Episode Highlights: Bojack Horseman Season 4 Episode 1 - See Mr. Peanutbutter Run

Bojack Horseman is back. Thank goodness. The show is a gem: incredibly well-written, emotionally raw and unflinchingly devastating, and snort-laugh hilarious, often all at once--and once I start I can’t stop watching, laughing, or crying. Or formulating elaborate theories about characters' sexualities and psychoanalyzing them to within an inch of their lives.

So, putting this swirling vortex of emotion to good use, I’m going to give each Season 4 episode a mini-#review. I’ll #recap the shiny bits of #comedy gold that made me actually laugh out loud (The Howlers), especially beautiful and/or memorable moments (The Highlights), the now-trademark emotional smackdowns (The Heart-Punches) and quick little easter-egg jokes, foreshadowing hints, and visual puns, brought to you by the ‘pause’ button (Blink And You’ll Miss).

I hope you enjoy reading/remembering as much as I’m enjoying Season 4 so far.

THE HOWLERS:

Director: "I want your face on billboards, you beautiful nonsensical clown prince!"Mr. Peanutbutter: “Doggy-doggy-what-now?”

Fancy Guy #1: "You think they'll really race down Devil's Mountain?"Fancy Guy #2: "What do I care? As long as I've got my giant bag of kettle corn, that's the only thing that concerns me."Suddenly-Appearing Todd, Swiping It: "Drone Throne strikes again!"

Todd: "I was hoisted by my own petard - the one petard I thought would never hoist me!"

Diane: "Diane-Diane what now?” (Love those brick jokes!)

Non-dialogue special mention goes to the soft strains of Moonlight Sonata playing as Professor Thistlethorpe cocoons, unable to pass on his final words of ski-racing wisdom to Mr. Peanutbutter.

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

• The extended Schoolhouse Rock (I’m Just A Bill) parody sequence as Katrina pushes the gubernatorial ski-race nonsense through congress, padding it with so many ridiculous amendments nobody notices what it’s actually for. That’s politics, folks.
• Todd and Emily’s first scene… in which she’s the one to actually give him the word ‘asexual’ to describe himself. Sure, he “doesn’t like labels” at first, but this is the setup to an arc across this season in which Todd comes to terms with both his orientation and its descriptors—can I say how much I love how the show actually includes the community-used ‘ace’ slang? The point of all this is so very refreshing, in a sea of TV shows that refuse to use words like “bisexual” or “asexual” except for punch lines. Sometimes labels are good, vital and greatly helpful, especially in self-searching moments.

Also, while it’s sad that Emily ultimately breaks up with Todd because she wants a boyfriend who’s sexually attracted to her, this is a pretty common outcome in situations like these. Is it painful? Yeah. But I think we’re shown enough of how awesome Todd is to know the TV show/narrative itself isn’t saying asexuality is a bad thing. At all. And seriously, I’d rather they both be happy apart (amiably parting with a Drone-Throne gift) than in a likely-rocky relationship where they’d struggle and probably end up hurting each other in the process. This show has more than enough of those already.

THE HEART-PUNCHES:

Diane's increasing desperation on her numerous messages to Bojack, culminating in her calling him out for leaving after the last time she saw him, he told her he needed her in his life. She can't help trying to be supportive of her husband's also-increasing nonsense, and even knows what Bojack would probably say if he was here, but can't get it out. It’s both intriguing and unprecedented, seeing how the cast reacts to Bojack's absence, and how it throws off their balance.

Princess Carolyn telling Ralph that she was pregnant. Emphasis on was. "I was going to tell you, really, but then before I could, there was nothing... to tell you." Ow.

BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS:

• A scrolling news headline: "Dangerous fugitive and highly acclaimed character actress Margo Martindale still lost at sea, presumed dead." Yeahhh, let's see how long that lasts.
• At the ski race, it really looks like Princess Carolyn is wearing a pink... pussy hat. (Because she's a cat, right? A nice pussy cat hat.)

So those were my favorite parts of Episode 1! Episode 2, The Old Sugarman Place is up next. (Yeah, I’ve watched it already and need about a year to recover emotionally.) See you then!