Fridge / BoJack Horseman

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

General

• Training a horse is often referred to as "breaking" them. BoJack is a pretty broken person.
• The diamond shape that seems to be predominant in BoJack's family may, unintentional or not, represent poison from the past. The first time we see that poison in BoJack's family line is in Joseph Sugarman, his grandfather who arguably traumatized Beatrice, and he casually just happens to be that one that carries over to Beatrice, almost like a poison being passed down from generation to generation. The next time we see the diamond be mentioned is when Butterscotch Horseman recognizes that same marking on Beatrice, because he remembers his mom having it too. When the two of them had a baby, BoJack got that poison from both sides.
• The horribly depressing ending to Horsin' Around where BoJack's character dies from his children not appreciating him enough comes off like a throwaway gag, but it makes perfect sense after we learn Herb was thrown off the show prompting a decline in quality in the later seasons. With BoJack calling the shots in terms of writing it is only natural that the series finale would reflect BoJack's own fear of rejection and sentiments that the show's cancellation was a result of the fans' not supporting him enough.
• It's easy to miss, but in the first episode where we see the full opening to Horsin Around, BoJack's character is listed simply as "The Horse", implying that the character either was never given a name or that the name was downplayed. Every time someone asks BoJack "Aren't you the horse from Horsin' Around?", they aren't just forgetting his character because he never played a complete character to begin with.
• "Vincent Adultman" comes off as a running gag at best, a fraud at worst, for not telling Princess Carolyn who "he" really is. But in the season 1 finale his actions reflect Diane's comment on how it doesn't matter what we are deep down, all that matters is what we do. What Vincent chooses to do is treat Carolyn with the sort of respect BoJack never gave her, so in the end she's happy with him, regardless of what's underneath the trench coat.
• Mr. Peanutbutter is initially introduced as a vision of what BoJack could be like were he not a selfish jerk. However, the former's reveal as an Anti-Nihilist in "Later" shows BoJack to be the bigger person for, at the very least, making an attempt to break his bad habits while Mr. Peanutbutter openly ignores them. Mr. Peanutbutter's outlook on life, explicitly stated when he's looking for a job, is to always maintain a positive attitude and trust that something good will happen. Should nothing good happen, it's because you didn't have a good enough attitude. For a person with depression ^note  BoJack, Diane, and Princess Carolyn all deal with some form of depression throughout the show this is perhaps the worst possible outlook ever, because every setback (and there are always setbacks when depressed) becomes something the person failed at, thus another source self-reinforcing cycle of self-hatred. However well meaning, Mr. Peanutbutter might be having deleterious effects on those around him.
• BoJack says that he allowed Todd to stay at his place because he assumed that his parents kicked him out for being gay. Later we see that BoJack didn't support a friend who was being attacked for his sexual orientation. There's a good chance BoJack was trying to compensate for not supporting Herb. His reason for making such a big assumption in the first place is hinted at in season 3 when Todd is revealed to be asexual. BoJack (and others) clearly find Todd's complete lack of a dating history confusing.
• Mr. Peanutbutter's deep-rooted fear of losing Diane (at least before their divorce) makes a lot more sense when you remember how undyingly loyal dogs are. That's why they (and, by extension, he) are so enthusiastic to greet their masters: Any time they leave, they think it's forever. It kind of makes his rant in "After The Party" Heartwarming in Hindsight.
• In "Say Anything", Todd's surname is revealed to be "Chavez". Princess Carolyn remarks that she didn't think of him as a "Chavez", probably because he looks "white". However, Todd's Latin heritage is hinted at in the very first episode - the enforcer of the drug cartel that holds him hostage refers to him as "esé", which tends to be used by Mexican and Cuban men in the same way the N-word is used by black men. This would also explain how he was able to fit in with both the Skinheads and the Latin Kings in prison. When his parents show up in season six it's finally spelled out that his parents were white, but he was raised by a Latino stepfather and carries his name.
• BoJack is often the only character that sees the incredibly obvious joke whereas other characters seem to dance around it (i.e. being the only one that clearly sees Vincent Adultman as three kids in a trenchcoat). Fridge Brilliance in that as he seems to be defined as a hacky sitcom actor, the only jokes he can understand have one layer and no subtext or nuance - like the ones he delivered on "Horsin' Around''.
  • BoJack is wittier, funnier, and more intelligent and nuanced when he's not trying to joke around. His actual talent and sensitivity are overwhelmed by his need to be liked and 'got' by everyone. We see that start at a very early age, as most of his letter to his hero Secretariat was desperately seeking assurance that the reader got a weak pun that he made. If BoJack was less needy for general appeal, he could go for the less widely watched but perhaps more creatively rewarding comedy style of a Curb Your Enthusiasm, Grandma's House - or indeed a BoJack Horseman.
• When Princess Carolyn reluctantly agrees to do BoJack a favor on the condition he accompany her to the next three weddings she goes to BoJack sarcastically asks how often women her age get invited to weddings. She angrily retorts "I have lots of nieces and nephews!" Well, seeing as how she is a cat this does make a lot of sense. Doubles as Foreshadowing: In season 4 Princess Carolyn reveals that her mother had twelve children.
• Running as a motif:
  • Running, throughout the series, has become a constant in BoJack's life. BoJack's hero Secretariat tells him, as a child, to "keep running", even through the hard times. As an adult, he receives a pep talk from a jogging guru, who tells him that "it gets easier". And what stops BoJack from committing suicide in the season 3 finale? A group of horses running in the desert. Running is a physically exhausting activity and requires a lot of determination and energy; it's the discipline about not giving up, about getting to that finish line and achieving the victory. Secretariat tells BoJack to keep on living even through the hard times; to not let the past drag you down. All that matters is the future. The jogging guru tells BoJack that in order to truly become a better person, he has to keep on doing it every day; the more he tries to change, the easier it will get. The problem? All BoJack hears, every time, is "keep running"; BoJack takes it to mean run away from his problems. BoJack's 'running away' from responsibility, however, is a cowardly flight, not the hard push to a finish line that these embody. Every time BoJack has run away, it's because something from the past has come back to haunt him; Sarah Lynn, Charlotte, Herb. By the end of Season 3, BoJack has lost all of them; he has finally, in some twisted way, achieved closure. However, in the process, he has hit rock bottom; he is at his lowest low. Then, BoJack sees a bunch of horses running in the desert. This sight is what he really needs; the knowledge that he can move forward in life. And, maybe, he's been given the courage to do it.
  • In the 2007 flashback, the jogging monkey (the guy who tells BoJack that it gets easier if you keep going) can be seen jogging with a woman. While one can draw multiple conclusions from this, it wouldn't be a far stretch to assume the woman was his wife who is no longer with him for one reason or another, adding another level to what he said.
  • Also, every time BoJack jogs in season 2, he gets just a little farther up the hill, with him reaching the top and collapsing in the finale. It's a small detail, but it helps hammer in the "things get easier if you just keep going" point.
  • This is why BoJack doesn't join the herd of horses running across the desert at the beginning of season 4. It's a sign that he's finally going to stop running from his problems.
    • Except for the fact that this is immediately before he spends a year on the other side of the country after Sarah Lynn's death...
• Mr. Peanutbutter being still in top physical shape even as he's pushing fifty can be easily linked to his fear of death. He surely cares way more about his health than any other main character, as the only instance of him being drunk so far has been the mirror accident in Season 2 premiere. Also, he probably sees physical exercise as a good way to keep himself busy so he won't think about the cold, unfeeling universe around him.
  • On the top of that, in Real Life Labradors can become fat very easily if they aren't kept active regularly, which only adds to the effort he puts into exercise.
• BoJack is the embodiment of the phrase, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
  • The show itself is an answer to the question "Why does the horse have a long face?"
  • And "a horse walks into a bar..."
• The inside of BoJack's head as seen in "Stupid Piece of Sh*t" and "What Time Is It Right Now?" resembles a child's drawings because he is mentally a child. Confirmed by the director.
  • Additionally, Sarah Lynn's Imagine Spot in "That's Too Much, Man!" consists of her drawing herself and various other figures in a very childlike manner, complete with crayon. She and BoJack are meant to complement each other, so it only makes sense.
• BoJack's choice of vehicle reflects his progress. His first is a big black SUV, which not only takes a lot (of gas) without giving much (mileage) back, but is built like a tank, meaning it's difficult for anyone to get inside it. His second is a Tesla convertible, which runs on electricity (literal positive energy), weighs less and is more open to the world around it. We're just going to ignore the boat for the sake of this analogy.
  • Except maybe not. Because not only did BoJack purchase the Escape from L.A. as a means of covering up his own selfish motives, but a commercial boat is an inherently frivolous purchase if you don't live near water, exemplified by the fact that he mostly ever keeps it in his driveway. Essentially, it's a symbol of his ego and inflated self-worth as a movie star, an aspect of himself which comes apart around the time Character Actress Margo Martindale crashes it in the Pacific.
• The significance of Beatrice's line "it's not Ibsen" might be lost on most people: his most famous play is A Doll's House, a very revolutionary play for its time that criticized the values of nineteenth century marriages. It's a century off from Beatrice's life, but her character arc also centers around being a woman pressured into marriage in an androcentric society.
  • In a flashback to BoJack's childhood, his father mentions Beatrice saw A Doll's House and "got ideas", so this is definitely intentional.
• BoJack's ears, like his father's, are seldom seen pointing forward in the manner of a horse that's relaxed and at ease — the only time he consistently does this is when he's a child. They'll draw back tighter when he's really distressed, but for the most part, they're slightly tilted backwards. When do horses do this? When they're listening to what's behind them.
• Throughout the show, one of Princess Carolyn's biggest issues has been her search for companionship. This is actually fairly true to form for her breed. Persian cats, of which she is one (albeit pink) are known to be an incredibly social breed who fare very poorly in isolation.
• The fan-favorite quote about how "every day it gets a little easier" also has a dark side to it. It gets easier to rationalize one's own corrupt actions. It gets easier to revert to and continue one's old habits. It gets easier to tolerate drugs and alcohol. It gets easier to sit in one's house all day long in an attempt to avoid facing the consequences of one's actions. It gets easier to put off contacting someone. It gets easier to think of oneself as unfixable and irredeemable… and so on and so forth.
• The complicated friendship that the series chronicles is framed by the last letters of the Hollywoo sign: D for Diane, B for BoJack.
• In the last four episodes of season three, BoJack loses Princess Carolyn (Best Thing That Ever Happened), then Todd (It's You), then finally Diane (That Went Well). In the Bittersweet Ending BoJack has a final conversation with them in that exact order.
• Bojack's meetings with Herb in Season 1 and Charlotte in Season 2 are similar in other ways, besides the obligatory F-bomb:
  • He hadn't been in contact with either friend for 20 years, and when he does finally meet up with them, their initial interactions are positive. Even Herb, despite calling out Bojack for backstabbing him all those years ago, admits that he is genuinely happy to see him again.
  • Bojack tries to push his luck - by trying to get Herb to accept his apology and Charlotte to run away with him. Both refuse to do so, and had Bojack left it at that, he could have left on a neutral note.
  • Unfortunately, Bojack doesn't do that and ends up destroying both friendships beyond repair - His attempt at wrangling forgiveness from Herb fully sours his meeting with his old friend, while his attempt to sleep with Charlotte's daughter results in Charlotte furiously ordering him to stay away from her family.

Season 1

• While Herb kissing BoJack at the Griffith Park observatory in "The Telescope" is the most obvious indicator of his Transparent Closet, the fact that he daydreams about sharing high-fives with BoJack (a practice the latter is confused and skeptical about) is a more subtle hint of his sexuality, given that the gesture was first popularized by openly gay baseball pioneer Glenn Burke of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the late 1970s, who brought it onto the field after using it with other gay men in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood as a sign of solidarity. Herb's early adoption of the high-five shows his knowledge of California gay culture of the era.
• Tori Spelling's ghostwriter is a parrot. Of course parrots would make natural ghostwriters since they can learn to mimic the speech of others.
  • Also pictured in the ghostwriter panel is a very Truman Capote-like figure. Capote is long rumored to have ghostwritten To Kill A Mockingbird.
• Kristen Schaal voices Harper, the daughter BoJack and Charlotte have in his drug-fueled hallucinations. The casting choice makes sense, as Schaal also voices Sarah Lynn, who BoJack views as a daughter figure.
• Also in The Telescope, when Herb is first revealed to be gay as BoJack watches TV, his home is decorated with paintings that are clearly based on those by Keith Haring, a gay artist whose art often touched on political themes and who died due to complications related to AIDS.
• When Todd says, "Maybe I just need to stop expecting you to be a good person, so that way, I won't get hurt when you're not," he doesn't indicate that he has stopped, just that he needs to. He still expects the best from BoJack in season three, which is why he feels hurt when he finds out BoJack slept with Emily. It's around that time that Todd officially stops expecting BoJack to be good.
• The video for Sarah Lynn's "Prickly Muffin" takes place in a planetarium, the backup dancers are astronauts, and Sarah Lynn herself literally rides on, not in, a space shuttle. (She also mentions a project where her character is an architect as a secret identity to cover up her other secret identity as a high-end prostitute to cover her true identity as an international super-spy.) Sarah Lynn has so little freedom to live her own life that she's forced to wedge her real ambitions into what little creative control she has over her projects. We're not just looking at foreshadowing of her eventual fate, we're seeing the dream of being an astronaut that Sarah Lynn gave up on.
• In "Bojack Hates the Troops," Bojack is shown to have a dim view of hyper-patriotic fervor, especially people who mindlessly praise the troops. Considering his father espoused conservatism in the most obnoxious way possible, it would shape Bojack into someone who is less than impressed with patriotic nonsense.

Season 2

• Combined with Genius Bonus: In "Brand New Couch," Beatrice calls BoJack to tell him she read his book, and says "It takes a real narcissist to think anyone would want to buy a book about him. You know how I feel about Anne Frank." At first blush, it seems like a case of Upper-Class Twit meets In-Universe Factoid Failure, along with a hefty does of Early-Installment Weirdness since she's later shown to be an avid Bookworm. However, not many people know that Anne Frank did intend to publish her diary after the war. While she and her family were in hiding, they heard on the radio that the Dutch government wanted to collect and publish ordinary people's diaries after the war to document that point in their history, and keep up morale. Anne Frank heard this and heavily altered her diary (both existing passages and going forward) with a future reading audience in mind. After her father was the only one to survive the Holocaust, he published her diary to honor her dying wish. Being so well-informed, Beatrice would know this.
• This may be unintentional, but it's pretty well-fitting that the writers chose to make Hank a hippo. Hippos are often viewed as cute, cuddly animals, when in actuality they're highly aggressive and one of the most dangerous animals around.
• Abe is a hacky populist director likely chosen because he's someone easily controlled by studio suits. He's also a catfish. In other words, a bottom-feeder.
  • Also, Abe is a fish character who walks on land without a breathing bowl, but is constantly drinking water. Real life catfish are actually capable of surviving on land as long as they stay moist, and when he thrashes across the table, he's moving the way catfish can 'crawl' between bodies of water.
• When BoJack is about to walk onto the set of Salinger's game show, Wanda tells him to "break a leg". While this is a tradition in show-business, breaking a leg is a very serious injury for a horse. Wanda is subtly showing that she is starting to get annoyed with BoJack's behavior.
• Kelsey would have a reason to use an "f" bomb on BoJack and end their relationship permanently. Yet, she doesn't. Why? Because, for all intents and purposes, she could have stopped his Zany Scheme and Nixon heist from happening. Kelsey had the rank to tell BoJack that even if they want this scene, it's not pragmatic for either of them to go against Lenny Turtletaub's orders, and she has more to lose than he does. Not to mention that Kelsey later gets the courage to pitch a superhero blockbuster on her terms, because at that point she had nothing to lose. BoJack sabotaged her career in the short-term, but he also gave her the courage to reignite it. 
• Princess Carolyn mentions how she just wants to catch up on The Good Wife until her painting fantasy convinces her otherwise. This leads her to jump ship with Rutabaga Rabitowitz, leaving her job at one firm to start another; for the next few episodes, she and Rutabaga buy office space and work on making sure their clients are going to jump to the new firm with them... which is exactly the plot of The Good Wife's most critically acclaimed season/storyline, Season 5.
• Wanda's statement "When you look at someone with rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags" takes on another meaning when you realise she was friends with a KGB agent for a while.
  • It goes on to ring true in the very next episode for another one of BoJack's relationships: Penny. When he takes her to prom, she sees him as a guy she can connect with, who listens to her and provides her with this wonderful experience, failing to notice that he takes advantage of her vulnerability. When BoJack shows up drunk and high at her college a year later, she sees him for who he really is.
• This show's universe doesn't have any pets since every animal is anthropomorphic, but there seems to be a dynamic between Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter that resembles a human and her pet, implying that such a dynamic between two individuals is still commonplace even though humans and animals have the same amount of independence. This could explain how Kelsey treats Todd: she sees him as akin to a cute pet, and this viewpoint is normal since a human is on par with a dog in this universe.
• Trip's frequent boners seem to be a source of comic relief, but they actually hold some plot significance: it prompts Charlotte to ask him what could possibly be arousing him, since everyone at the table is either his family or "an old man." The fact that Charlotte calls BoJack an old man makes it that much more disgusting that BoJack almost has sex with a seventeen-year-old.
• Daniel Radcliffe forgetting BoJack comes off as arrogance (especially since he can remember everyone else) until we remember this is BoJack we're talking about. There's a very high likeliness he exagerrated the meaningfulness of their past interaction to feed his own ego. Looking at how extreme other "meaningful interactions" get, it's not improbable that it didn't even happen and BoJack is just hinging onto some drunken episode he can barely remember.

Season 3

• When Diane asks Mr. Peanutbutter if his brother heard about her "A-B-O-R-T-I-O-N", Mr. Peanutbutter thinks she's spelling "audition". He doesn't understand because he's a dog — dogs sometimes learn words such as "bath", so you have to spell it out instead so they don't react to it. Since he's a dog, he doesn't understand words when they're spelled out loud.
• The song that plays lightly in the background of the planetarium's presentation in "That's Too Much, Man!"? It's called "II. Venus, The Bringer of Peace" and it definitely brought Sarah Lynn peace.
  • To add another layer and make it a bit darker – the song has an incredibly ironic name. While Venus is typically thought of as one of the most beautiful planets (to the point of being associated with both the Greek and Roman goddesses of beauty), it's also arguably the most dangerous. Quite the metaphor going on.
• Sarah Lynn's original last name is revealed to be Himmelfarb, which is German or Yiddish for "color of the sky." Now think back to what her last view was before dying…
  • On its own, "Himmel" means heaven or sky, a reference to her view at the planetarium as well as where she might be headed afterwards, depending on what you believe.
• The disaster in the last episode came as the result of several ridiculous things BoJack had done in the last two seasons coming together and it was resolved by several ridiculous things Mr. Peanutbutter had done coming together. Even indirectly everything BoJack does turns to shit and everything Mr Peanutbutter does somehow works out.
• Sarah Lynn's death could also be tied into the fact that she was nine months sober from ANY substances. People who go through rehab or have a successful abstinence period and then relapse are at high risk for overdose due to the fact that their tolerance drops while they are clean. Sarah Lynn started indulging with the copious amounts of drugs and alcohol she was on before instead of starting slow, and her body couldn't handle it because of this reset!

Season 4

• If Honey Sugarman crashing her car with Beatrice in it was, in fact, a suicide attempt, her nervous breakdown ends up being a complete contrast to Eddie's breakdown. Honey tried to kill herself in an attempt to feel alive again after her son's death, while Eddie tried to kill himself specifically because he didn't want to be alive anymore after his wife's death.
• In a similar vein, in the aftermath of Sarah Lynn’s death we see BoJack take his hands off the car’s steering wheel when driving down an empty road, risking a collision. After the party in the wake of Crackerjack’s death, Honey stomps on the gas pedal, causing an actual crash. Like grandmother, like grandson.
• The reveal at the end of "Ruthie" is made obvious when, after Ruthie extols the heirloom status of the necklace, it turned out to be completely worthless costume jewelry.
  • And when Princess Carolyn is subjected to some Oblivious Guilt Slinging by the Italian restaurateur, he mentions "Miss-a Carey" 5 times - the same number of miscarriages that P.C. has suffered by this point.
  • The fact that even inside PC's fantasy there’s a kid asking the difference between an "agent" and a "manager" seems to indicate that PC is fully aware that it's a Distinction Without a Difference. Either that or her definition about how "managers" can also "produce" could also be her way of reframing her career to match her new found anxieties.
• Of course Todd plays a triangle in the orchestra; a triangle in white and purple is one of the symbols for asexuality!
• Beatrice referring to Hollyhock as The Girl along with mistaking BoJack for Henrietta makes sense as of Episode 11. She was there when Hollyhock was born and ostensibly recognized her. Since she was nameless at the time, she was simply "The Girl" to her.
  • The majority of Beatrice's lines throughout Season 4 take on a whole new meaning after The Reveal, such as her calling Henrietta "a waste of [her] husband's jism" and "unfit to be a mother".
    • The reason Beatrice has a breakdown watching the live episode of Horsin' Around is because she sees Henrietta parenting Hollyhock. It's pretty much the only time BoJack acts like a typical healthy parental figure to her.
• In the same episode, Beatrice was shown to have actually enjoyed Horsin' Around - and this doesn't actually contradict what we've seen before. When BoJack had first asked her what she thought of it, all she said was just "Well, it's not Ibsen." And she, naturally, was in no hurry to clarify this due to her own Freudian Excuse.
• Yolanda is an asexual axolotl.
  • She can also be seen when Todd first attends the asexual meetup, hence why she already knows about his orientation.
  • ... an Albino Asexual Axolotl from the Better Business Bureau looking into Customer Complaints of Clown Dentists Drilling Dangerously... Eventually Evolving into Extreme Fear-based Fitness in the Forest!
  • Also a reference to the Asexual Axolotl meme
• Book Ends for season 4: Episode 2 ends with Beatrice losing her brother and her mother whereas by the end of the season Hollyhock gains a brother and finds her mother.
  • To drive this even further, Season 6 has Hollyhock lose her brother (albeit willingly) while Beatrice (in BoJack's dream) reunites with her brother.
• The opening theme of season 4 foreshadowed one of the plot points in the story. It may be grasping at straws, but the intro plays in its usual style with BoJack waking up and going through a morning routine with plenty of continuity gags. Until he drinks the coffee. Afterwards, instead of a scene transition to another location, BoJack seems to enter a surreal world where he sees the faces of all his 'friends'. Given it's BoJack, it's easy to think he just put something in his coffee to cope with his current state in life. Until Hollyhock passes out in episode 10 and BoJack discovers the drugs that Beatrice was putting in the coffee. With someone like BoJack who's used to consuming all kinds of illicit substances, he might not be as easily affected as Hollyhock. Instead, he just hallucinates for a little bit and goes on with his day.
• One of the lyrics in "A Horse with No Name", which opens "The Old Sugarman Place", is "The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz". The first thing BoJack meets in Michigan, and the one to whom he becomes closest, is a dragonfly.
  • But the first thing he meets are Tamara and Tamara at the hardware store.
• When Princess Carolyn asks her gynecologist how many eggs she has, he replies "More than the Harry Potter movies but fewer than the James Bond." Not only are these the two highest-grossing film franchises of all time, but it also alludes to a rumor that the Potter films have out-grossed the Bond films despite having fewer installments. With that knowledge, this becomes a kind of False Reassurance, i.e. "You have fewer eggs, but you're more likely to conceive than if there were more" (she isn't). It would also make sense that the doctor would use this metaphor for a patient who works in Hollywoo bureaucracy and would therefore understand the reference.
• The reason Beatrice treats Doll better than she treated young BoJack? Beatrice's memories of her mother are incomplete as all she can really think about was her mother's lobotomy as shown by memories of her mom being replaced by a silhouette, with only the scar plainly visible. It's entirely likely that she forgot the promise she made to her mother to never truly love anyone as much as her mother loved Crackerjack.
• Why can't BoJack bring himself to cursing out his mother? Because he's not doing it to Beatrice Horseman his mother, he's doing it to Beatrice Horseman the person. He got enough of his rage out just by saying "Fuck you, mom!" out loud.
• Todd makes a reference to "Pumped Up Kicks" in the episode "Thoughts and Prayers". It's genuinely brilliant to make a reference to one of the most popular (although unknown to some that it is) songs about gun violence in an episode that wholly talks about gun violence. The lyrics of the song are indeed about a boy causing a School Shooting (and so is the video).
• A subtle bit of foreshadowing, but in the episode "Ruthie" the titular character makes a reference to clocks to show how backwards the past was compared to the future. This actually comes into play later when Princess Carolyn produces the show "Philbert" for a website that only exists to tell you what time it is.
• The sheer applicability of Joseph telling Beatrice "your sickness has infected everything" in her last and most painful memory. On the one hand, it can refer to the actions of Beatrice as a mother, where the cycle of abuse in which Beatrice's trauma has led to BoJack's trauma, which has led to BoJack ruining the lives of many other people. On the other hand, it can also refer to the current Beatrice, whose final sickness, her dementia, has "infected" her memories, as presented through the Deranged Animation present throughout the episode.
  • Don’t forget the exchange that directly follows. Beatrice’s sickness has infected everything, especially her baby.
• BoJack's lie to Hollyhock at the end of "Stupid Piece of Sh*t" has some truth to it, at least for the audience: we never hear that voice again.
• Joseph Sugarman is shown to have disinterest in the Civil Rights Movement. There are several reasons why.
  • Racism. Considering Joseph is so antisemitic, he blamed the Jews for pissing off Hitler, it isn't hard to imagine his racism also extends to black people.
  • Self-interest: the sugar industry has historically been an incredibly exploitative one. Growing sugarcane was one of the biggest drivers of slavery, and even in the modern-day field workers can be badly treated. Since Joseph has a business that relies on cheap sugar, he would see civil activism by farmers as threatening to his bottom line.
• Going on the above point, the sugar industry is the perfect industry for Joseph to be in: the sugar industry is seemingly wholesome, but it has a lot of exploitation underneath it, on top of the fact that sweets look nice but are bad for your health. A perfect reflection of his family life.
• All the plots in "Commence Fracking" have a Central Theme of sex in some way: BoJack tracking down women he had sex with to find Hollyhock's mother, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter struggling with their sex life, and Princess Carolyn rushing to have sex with Ralph before she stops ovulating. Todd pops up and shout "Damn!" a few times but otherwise has no direct role in any of these plots- because the episode is about sex, something Todd has just recently accepted not being interested in.
• This is the season we find out that BoJack is originally San Franciscan (his parents just never stopped acting like they were living on the East Coast) making him, and possibly Todd, the only born and raised Californians in the main cast. This makes a lot of sense as previously BoJack's jaded remarks sometimes extended to the entire state where everyone else's only got as far as the LA area.
• The unhappy lives of the Horseman family largely stem from their need to maintain traditional gender and family roles, not out of love for one another, but because that was what society wanted.
  • Beatrice rejected Corbin just because he was arranged to be married to her, only to find out too late he was actually a decent guy.
  • Meanwhile, she had a standard steamy romance with Butterscotch and maintained a traditional marriage, only for the two of them to end up in a deeply unhappy relationship. Had Beatrice and Butterscotch divorced, they probably would have been happier an thus better parents.
  • Hollyhock's family life is very non-traditional to say the least: her parents are eight men in a polyamorous relationship. But because they embraced what they wanted to be, the dads ended up happier and more well adjusted, giving Hollyhock the loving environment she needed.
• Beatrice spiking Hollyhock with amphetamines isn't all that surprising: she's thoroughly internalized her father's abusive and sexist beliefs. In her twisted mind, she's "helping" Hollyhock become the ideal woman.
• BoJack breaking the The Chain of Harm by comforting his senile mother was already foreshadowed by the fact that while BoJack has many of his parents' bad habits, he isn't consumed by them.
  • BoJack shares the abrasiveness of his mom...but he actually notices the negative effects his behavior has on Hollyhock, and assures her that she's a wonderful person and that him acting shitty isn't her fault. Unlike Beatrice, who not only mistreated BoJack, but blamed him for everything that went wrong in her life.
  • BoJack can say sorry. While these apologies are insincere, he still makes excuses, which shows he understands concepts like shame. Thus he can make a more sincere apology to Todd, and accept that Todd will still keep a distance from him.
  • Bojack avoids the mistake of his grandfather: namely Joseph chose to have his wife lobotomized after her mental health endangered Beatrice. When Beatrice's own senility endangers Hollyhock, Bojack...instead gives Beatrice the comfort and kindness Joseph never gave to his own mentally ill wife.
• Hollyhock, BoJack, and Beatrice's story are a walking demonstration of Nature Versus Nurture (about whether our upbringing shapes our character or if genetics shape our character) and the answer appears to be nurture. Beatrice insists that BoJack was "born broken" and was destined to be a screw up, but through Hollyhock we that isn't the case at all.
  • Hollyhock is genetically Butterscotch's daughter, seems to have BoJack's depression, and she ends up (unwittingly) hooked on weight loss supplements. However, unlike BoJack, Hollyhock had eight parental figures who deeply cared about her a lot. Having a loving support network her entire life prevents Hollyhock from being consumed by whatever issues have plagued the Horseman family.
  • While BoJack is a deeply flawed person, he is far from a total screw up: he managed to become a successful sitcom star and shows occasional artistic talent. Because he had Herb, a supportive friend, to help him rise to the top. While his life has never been perfect, he has had some kind of support network to pick him up when he's down. BoJack may drive people away from him through his behavior, but the fact is these relationships are why BoJack has moments of decency, regret, and atonement, however fleeting they may be.
  • While it doesn't excuse her actions one bit, Beatrice has had no healthy relationships to speak of: her loving older brother died in war, her loving mother was lobotomized, her father was a misogynistic asshole who thought she was only good for being a housewife, her peers bullied her, and she was married to a man she didn't love. Unlike BoJack and Hollyhock, Beatrice had no support network to help her through her troubles, and thus no drive to become better.
• BoJack's treatment of Beatrice in her last moment of lucidity is both similar and different to his last moments with Herb and Charlotte.
  • The rule of the show is when someone says the word "fuck", it means BoJack has ruined a relationship. BoJack said "fuck you Mom", which foreshadows him finally throwing his mom out of his life for good. He does that by dumping her in a crappy retirement home. This reflects how Herb and Charlotte threw BoJack out of their lives. Like Charlotte, BoJack did it because Beatrice harmed someone close to him after he welcomed Beatrice into his home.
  • However, unlike Herb or Charlotte, BoJack does try to give Beatrice one happy moment. He reeled from the fact that Herb didn't give him closure, so he's willing to give some to Beatrice.
• Beatrice forced Henrietta to put Hollyhock up for adoption because Beatrice didn't want Henrietta to make the same mistake she did. But Beatrice might have another ulterior motive: considering how Butterscotch is Hollyhock's biological father, Henrietta could potentially dump Hollyhock onto the Horsemans. Beatrice, knowing how much she failed as a mom, doesn't want to screw up another child.
• Joseph, the hypermasculine asshole, thought crying and showing "womanly" emotions made a person weak. Yet throughout the season, showing emotions and/or crying is the only way anything gets resolved.
  • The only time Butterscotch is able to fix one of his mistakes, knocking up Henrietta, is by crying and emotionally begging Beatrice to talk to Henrietta. Whether Butterscotch is actually remorseful or trying to manipulate Beatrice, this act is a posthumous swipe at Joseph and his toxic beliefs.
  • Beatrice emotionally warning Henrietta to give the child up for adoption is what helps Henrietta understand she's not ready to be a mom.
  • BoJack's arc is learning to swallow his pride for the greater good. Whereas his grandfather would be the kind of person who chooses to berate Beatrice, BoJack rises above that and gives his mom a little bit of empathy and ends up better off for it.
• Beatrice staying married to Butterscotch wasn't just because she stubbornly tried to uphold her father's values: considering Joseph's incredibly sexist outlook, it is likely he frowned upon the idea of divorce. Butterscotch and Beatrice stayed married because he threatened to cut them off if they broke apart.
• The relative prosperity Bojack grew up in was because Butterscotch was given a job by his father-in-law. This only makes Butterscotch's denunciation of "communists who cheat welfare" more nonsensical and hypocritical: he didn't earn his upper class lifestyle through hard work and determination, but lucked into it by knocking up a rich girl. The fact that his cushy life came from being around a woman he hated likely added to Butterscotch's bitterness and insecurity.
• It is easy to mistake Joseph as some kind of old school conservative with an outdated worldview. But his opinions go well beyond the right-wing. Despite having a son who fought in World War II, Joseph's worldview is quite fascistic and reactionary.
  • Joseph was not merely antisemitic: he blamed Jewish people for their own persecution by saying they "peeved Hitler". Victim blaming of minorities is characteristic of fascism, since it professes the mere existence of others as a threat to the well-being of society. The fact that Joseph doesn't care much for the civil rights movement is another red flag to him being a serious closet racist.
  • His incredible misogyny is also another far-right belief. The Nazis and other fascists believe women are only fit to be housewives to the point where even as World War II dragged on, many women were still barred from working in factories. Joseph believed the only thing Beatrice ought to aspire to is being a Trophy Wife for the son of one of his business partners.
  • Ableism. The Nazis hated the mentally ill, seeing their existence as a threat to Aryan purity, to the point of straight up murdering them. Their social darwinism made them contemptful of any supposed "weakness" someone held. Joseph's approach toward mental and emotional health is also pretty bad: has No Sympathy for Honey and her mental breakdown and straight up lobotomizes her rather than get her any therapy or comfort her. And he even threatens to do this to Beatrice if she acts out.
  • Joseph holding views that are pretty similar to fascism isn't all that surprising: much of Nazi ideology was inspired by American racial policies.
• The characters of the 1940s and 1960s are depicted as not indulging in that much swearing even when they do things that would nowadays be considered horrifying. This reflects the idea that politness does not equate to morality, and underscores the idea that even if people were more charming in the past, it doesn't mean they were necessarily better.

Season 5

• Don't know if this belongs in Fridge Brilliance or Fridge Horror, but watching season 5 surprisingly gives a little more depth to Anna Spanikopita. In season 3 BoJack and Ana dated while she was working on his Oscar campaign, and even though he wanted to continue the relationship when it was over she broke up with him. At the time it looked like she was just being a typical cold Hollywoo publicist, but there's actually more to unpack than that. Ana had the tape about what BoJack did in New Mexico. She showed that tape to Dianne at the end of the episode "BoJack The Feminist" only after her conscience began to bother her. Clearly, this information bothered Ana even back in season 3 if she held onto it for two years. She was also acutely aware of the weeks-long drug bender that claimed the life of Sarah Lynn because BoJack and Sarah Lynn kept barging into her house. Therefore, she didn't want to date BoJack in a serious way because she was aware of how self-destructive and hurtful he could be.
• It's revealed that Butterscotch actually published his novel... and it was apparently horrible. Going off the fact that the novel was stuck in Development Hell, this makes sense - lots of writers would agree that keeping a story "cooking" for too long can have disastrous effects.
• Flip can constantly be seen eating popsicles throughout Season 5.
• The boom mic operator on "Philbert" is a snake that closely resembles a boa constrictor. Could this be a foreshadowing to what BoJack does to Gina at the end of the season?
• In "Free Churro", BoJack mentions going to a friend's father's funeral and how she had conflicted feelings about said death, not unlike how he was feeling himself with Beatrice's death. It was most likely Diane he was talking about in that moment.
• The musical number that was brought on during BoJack's drug trip has a ton of references to many moments and characters throughout the show, but perhaps the subtlest of all is one seemingly random line where Gina sings "Aw, shucks". Since after all, Gina is a fan of musicals, specifically a corn themed one.
• In the opening of the episode "Free Churro" Butterscotch mentions that BoJack’s mother locked herself in her room to weep after seeing the play "A Doll’s House" with her friends. Earlier we learned that Beatrice was taught never to cry and passed that toxic trait onto BoJack. So, what would be so powerful in that play to make her cry? The play is about a wife and mother who discovers her husband is selfish and doesn’t love her, and the protagonist leaves her unfulfilling life and family. Beatrice’s values would never allow her to leave Butterscotch though, so she feels trapped.
• In "Mr. Peanutbutter's Boos", Diane chastises Mr. Peanutbutter for never listening to his spouses, he misinterprets her message and he even scoffs at the suggestion of dating a woman his own age ^note Even BoJack at least tried with Wanda. It's a major example of how, for all his charisma and popularity, Mr. Peanutbutter and BoJack are not so different after all. The only major distinction is that BoJack is more open about his sleaziness and is more likely to be held to scrutiny for it.
  • To be fair, he was dating Pickles at the time, and he's never shown to be the one to end a relationship. That being said, there is still an undeniable pattern with Mr. Peanutbutter only dating women in their 20s.
• One of the first things Diane tells BoJack during their confrontation at the Philbert premiere is, "I feel like I barely know you anymore." That's because she doesn't know what he did, and according to her, "all you are is just the things that you do."
• Flip has a tendency to input jokes about strangulation in the dialogue of Philbert. The fact that he's willing to joke about it hints that he doesn't see it as that big a deal, which explains why he's in no hurry to stop BoJack when he strangles Gina on set in real life.
• Beatrice's last words were apparently her reading the ICU sign. Why did she fail to give BoJack one moment of decency, instead choosing to read a sign?
  • Charitably, her enfeeblement meant she couldn't do much else. Her mind was so gone she really couldn't do anything but read.
  • Less charitably, if she was still somewhat lucid in her final moments, she may have deliberately given her son one last moment of spite. Tricking him into thinking she was saying something nice only for him to realize it wouldn't be out of character for her. She was horrible enough that her last act of life would be one final dig at her son.
• Butterscotch writing a terrible and book getting killed in a gunfight over someone not liking his book shows how Bojack became a better artist than his father.
  • In flashbacks, Bojack's work was criticized by Herb. But by accepting criticism, Bojack was able to improve his work and do better as a comedian. Bojack still has ego problems, but not to the point that he can't find work as an actor. Meanwhile, Butterscotch refused to accept any advice or critique of the book he was working on, making a story so bad that he only got one bad review. It is fitting that his thin skin not only killed his artistic dreams but drove him to a stupid death.
  • While Bojack wasn't a great actor, he still got to star in a beloved 90s sitcom that gave him some recognition, with a few other decent roles. Butterscotch died without no one remembering him as anything but a guy who got killed over wounded pride.

Season 6

• Jameson gripes that her boyfriend was apparently thinking of breaking up with her because she "got fat junior year." By the end of the episode, we learn the truth about the new baby in the family she's been talking about. She probably wasn't just "fat" in junior year.
• Flea Daniels complains about how Princess Carolyn re-edited Birthday Dad, one criticism being that the flashback scenes are mixed in with the present-day scenes without a clear transition. Later in the episode, some scenes that appear to be in present-day turn out to be flashbacks.
• In Season 2, a throw-away joke about how Diane was given her name because her parents liked the show Cheers produced a minor continuity error, since that same season takes place in 2015 and Diane celebrates her 35th birthday that year. Cheers initially aired in 1982, which is two years after Diane was born. Intentionally or not, Diane resolves the problem with another throw-away (but completely in character for her parents) joke about how her parents didn't name her until she was four years old.
• The last spoken words of The Face of Depression - "Looks like you found some solace in our show. Stay if you like. In thirty minutes, we start over" - aren't just meant for BoJack. They're meant for us. They're saying that if we've found solace in this cartoon, we can consider this the final episode of the series, because in thirty minutes (after the next episode) the cycle will start all over again.
• The two reporters investigating Sarah Lynn's death are dressed in attire similar to that seen in the 1930s-1940s. While on the surface it could be seen as a throwback to early cinematic comedies, the duos appearances become more symbolic when you realize that The Chain of Harm for BoJack and the previous two generations in his family happened in the 1940s thanks to the death of Crackerjack (who decided to go to war while embracing The All-American Boy archetype idealized back then; a personality trait that made him walk into danger ignorantly and to his death) as well as a grieving Honey Sugarman being lobotomized by her uncaring husband (who was just acting as a "modern American man" and later felt using a lobotomy on Beatrice would be justified if she ever showed too much emotion again, creating her callous personality). Now, after seven decades it looks as if things are coming full circle for BoJack and for all the drama and suffering he both caused and experienced.
  • Once BoJack's actions are revealed, things do end up coming full circle for the whole Sugarman-Horseman lineage. Just like how Crackerjack's death tore his family and everything around them apart, BoJack's actions (especially his involvement in Sarah Lynn's fatal overdose) not only got him plenty of hate in Hollywoo but also put a severe strain on the people around him (to the point where his closest friends kept their distance for the time being). Also, at the start of The Chain of Harm, one of the the Horsemans (Beatrice) permanently lost contact with a loved one (Honey Sugarman) while the Disaster Dominoes were still falling, while BoJack's actions decades later end up causing Hollyhock (his only living biological family member) to cut all ties with him amid his fall from grace, meaning that someone in the lineage lost someone they cared about decades apart.
  • To summarize: why do the reporters talk and act like they are from the distant past? Because they are the past catching up to BoJack.
• Why is Paige Sinclair depicted as a pig, of all animals? Well, pigs have incredibly sensitive snouts that allow them to sniff out truffle mushrooms that humans would miss because they grow under the ground surface. Throughout European and Euro-American history, people trained "truffle hogs" to sniff and root out truffles in temperate forests, some as deep as three feet underground. Likewise, Paige can "sniff out" a story in a seemingly innocuous case that most people would dismiss as cut-and-dry. She also has a sophisticated personality to go with the whole "truffle hog" metaphor, because truffles are a rare culinary delicacy.
  • It could also be a subtle reference to famous muckraker and author of The Jungle, Upton Sinclair. Who, among other things, was well known for exposing the atrocious working and sanitary conditions inside slaughterhouses, which resulted in the federal government passing the Pure Food and Drug Act in order to resolve all of these problems. Many of which were places where they slaughtered pigs.
• Jeremiah Whitewhale has a mustache made of baleen which developed as he aged. In other words, he's long in the tooth.
• For the first time, the Evolving Credits show BoJack traversing several key moments in his life, rather than waking up and walking through his house. While this is obviously symbolic of this season's themes, the absence of the house's interior is also because BoJack never returns home after leaving rehab, except for a very brief moment.
  • By the finale, it becomes apparent that the intro sequence of season six describes the series as a whole. It depicts several major points in BoJack's life, then shows him sinking to the bottom of his pool, and then shows him floating on top of it the next day—much like how he almost drowned, and then kept living.
  • It could also symbolize BoJack's newfound self-awareness after going to rehab and therapy. He is no longer ignoring the past nor is he trying to dull his trauma with narcotics.
• In a quick Freeze-Frame Bonus during the Grand Finale, Gina is starring in the same superheroine movie being directed by Kelsey, despite Kelsey being warned about Gina's growing reputation as The Prima Donna. Why this quick change of heart? Well, after BoJack's disastrous second interview, exposing much of his misdeeds, it’s likely that Gina took advantage of people turning against BoJack to publically reveal him strangling her while high (if that wasn't already exposed by Paige, Max, and Biscuits). This would have had Kelsey realize that she and Gina had a lot in common because both of them have been screwed over by BoJack, so Kelsey decided to help Gina out by sharing the opportunity she was also given to turn her life around from BoJack's actions.
  • And, considering Kelsey wrote Fireflame as a lesbian, Gina was presumably able to perform without getting too up close and personal with a physically imposing man as her romantic lead, thus preventing her nervous triggers.
  • Another possible explanation is that Kelsey discovered that Gina's paranoia about stunts began after she worked on Philbert, the same show that had a viral BTS video of the main star seeming to nearly choke his co-star to death, and that star and co-star were Bojack and Gina respectively. It's possible she saw all of this, put two and two together, and asked Gina in private if she was right.
• Speaking of CrackerJack, it seems a bit odd that he was present in BoJacks Dying Dream when he himself died long before BoJack was even born. His death was a catalyst for Beatrice's trauma and life choices that lead to his nephew's birth and the cycle of abuse that plagued the Horseman family.
  • BoJack addresses Crackerjack as "the uncle that (BoJack) never met and will never live up to". Everyone with a plate at the dinner party is someone that was a direct cause of trauma for BoJack, and while he never met Crackerjack, his presence was still a major influence on his life. This is why Crackerjack was present at the party but Joseph Sugarman wasn't: Beatrice likely never shared the cruelty of Joseph, but would openly compare BoJack and Crackerjack. They even have similar names, suggesting that Beatrice wanted to evoke her brother when naming her son.
  • Crackerjack remarks that all his kills were friendly fire. This could be true (although considering how much the family idealised him, it’s unlikely that this kind of information would make its way to BoJack) but since this is all happening in BoJack’s head, there’s also the distinct possibility that this is BoJack’s rather spiteful way of pushing back against the idealisation of Crackerjack, by constructing a reality where his uncle wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.
• In season 6 we learn that Diane wants to write her memoir because she wants to help kids going through trauma like she did when she was young. The middle school detective novel she ends up writing is lighter-hearted than her depressing book of essays would have been, yet is shown to have value for teens going through rough times (like her stepson Sonny). The brilliance comes from realizing when Diane was young what got her through her rough period was “Horsin’ Around”, a cheesy show starring a broken individual. Diane grew up to be the next generation of broken person who delivers fun content for other broken people just like she used to be.
• Princess Carolyn at first does Tough Love to motivate Diane to meet her deadline after being six months overdue. Then she switches gears after Guy emails her the Ivy Tran manuscript, comforting Diane when making an offer on the book. As Diane laments that her childhood trauma meant nothing, Princess Carolyn says the middle-grade mystery can achieve Diane's goal of making little girls like them feel less alone in the world. Why? Because Princess Carolyn was once a little girl/kitten who felt alone within a Dysfunctional Family. Reading Ivy Tran make her feel better about her own trauma.
• During the Grand Finale, in the scene where BoJack is motivating his prison-drama club, the drug cartel lord that BoJack unknowingly made "an ally for life" in the very first episode of the show is seen being a part of the club. Throughout the rest of the episode, BoJack never really speaks negatively regarding his time at prison, even wishing to go back when he panics slightly before going to Princess Carolyn's wedding. BoJack not having that bad of a time in prison, nevermind a supermax one, might be because the cartel lord having BoJack's back.
• The cattle-human family who bought BoJack's house had moved to Hollywoo because the youngest son had landed a role in a TV show - unaware that the show was already being cancelled. So, when BoJack breaks into the house and the kid becomes a youtube sensation, he's trying to milk the fame for all its worth, even scoring a reality show, because the family has bills to pay.
• In BoJack’s dream in "The View From Halfway Down" Sarah Lynn says the worst moment of her life was her 2007 concert tour, and mentions in detail why it was so bad for her. This is BoJack’s dream though, so how would he know that? Because he actually went to her 2007 concert to try to get her to guest star on his new show, which further fractured their friendship. We’ll never know which concert was hardest on Sarah Lynn, but for BoJack 2007 was the worst one...for him.
• In "The View From Halfway Down" Secretariat and Butterscotch are presented as the same person, which could be seen as a reflection of BoJack's view of them both. Butterscotch was his biological father, but was distant and emotionally abusive. Whereas BoJack idolised Secretariat as both a child and an adult, making him the closest thing BoJack had to a positive parent figure growing up.
  • The fact that Butterscotch is the voice coming from Secretariat adds a layer of irony to his reading of the titular poem. BoJack knew Butterscotch was a terrible writer, but a part of him still wished that his father would succeed at his dreams.
  • Secretariat/Butterscotch also has a heart-to-heart with BoJack and explains that he always cared for BoJack but was too afraid to ever show it. Since this is a Dying Dream the conversation is BoJack's mind giving him something he always wanted; recognition from his childhood hero and affection from the father he could never please.
• Why is Zach Braff the butler in “The View From Halfway Down”? Because the butler is the only one who doesn’t participate in dinner, and Zach Braff died starving at Mr. Peanutbutter’s party.
  • To take it further, not only was he the only one not to eat, Braff himself was eaten, which means his last action was to serve (as) a meal to people.
• In the episode "Sunk Cost & All That" the acting students throw a party, and Princess Carolyn mentions that "They didn’t even buy alcohol! Just a disco ball and some capes!". They were likely keeping booze away from the party intentionally because they all knew BoJack was a recovering alcoholic and wanted to be supportive.
• Hollyhock kicking BoJack out of her life isn't just because of him. Considering that a senile Beatrice repaid her kindness by spiking her drink, Hollyhock sees the whole Horseman family as trouble she no longer wishes to be a part of.
• There could be another reason everyone in BoJack's AA meeting is so hostile to him in "The Horny Unicorn". In his second interview, he mentioned Sharona, a member of an Alcoholics Anonymous group, as an alcoholic by name on national television. Breaking AA confidentiality on that kind of scope definitely wouldn't have helped his already shattered reputation there.
  • Additionally, Sharona is not present at the meeting where everyone gives BoJack the cold shoulder, which likely means one of two things. BoJack's second betrayal either led her to join a different group elsewhere, or it caused her to start drinking again.
• In "A Quick One While He's Away" we see the importance of "nurture over nature": Hollyhock, like BoJack, suffers a severe panic attack. Unlike BoJack, she has a nice person, Pete, to help her through her anxiety. Hollyhock does have some of BoJack's issues, but unlike BoJack, she can find supportive people to help her overcome them.
• Pete, when talking about the trauma he endured at the hands of BoJack, does not bring up several key facts: that he and his friends wanted to drink, that they brought vodka and Red Bull, and BoJack gave them bourbon because he thought it was safer. Pete, like BoJack, also tries to deflect responsibility for his own actions while putting himself in decent light.
• In season two, while crashing at BoJack's house, Diane imagines an ideal conversation between her and Mr. Peanutbutter: "And I wouldn't have to say, 'I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I made things so difficult. I'm sorry I'm not the person I thought I was.' I would just say, 'My day was good.'" This is referenced in BoJack's Dying Dream, where he imagines Diane telling him her day was good instead of all the things she could have said: "I'm sorry I left'' for Chicago, "I'm sorry I made things so difficult" by making you promise me you'd be okay, "I'm sorry I'm not the person I thought I was" who would be okay no matter what happened to you. Diane even says in the finale, "I wish I could have been the person you thought I was, the person who would save you."
• The presence of a landline in the kitchen in "The View from Halfway Down" isn't just there because Horsin' Around took place in the nineties. In "The Showstopper," Philbert says he still has a landline because he sees it as "something to hold onto if I start floating away." Figuratively, that's exactly what BoJack does when he tries to contact Diane: hold on to his connection to the living world before he floats away from it.
• In "Angela," Angela tells BoJack, "Word to the wise, BoJack, don't get old," to which BoJack responds, "I'll see what I can do about that." At the end of the episode, he comes face to face with just how old he's become, and decides the only thing he can do about it from there is die.
• In "Angela", Angela mentions off-handedly that her partner doesn't allow her to use her car, and implies that her partner is female. This adds a bitter, ironic twist, seeing how her entire involvement with BJ stems from the fact that she had to remove Herb for being openly gay.
• At the end of her song in "The View from Halfway Down" Sarah Lynn holds her breath and plugs her nose before plunging into the abyss. Sarah Lynn died of a heroin overdose which kills you by suppressing your respiratory system to the point that you stop breathing.
• The Bait-and-Switch Back for the Finale gag with the Hollywoo sign is yet another nod to a recurring theme in the show: things don't come full circle and they don't reset to how they were, they just keep changing and moving forward to the next era. The change usually isn't unrecognizable from how it used to be, but it's never quite the same.
• Some people had trouble wrapping their heads around BoJack confessing to have an internalized hatred for horses due to parent upbringing due to his idol (Secretariat) literally being a horse. Then 'The View From Half-way down premiered' where his dad shows up in his hallucinations as secretariat, this help show fans that BoJack, sees the two as the same; except Secretariat is an idea of a person BoJack can fill with little concessions to make a more idealized father figure. This helps explain how BoJack, can still have that internalized hatred yet still see Secretariat as an idol.
• "Waa-Waa, the Baby Human" drinking poison seems like a ridiculously arbitrary and nonsensical stereotype to apply to humans, but in the real world humans are omnivores and there a several types of food that are perfectly edible for humans but could never be consumed by other species such as chocolate for dogs. In a world where species that have strong dietary restrictions are fully sentient, they would equate humans' lack of restrictions to "drinking poison".
• While BoJack's close friendship with Diane is more or less over, his final meeting with Diane proves he has truly changed for the better:
  • BoJack saying "you don't owe me anything" is a sign that he is no longer treating the people around him as something he is entitled too but as human beings with their own wants and needs.
  • Diane doesn't use the seasonal Precison F Strike on BoJack.

Fridge Horror

Fridge Horror

• In the Christmas special, BoJack excuses the sheer stupidity of Horsin' Around by saying "we were all on cocaine." Wait, even the kid actors?
  • Presumably he was referring just to the writing staff.
    • Although it would explain Sarah Lynn...
  • Sure why not? It could be a commentary on Hollywood culture surrounding substance abuse. Plenty of teenage and even child stars (Robert Downey Jr. was introduced to drugs at age 6, Drew Barrymore was drinking regularly at the age of 12) were exposed to alcohol and drugs.
  • Season 6 reveals that Sarah Lynn got a hold of alcohol on set when she was ten. Granted, her mother was pissed about it, but who's to say she couldn't have later secretly gotten a hand on something even stronger?
• In "Still Broken", Sarah Lynn mentions being homeschooled by her "photographer" mother's boyfriend. Later on, she recognizes the taste of bear fur because her stepfather was a bear. Um...
  • So would that make him Pedo Bear?
  • And it could mean that she innocently kissed his big furry face sometimes and it was all innocent and lovely, but somehow she manages to very very clearly imply that it wasn't innocent at all.
    • Considering how hyper-sexual the character eventually becomes (an unfortunate side effect of child molestation is the victim convincing themselves that physical sex is the only proper form of love), the fact that her stepfather is modeled after a real-life alleged rapist and the show's themes around the extremely damaging side effects of abuse, it's safe to assume that Sarah Lynn's physical interactions with her stepfather went beyond hugging and kissing.
  • This also makes the fact she ended up sleeping with BoJack, her stage father and overall closest thing to a father figure, Harsher in Hindsight (and it was already pretty creepy to begin with). As does the nonchalant way she ponders how Penny could have been traumatized by BoJack, given for all we know, Sarah Lynn could have had those same behaviors she suggests for Penny.
  • Then in season 6, we see that ten-year-old Sarah Lynn can't be in her dressing room because her stepfather is "being weird." BoJack just brushes it off as an inconvenience for him. Not only is poor Sarah Lynn being abused, but it's apparently an open secret that nobody seems to care about- which is sadly Truth in Television regarding pedophilia in Hollywood.
  • Remember how BoJack gave three-year-old Sarah Lynn that terrifying speech about how she always had to give the people what they wanted, even if it killed her inside? That's probably why she would be so prone to being sexually groomed: she was told she existed to please people even if she felt wrong about it.
• It's established that all of the characters in the series are depressed about something specific: Princess Carolyn wants long-term companionship, Mr. Peanutbutter is afraid of death and Diane feels like she's wasting her life writing crap about celebrities. But all of them have stable jobs keeping them occupied so as not to be brought down. BoJack, meanwhile, is almost always unemployed, leaving him with nothing better to do than dwell on everything that makes him so unhappy.
• After coming home early from Cordovia, Diane spends weeks on end crashing at BoJack's house getting drunk, getting high, not bathing and being angry at everything. In other words, she's turning into BoJack! And worse, it causes him to revert back to all of his old habits.
  • In general, BoJack's house is a place where people put their lives on pause. People staying with BoJack can wallow in all their bad habits and know that they won't really be judged or forced to confront the problems in their lives. Sarah Lynn crashes there specifically saying she wants to run from her problems. Diane goes there to avoid facing Mr. Peanutbutter and the fact that she couldn't handle Cordovia. Todd has been living with BoJack for five years and his life is mostly defined by aimlessness. In "Zoes and Zeldas," when he actually pursues a clear goal that he has a shot at achieving, he plans to move out. Adds another layer of awful to the fact that BoJack sabotages him to keep him around.]
  • She shows a LOT of evidence that she's transforming into BoJack in season 4, from her answering machine monologues to her responses to people through the season.
• Sarah Lynn's Oscar is received on her behalf by a bear, who says to the camera "And if you're watching this, Sarah Lynn, wherever you are, please come home". He's implied to be her sexually abusive stepfather, to the point that he's designed to look like real-life alleged rapist Terry Richardson (it's confirmed in Season 6 that they have the same surname).
• Just how traumatized has Penny been seeing the face of the man she almost slept with plastered all over the media, or even her own friends bringing him up, after his movie became successful? Actually seeing him again clearly turned her into a shaking mess.
  • This was mercilessly lampshaded by Sarah Lynn as she and BoJack drove back to L.A.:
    Sarah Lynn: Penny? You know, on the plus side, she really seemed okay.
    BoJack: Mm-hmm.
    Sarah Lynn: Until she saw you and freaked out.
    BoJack: [groans]
    Sarah Lynn: But she probably would have been totally fine if you'd never shown up.
    BoJack: Oh, God.
    Sarah Lynn: I think the wound was completely healed before you reopened it by showing up unannounced at her college and all the pain came rushing back to her.
    BoJack: Oh, good Lord!
    Sarah Lynn: In a way, it's like you destroyed her life twice.
    BoJack: Will you please stop talking about it?
    • What's even worse is that this could easily be seen as a commentary on how BoJack has also scarred Sarah Lynn. She died after he shows up in her life again.
    • Lest we forget that Sarah Lynn's stepdad was heavily implied to have had a very inappropriate relationship with her as a child. He accepted the Oscar in her absence. Could the meltdown she had only seconds after have stemmed from thoughts such as these?
  • On the subject of Penny seeing BoJack around, did she or Charlotte ever watch Philbert? Would they pick up on the scene that was based on what Diane knew about Penny? Would just watching BoJack play a character who kisses a teenage girl be enough of a trigger at face value?
    • I think it would be fair to assume that neither would be interested in watching a show headlined by a person who they have such a bad history with
    • On the other hand, since Kyle might be naively unaware of the whole situation, it makes sense for him to have been especially interested in watching a show headlined by a celebrity that lived on his property for a while and might have wanted his family to watch it too.
  • "The View From Halfway Down" alone suggests far more sexual abuse surrounding Sarah Lynn. Her manager leaked her nudes (likely without her permission) to get concert tickets, implying he had a sexual relationship with her or obtained her nude photos without consent. She also had a song called "No No No (Means Yes)" and her tour was called the "Sexually Confident Virgin" tour. All of this hammers in the point that despite Sarah Lynn proclaiming she was an adult when she started her music career, much of that career seems based around other people fetishizing not just her sexuality, but the "innocence" that made her famous as a child, and given the implied relationship with her manager, her father was definitely not the only one who abused power over her and fed into the public image of her as a sexually submissive fuckdoll.
  • Her manager "leaked" her nudes. We know she's not into fame in her private life, so what nudes could she have been taking as an underage popstar who couldn't have been openly dating someone her own age to preserve her sexually-confident virgin personally? Probably her stepdad, he's a photographer.
• The Let's Meet the Meat dimension of the episode "Chickens" is pretty horrifying in and of itself, but it becomes excruciating when contemplating a character like Princess Carolyn. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they must eat meat to survive. And every animal on the show is sapient. While she is shown cooking a mushroom risotto at one point, does the food she makes and eats for herself necessarily contain parts of someone who had their own life and history?
  • The Chicken farmer's wife begged Diane to take her with them when they escaped because she hated her husband. Why couldn't she just ask him for a divorce? Maybe because he's a chicken farmer and she knows if he took it badly he'd have a perfect way to dispose of her body.
  • There could be entire essays written about all the terrible implications of a world that selects individuals from fully sapient species, and hormonally alters them until they are nothing but dumb beasts ready for slaughter.
    • That's bad enough, but what was the world like before hormone treatment was invented? For that matter, do they have a hormone cocktail which does the same thing to humans?
    • The cow waitress at the diner gives a human customer the stink eye for ordering a steak, which prompts his embarrassed apology.
  • Diane refers to Katrina as "Cruella" at one point, making sense because she treats Mr. Peanutbutter like crap. This draws attention to the white fur collar with black spots on her jacket, which leads one to wonder: if this universe has no problem breeding anthropomorphic animals just to eat, are there animals who get bred only to be killed for their fur?
    • This also suggests that 101 Dalmatians exists as a movie, now in our world the puppies Cruella wants to skin and turn into a coat are just that, regular puppies. In the show, those puppies would be anthropomorphic. Meaning the movie is about a woman wanting to skin children, and take their skins to turn into a coat. Obviously in-universe this is just a movie, but damn if that isn't terrifying.
  • The fact that in a world where all species have the same level of intelligence humans are still treated as the "default" species carries negative implications.
• There Are No Therapists... because BoJack's mother told him to never share his emotions with anyone.
• In "Yesterdayland", a little girl in the theme park is seen with an "Uncle Hanky" shirt. In "Hank After Dark", we learn he's not the type of figure any child, especially a little girl, should be looking up to.
• When Diane is pregnant and considering an abortion, the doctor brings up the possibility of her having a litter. It's never further discussed, but the fact humans breeding with anthropomorphic animals increases the possibility of a litter is pretty concerning- that's obviously a lot more strain on a woman in labor. Are human bodies in this universe better adjusted to that, or are we to assume not as many human women (or any species not fit to carry litters) make it out of childbirth alive and well?
  • Just think of poor Sadie giving birth to Ruthie. Normal labor is hard enough, but a human birthing a porcupine? Ow ow OW.
    • C-section is a thing so let's hope Sadie and mothers of litters took that option.
    • Additionally, baby porcupines are born with soft quills that harden later, further dampening the horror.
  • There's also the fact that animals are in the military, shown specifically in World War 2 with Crackerjack, and with the Navy Seal in modern times, indicated that the animals fully partake in military conflict. Does that mean there were Nazi animals? Was there some kind of animal holocaust in addition to the human one? Are there terrorist animals? Is slavery still slavery when there are animals involved?
    • The Nazi gang in "Our A-Story is a D Story" features some animal members, such as a rat, as did the Latin Kings, so it's assumed that humans and animals can partake in the same kind of supremacy, and that they have a concept of race similar to that of humans.
    • Was the Mouse vs Cat mythology references when Princess Caroline visited the Stilton's family inspired by a real life event involving the two animals?
• A throwaway line by BoJack implies he was touched inappropriately by a pianist when he was in eighth grade. He's already emotionally scarred enough, but child sexual abuse adds a whole new layer of tragedy.
  • Actually it was implied BoJack was one of the few kids the teacher didn't molest, and his mother actually insulted him for that by saying "Well I guess nobody wants you". Don't know if that's better or worse for poor young BoJack's psyche...
• Woodchuck’s surgeries open a lot of potential avenues for Nightmare Fuel: could insect antennae be fit onto other animals/humans’ heads? Or other extra appendages? Does getting fishpeople’s organs allow you to breathe underwater? What complications could arise when even doing cross-species operations?
• Moreso Fridge Sadness mixed with irony than anything, but the fact Herb voices the Horse's boss in the Horsin' Around Christmas episode, and tells the Horse to prioritize his career over his relationships with the kids. If BoJack hadn't prioritized his career over his relationship with Herb, then their friendship wouldn't have crumbled.
• Eddie's suicide attempt. The guy was clearly very miserable, admitting that he didn't want to live anymore. What are the chances that after BoJack left that small town in Michigan, that Eddie may try to make another attempt and succeed in the future?
  • On a similar note, Honey and Beatrice ended up in a car accident because Honey, being too drunk to drive, tried to make Beatrice drive them home when the latter was clearly too young to do so. However, just before the crash, a distraught Honey cries out that she "wants to feel alive again" and stomps on the gas pedal. Did Honey decide that there was only one way for her to see her beloved son again...and even scarier, was she trying to take Beatrice with her?
    • Worse still, this was a time when mental breakdowns of grief from losing your child was considered just women's hysteria. It's definitely not a stretch to believe that the belief of Suicide is Shameful is mainstream. Honey could have been unable to crash the car herself because of this view and made Beatrice drive recklessly so it didn't seem like she did it herself. Which then goes to spawn more Fridge Horror, if Honey did go behind the wheel for an autocide and failed, just how disgraced would she be? And what repercussions could have been in store for her?
• While Mr. Sugarman seems to be at least upset about his wife's lobotomy at first, the way he does this has a horrible connotation in hindsight; he only gets angry when she doesn't react during an argument where his major complaint is about Honey failing at what he believes a woman's role as a mother should be, but after this, he doesn't seem to care all that much, pulling her by the arm in Time's Arrow when their daughter is about to be presented during the party, and all in all it's clear this is what he always wanted in a woman, docile and doesn't protest. Further supported by the fact that he threatens Beatrice with a lobotomy after he's already gone through that with his wife! Where's the regret?
• Joseph had no problem with lobotomizing his wife and even threatening a lobotomy on his daughter because he couldn't deal with "womanly emotions". At best, this man was a sexist with a twisted value system, and at worst, a vile sociopath who only saw his family as tools for advancement. So what other bad things did he do when no one was looking because of his warped view of society?
  • It is implied he was sleeping with his own secretary. By modern day standards, that kind of relationship is unprofessional and unethical. But did he coerce his secretary, or any other employees, into that kind of relationship?
  • 20th century industrialists like Joseph, while brilliant innovators, were often terrible and exploitative people to work for. The sugar industry was known for exploiting field workers. So it is a fitting business for a man like Joseph: a seemingly innocuous business with a lot of horror and mistreatment behind the curtain.
  • Joseph was the Hank Hippopotamus of his time: an abusive asshole who hid behind charm.
• After Hollyhock's overdose, BoJack manages to put together the pieces about Beatrice slipping appetite suppressants in Hollyhock's coffee despite her giving him very little to work with, mostly her being insistent on giving Hollyhock her coffee. He gives a Little "No", immediately runs to the coffee pot, and demands to know what Beatrice put in it. How would BoJack have known that's what Beatrice was doing? His "of course it was you", and the fact BoJack has suffered with body image issues throughout the entire show, makes it pretty clear that she not only has done it before, but has done it to BoJack.
  • Also, as far as BoJack was concerned, Beatrice was already on thin ice. This only confirmed the suspicions he had all along: even if she's not exactly in her right mind, Beatrice was still capable of hurting people.
    • There's actually some more to this that makes the latter parts worse. People with senile dementia often need to be watched, as they don't know any better, which begs the question as to how often and long Beatrice was left unsupervised. In that vein, knowing what we know about most medicines like this, um, one has to wonder as to where/how she got the amphetamines.
    • As the first troper pointed out, BoJack is struggling with body image issues. I don't think its possible Beatrice could get weight loss pills by herself, she probably couldn't just go to the store and buy them. Was BoJack taking them himself before Hollyhock and Beatrice moved in?
• Going off on the above, BoJack has ingested dangerous substances into his body from a young age.
  • His own mom apparently gave him drinks laced with amphetamines the same way she did to Hollyhock.
  • His father gave him a spiked drink to bully him into not telling his mom bout his affair.
  • Even when he was a young foal, he took a sip of vodka.
    • One wonders if a lifetime of substance abuse, on top of his depression and emotional trauma, has also damaged BoJack's brain beyond repair'.
• A small bit of Fridge Horror in regards to Sara Lynn and her freak-out towards the end in "That's Too Much, Man!" is, according to a commenter on YouTube, because her subconscious knows she's dying and is shutting down, which makes that whole sequence before going to the planetarium worse.
  • Another small bit in regards to Sarah Lynn – by the time we see the flashback to her in 2007, she's 23, but she's already been in the industry for twenty years and was still giving instead of receiving. That being said, there's a certain degree of understanding when it comes to her massive break-down in the middle of a home improvement store following her breakup with Andrew Garfield. Was it really just about him? Or was it because she doesn't know any other way of living except for in fame and she's suddenly been cast out, all on her own?
• How many other people were injured when BoJack rammed his car into ongoing traffic? Could he face charges for that?
• In S04E01, Katrina successfully gets an amendment to California's constitution passed that makes it legal for anyone to challenge the governor of California to a ski race where the winner would become the new governor. Although in the season the governor is ultimately chosen via an election, but this still means it's possible for anyone to become the governor of California as long as they're good at skiing.
• BoJack strangling Gina becomes even more terrifying when you remember just how big he is. Canonically he weighs at least 1,200 lb. If he leaned on Gina's neck while he was grabbing it, he wasn't just strangling her, but probably crushing her windpipe too.
• Jameson, the teen rehab patient BoJack helps briefly escape, has a habit of sneaking in alcohol during rehab and generally seems to have trouble committing to sobriety. With The Reveal that the baby her father's been raising is hers, it makes one wonder what her constant falling off the wagon could have done to her baby's development (note it's mentioned Jameson was sent back to rehab because she stopped breathing), and if Jameson was even able to commit to sobriety while pregnant...
  • Jameson makes an offhanded reference to "being sober most of last year". Pregnancies last 9 months, so this can be taking as foreshadowing for the eventual reveal that the baby was hers. It's likely that she overdosed ("stopped breathing") after the baby was born.
• Even if the Gina story came out, BoJack might not even face any penalties, because he's wealthy, and in the show's universe, it's now literally legal to murder people if you're rich.
  • Also, the murder law only applies to literal billionaires. BoJack is rich but not that rich.
• Towards the end BoJack signs away his residuals from Horsing Around for a one time payday. So... what happens to the orphanage he had been funding with those since season 2?
• BoJack's abandonment of Maddie after her alcohol poisoning and Sarah Lynn after her overdose probably didn't just hurt Hollyhock on the surface level; remember that Hollyhock also suffered an overdose under BoJack's roof and has been shown with PTSD as a result. Hearing the news about BoJack abandoning young women suffering from substance abuse because of him probably legitimately triggered her.
• In "The View From Half Way Down" BoJack implies that he has this "dream" often. It's soon revealed that the "dream" is actually the way his brain is processing his final thoughts as he's slowly drowning to death after attempting suicide. If he has this dream often, just how long has suicide been on his mind? His last meeting with Angela may have been the final straw, but considering he's been a pariah for months at this point, he's probably been contemplating suicide for some time now.
  • Back in the first half of season 6, Doctor Champ mentions BoJack has told him about the "dream about the dinner party". So it may have begun as far back as when BoJack began his rehab and started getting sober. Though, perhaps more horrifyingly, it could stem back even further.
  • Way back in Season 1, during his bender with Sarah Lynn and Todd, BoJack suggests his memoir should end with him taking "one last swim". Clearly, the idea of suicide-by-drowning has been on his mind for a long time.
  • Dr. Champ tends to speak to the patients in clichés and folk wisdom, indicating he's not a professional therapist way before he's revealed as a simple therapy horse.
• Dr. Champ, and by extension Pastiches as a whole, has no medical or therapist qualifications and the resulting lack of any kind of confidentiality is not revealed to the patients until way too late. It not only explains how ineffective they are, but it also suggests they probably do a brisk trade in blackmail.
• The View From Halfway Down makes Sarah Lynn's death more haunting in hindsight. Did she go through the same sort of internal battle Bojack did? Did she also witness her own body slowly die? Did she see Bojack run off and realize that he abandoned her when she needed him most?

Fridge Logic

General

• BoJack's bedroom being decorated with pictures of horseshoes, while appropriate since he is a horse, makes no sense: in this show's universe, all animals are anthropomorphic, therefore horses as well have human hands and feet, and thus horseshoes cannot possibly exist.
  • I had a teacher who liked to decorate her office with paintings and porcelain sculptures of shoes. It's possible that in this world, horseshoes are still considered good luck. Let's hope rabbit feet aren't!

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