A scene for the Secretariat movie is up on the cutting floor, but BoJack is convinced it is crucial to the overall story of Secretariat, so he and Kelsey plan to shoot it themselves.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parent: BoJack's mother. See the video above this page.
- Art Shift: After being mystified by a Thomas Kinkade painting of an idyllic cottage, Princess Carolyn imagines that she literally stepped into the painting with Vanessa Gekko as her servant.
- Bastard Angst: The night watcher at the Richard Nixon library is the illegitimate son of this president — or at least he claims to be so — and he badly lives the fact to have never encountered his father in person.
- Canines Gambling in a Card Game: A parody can be seen in the museum, where we actually see a painting of a group of dogs playing... Connect 4.
- Downer Ending: The shot turns out perfectly, but Turteltaub doesn't appreciate them going against his orders and has Kelsey fired for it.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- The parole paperwork for Character Actress Margo Martindale reveals that she bit an inmate's finger off, exactly as she promised in her last appearance. This is phrased ("only bit one inmate's finger off") to match the way dialogue portrays her as a "model prisoner."
- Andy's TV repair service is named "Eats Shoots And Leaves". You know, because he's a panda.
- Heist Episode: BoJack recruits his friends to break into the Nixon Library in order to use their replica of the Oval Office to film a scene for Secretariat that the producer had cut. The episode uses many of the tropes from caper movies, including recruiting an ex-con, planning the caper, and the typical chaotic escape, but Surprisingly Realistic Outcome occurs at the end when they present the completed scene to the producer and he angrily fires the director for going behind his back, replacing her with someone more pliable.
- It's All About Me: Basically, Sebastian's only motivation to help the civilians caught in the war in Cordovia is to be recognized for it, and to put his name on reconstructed infrastructures. He goes to commission a sculpture of him rebuilding a library — which he renamed after him — and a painting of him posing for the sculpture. He is even mildly upset to see Diane actually helping an orphan, instead of writing about him helping the refugees.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Yes, Sebastian is terribly cold and inhumane when he flat out announces to Diane that the orphan she bound with was just killed in the bombing, just after ordering her to help him. However, he is right when he says that sadness won't resurrect the dead, meanwhile there are still living victims who immediately need. And also, he wasn't totally wrong when he remarked to Diane than bonding with someone you recently met in a war zone could end poorly.
- Meido : Vanessa Gekko in Princess Carolyn's non-sexual fantasy, as a way to feel superior to her.
- Men Don't Cry: The show's cold opening reveals that BoJack's mother told him never to cry in front of others, meaning he's unable to cry on command for the camera. He later steps out for a cigarette by himself and weeps.
- Reality Subtext: Kelsey giving BoJack motivation for his shot hits close to home for him.Kelsey: You've just been told your brother is dead and that it's your fault. But this moment is bigger than that, this is the moment that Secretariat stops running. Because this is the moment you realize something inside you is broken, and it can never be fixed. (Beat) We got it.
BoJack: Really? I didn't cry.
Kelsey: You didn't have to. - Red Shirt: Parodied and subverted. Andy the TV repairman panda is forced to participate in BoJack and friends' heist, and there's a ton of hints that he'll get killed: he's a random extra who wears a red shirt as an uniform, he has a pregnant wife and is a member of an endangered species in the real world. Plus everyone tells him his life is going to be sacrificed for the plan to work. But when he gets shot, not only his Pocket Protector smartphone saves him from the bullet, the phone still works and he gets a call from his wife telling him the baby was born safely, and he escapes the museum with no additional hassles.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Diane leaves Cordovia after she gets fed up with Sebastian's It's All About Me attitude.
- Standard Snippet: At the beginning of Princess Carolyn's fantasy, the first few notes of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition can faintly be heard.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Kelsey and BoJack go behind Lenny's back to get a shot they feel is important to the movie, but that he has vetoed the inclusion. Lenny isn't impressed; the shot doesn't get included and Kelsey gets fired for her insubordination.
