No other show managed the same tricky combination of comedy, drama, and #MeToo commentary.
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Well-written television shows are, by nature, smart television shows.
A smart television show starts by being smart on the page.
BoJack Horsemanwas smarter on the page than any other TV show that aired during the last year.
And it never resorted to providing easy answers.
But there are deliberate diversions from that framework.
Several episodes focus on female characters and come across initially as stand-alone installments.
As regularBoJackviewers know, you have to watch episodes multiple times to catcheverything thats happening in the frame.
This season also lands plenty of gut punches, particularly when BoJack tries to take responsibility for abusing Gina.
You have to take responsibility for yourself.
This is not your home, Diane concludes.
Youre a tourist here.
As the trip continues, Diane begins to feel like shes a tourist everywhere.
Initially those fish come across as amusing, another ofBoJack Horsemans many brilliant, quick visual gags.
Upon further reflection, the moment is the entire episode in a single image.
On another show, the winding story would land in a place that teaches the characters important lessons.
This beingBoJack Horseman, no one really learns anything, at least not yet.
Whatsyourside of the story?
), and how willing the public is to absolve men who engage in blatant abusive behavior.
(Vance receives a lifetime-achievement award at the We Forgive You Awards, a.k.a.
BoJack Horsemanmakes every one of those points by essentially telling a joke, or sometimes five jokes at once.
It mostly feels like Im being lectured at, BoJack says to Diane.
Wait, let me imagine that Im saying it.
[Pauses] Oh, thats a little better.
BoJack the Feminist understands that the most effective path toward making people reconsider their perspectives isnt a lecture.
While the episode is obviously animated, it is, for the most part, not visually driven.
It also proves how truly solidBoJacks storytelling foundations are.
When it got canceled, I was really bummed out, BoJack says ofBecker.
Thats what losing a parent is like.
And you didnt even realize it until that chance went away.
Hes been sharing his deepest feelings with people actually, lizards who dont know him or care about him.
Its a devastating reminder that even in a room full of others, BoJack remains very much alone.
It feels like people have forgotten aboutForever, the inventive Amazon dramedy from Matt Hubbard and Alan Yang.
(To be fair, it dropped last fall, which feels like two decades ago.)
LikeBoJack, it considered existential questions through a mix of the comedic and the melancholy.
Hey, you know that showFleabag?
(Acting: superb.
Hot priest action: A+.)
Thissort of thinkingdrives writers nuts.
The writers of the fifth season ofBoJack Horsemandid exactly what gifted writers in this medium are supposed to do.
All I know about being good, I learned from TV, BoJack says during his Free Churro eulogy.
And in TV flawed characters are constantly showing people they care with these surprising grand gestures.
I think part of me still believes thats what love is.
Its all of that, which isa lot.
And on top of all that, its just damn funny.
Eligible contenders had to have premiered between June 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019.
