BoJack Horseman

The most impressive thing about this show is its control of the emotion it wants to give. It's hilarious if it wants to be, awe-striking if it wants to be, complicated if it wants to be. And most importantly, it is fully capable of dragging your soul through the dirt the way you never thought possible, time and time again, whenever the writers so choose.

By the 2nd season BH becomes a well-crafted character drama on how and why people break - and stay broken.

Bojack homes in on and highlights the uncomfortable truths about day to day life that would usually get rubbed out of a script after draft one for being too harrowing. But the thing is that these truths are relatable & not usually explored in the depth deserved in other shows. There is the confidence to get experimental with a few eps each season which usually results the stand outs eg - the drug hallucination, underwater ep, self-loathing/depression ep, New Mexico & the bender ep to name a few.

I'm truly flabbergasted at how great this manages to be. There are a few moments sprinkled throughout the series that have gut-punched me on the same level that the best in cinema have.

This show gets things that most shows don't. It's a hard watch, bit brutal at times, which is unexpected for a cartoon about a horse. I could have done without most of the Todd storylines, but everything else was so human, so real... Bojack Horseman is a painting of the early 21st century society, something I'll be able to show to future people who'll ask " How did the world look and feel when you were a young adult? ". Just watch Bojack. That's it.

Who ever would've ever guessed that that weird-looking show about talking animals would end up becoming one of the funniest, cleverest, most experimental, nuanced and deeply-layered explorations of the human condition ever put on the small screen? The comedy in this is absolutely intelligent and top-notch but it also completely nails the emotional moments too, with some episodes leaving me completely sobbing by the end. Essays will be written about this show for many years, and for good reason.

It only starts being great towards the end of the 1st season, so don't be disheartened by initial disappointment. BH is a recurring exploration of being a broken person, despite the main character being a cartoon horse surrounded by throwaway gags like a auto-milking cow waitress. The clash between Bojack's narcissism and self-loathing lends itself to horrifically dark situations, the best parts of the show. The underwater episode is in the running for one of the greatest of any animated series.

Surprisingly it's in the drama that this show excels while the comedy often falls flat, is repetitive, or is a form of awkward/non-humor. I felt the comedy missed the mark more often than it hit, but the strong dramatic core of the show which caught me off guard is what kept me watching.

(Seasons 1-2) Addicting and often disarmingly sad, with a great voice cast and a vibrant, expressive pop-art style. (Season 3) Similar to 2 but less interesting as it becomes clearer what the show's stock in trade is; underwater episode easily the highlight. (Season 4) Has become grating and condescending. I bailed less than halfway through.

Best animated series of all time, not even exaggerating. So much feels that I had. So many emotional gut-punches in the first 2 seasons, replaced by 'full body feels' in later seasons. Oh, and effortlessly interwoven with satire on US culture and philosophy on life? How will I survive life after Bojack Horseman? I guess, like Bojack, 1 day at a time, just trying to do and be better, despite everyting.