that he made an impact via the dumb show that he tried to distance himself from. There's a tendency among critical folks like yours truly to disdain TGIF fare, and not without good reason, but for however unchallenging and unadventurous that sort of show is, it does provide a service and comfort to a lot of people. Not every work of art has to be as bold or creative as BoJack Horseman, sometimes it's enough to just give people a glimpse of something warm and inviting, and I like that the show recognizes that through Dianne telling BoJack how his show was a comfort to her when she was young.
That, of course, leads to BoJack agreeing to do "Ethan Around." And it seems like he's made a change for the better. He's generous with Ethan, letting him have the spotlight. He's kind to his child co-star, being encouraging and sweet rather than self-centered. But it all falls apart when he realizes that the kid wants to be like him, and that flares up the guilt of what happened to Sarah Lynn. So he can't take it, seems to come close to committing suicide and then...sees a herd of what seem to be wild horses.
That's really my only beef with this episode. In many ways, it felt more like a set up for the next season than it did a finale to this one. Maybe the real culmination happened in the last one, with enough of an epilogue between Dianne's conversation here and the flashback to Sarah Lynn reaching out for a friend and BoJack still pitching his show to her, to put the cherry on it.
Instead, here, we get the lampshaded implausible resolution to Mr. PB's collection of spaghetti strainers and fleet of Abra Cadabra drivers, to Margo Martindale's escape, and to Dianne's unemployment. It's all fine enough, but again, seems like hastily clearing the decks of Season 3 to set the table for Season 4. Beyond that, we get the reveal that Todd is asexual, and the complete walking back of his getting eight million dollars from the sale. Oh, and despite Princess Carolyn's seeming happy ending, she decides to become a manager rather than an agent and everything sort of goes back to normal. There's a lot reset button pressing going on here, which is fine enough, but doesn't really do justice to the good work the season did to get all these characters to this point. That's disappointing, but still, there's a lot of good stuff here anyway.