The horse-headed protagonist in Netflix’s animated series Bojack Horseman(Will Arnett) digs deeply into his regret and depression as a washed-up television actor trying to stay relevant in the entertainment business. Over the course of two seasons, Bojack keeps making rash decisions and exacerbates his problems. In his attempts to validate himself and get what he wants, He ends up pushing away and harming many others.
Very few people are able to tolerate his mistakes and see through into Bojack’s conscience and inner turmoil.
Through all these mistakes and failures, Bojack becomes both a sympathetic and detestable character.
“I’m responsible for my own happiness? I can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast”, Bojack says.
Very few televisions shows today are risky enough to cover depression in this light. Which makes this a unique show to watch
Here is a list of mistakes Bojack Horseman makes throughout seasons 1 and 2.
1Eating and drinking too much
The pilot episode featured Bojack eating too much cotton candy at two separate parties and vomiting it out whole. In another episode, he fights with another customer at a grocery store over a box of muffins. He is unable to return the muffins to make amends because he ate the entire box on the way back home.
2Arguing with a service member on cable news
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His fight over the muffins starts a media controversy between him and the customer, who happened to be a “Navy seal” veteran(Patton Oswalt). He engages in a a TV debate with the seal and a whale newscaster(voiced by real life newscaster Keith Olbermann). He misspeaks by saying “Maybe some of the troops are heroes, but not automatically… I’m sure a lot of the troops are jerks”. He ends up playing into a sensationalistic cable news controversy.
3Sabotaging Todd’s rock opera
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Aimless house crasher Todd(voiced by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul) tries to make an opportunity for himself and unlock his buried potential by making a theatrical sci-fi rock opera. Bojack feels jealous about Todd’s possible leaving, so he ends up feeding Todd’s video game addiction to distract him from a deadline to meet with investors.
4Tries writing his biography gonzo style
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In an attempt to write his own book without Diane Nguyen’s help, Bojack, Todd, and Sarah Lynne go on a drug binge. They end up in paranoid and hallucinatory trips that injure Bojack. In thier haze, they end up writing Dr. Who erotic fan fiction, soup recipes and Youtube embed codes instead of a biography.
5Unloading his emotional drama during a panel
After he realizes that Diane is the only person skilled and willing to write his book. Bojack crashes a ghost writer’s panel to unload his insecurities. He puts Diane on the spot, begging her to tell him that he’s a good person. In a dismal scene, everyone stays silent after his desperate emotional plea.
6Enabling Sarah Lynn’s behavior
Due to their history as actors on the show Horsin’ Around, Sarah Lynne sees Bojack as a father figure. Bojack feels the need to take care of her after she becomes an emotional and addictive wreck after her pop music career flounders and she turns 30. They end up starting a disturbing relationship during one of their drug binges.
7Getting the first Secretariat director fired
After the producer cuts a pivotal scene from the movie Secretariat, Bojack pressures director Kelsey Jannings, and his friends to join in a scheme to break into The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and shoot the scene themselves. The day after they shoot the scene and instigate a police shootout. Bojack learns that Kelsey was fired for going along with the plan. The scene they broke the law to film went for naught.
8Alienating the second film director
When Abe, the second director of the film Secretariat invites him to dinner, Bojack alienates him by insulting the quality of his directing. Bojack misunderstands the quote “It ain’t Casablanca” as the director’s joke of his movie’s poor quality. Abe saw it as a literal comparison to the movie’s plot. Abe punishes Bojack by drawing out filming and making him repeat lines.
9Giving a gloomy speech to orphans
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During the opening ceremony of an orphanage he helped fund. Bojack gives a depressing speech to the orphans who look up to him and the media who is watching over him.
10Withdrawing to New Mexico
Bojack misses filming of his dream project as he’s trying to vacation from himself . He reunites with an old lover Charlotte(Olivia Wilde) and imposes on her family for two months, expecting a sitcom-like situation to escape his troubles.
11Buying a boat to support an alibi
When asked why he’s visiting his lover from thirty years ago, he gives the alibi that he’s shopping for a boat in a landlocked, desert state. He ends up buying one to commit to his alibi. the boat remains on the family’s driveway for a few months while he lives inside it.
12Seducing Penny
During his retreat to New Mexico, Bojack becomes close with his former lover’s daughter, high school student Penny. Being invited to her prom begins a cycle of sordid tension about whether he will accept the young girl’s naive advances or reject them. In one of his and the show’s most lurid points, he and Penny are caught by Charlotte in the boat. Charlotte angrily and tersely tells him to leave immediately.
