"Oops."
"I am in pain. All the time, my whole life. And you have no idea."
— Bojack
A visiting Hollyhock dumps BoJack's painkillers, sending him on a desperate search for more. Todd tries to solve Emily's dating dilemma.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: In the first episode of the season, BoJack was trying to limit his drinking to a bottle of vodka a week. He's now drinking a bottle every day.
- Adults Dressed as Children: Meow Meow Fuzzyface engages in a rather unconvincing version of Type 1 for an undercover sting operation.
- Anti Climax Cut: When Hollyhock and BoJack are going to Gina's house to get his pills:Hollyhock: Do you have a key?Bojack: I have my ways.(Cut to BoJack checking under the mat and not finding anything.)Bojack: Welp, I'm out of ways.
- Better as Friends: Emily and Todd toy with the idea of getting back together again, but decide the Incompatible Orientation is still an issue, so they decide they're better as this.
- Big "NO!": BoJack cries one when Hollyhock dumps his painkillers down the sink.
- The Bus Came Back: Dr. Hu appears for the first time since "Downer Ending", though he's now a pediatrician and no longer a Dr. Feelgood since Sarah Lynn's death was a wake-up call for him.
- Central Theme: Characters having "ancient history" together, romantically or otherwise. BoJack and Hollyhock dealing with the fallout of his mother drugging her months ago. BoJack and Hollyhock going to see Dr. Hu and him bringing up Sarah Lynn's death. Emily and Todd try to rekindle their old flame only to realize it's still a non-starter, and Princess Carolyn and Ralph dealing with their breakup and previous desire to adopt.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Todd creates Henry Fondle to fulfill Emily's sexual desires. This "character" winds up being quite important to the season's plot.
- Down L.A. Drain: BoJack meets a sketchy drug dealer here. While no car chases happen (although Officer Meow-Meow Fuzzycheeks does take the drug dealer down), its importance as a setting to the film industry is talked about.Hollyhock: This looks super sketchy. It looks like where they did the drag race in Grease.
BoJack: Yeah, it is where they did the drag race in Grease. Where do you think they make movies? - Exact Words:
- BoJack spends the night telling Hollyhock he needs his pills because he's "in pain." When she calls him out on not really needing them for his back, he specifies that he is in emotional pain.
- Hollyhock makes BoJack promise not to take pills anymore unless he gets injured again and gets prescribed medicine from a real doctor. So he runs a red light and gets in a car accident as an excuse to abuse more prescription opioids.
- Flush the Evidence: A variation; Hollyhock still has bad memories of being drugged by Beatrice, causing her to dump BoJack's painkillers down the sink.
- Foreshadowing:
- After spending all episode insisting he needs his pills and then filching the wrong pills from Gina's apartment, BoJack casually throws them out. When Hollyhock worriedly asks if Gina needed those, BoJack scoffs that no one really needs pills. Hollyhock's face says it all.
- Kind of a minor one, but despite BoJack constantly insisting he needs his pills for back pain, except for one instance outside Gina's apartment he's never shown really clutching his back or wincing or having any trouble moving due to pack pain (which can be outright debilitating for those who have it), even as the night wears on and his dose wears off. This foreshadows The Reveal that his back isn't that hurt and his pills are not that necessary.
- Genius Ditz: As Todd lampshades, Henry Fondle looks ridiculous standalone, but considering this was his first attempt at making a fully functional robot within the course of one afternoon makes it a rather impressive effort.Todd: *after Henry sets the house alight* Oh no! My wacky scheme backfired as always!
- Happy Ending Override: Season 4 ended with BoJack motivated to improve himself so he could be a better big brother figure to Hollyhock. This episode shows The Power of Love alone can't magically heal years of drug addiction and self-destructive behavior overnight.
- I "Uh" You, Too: Platonic example. Hollyhock tells BoJack she loves him at the end of the episode, but he can't bring himself to say it back.
- Incredibly Obvious Bug: There's clearly a microphone in Officer Meow-Meow's lollipop, which he holds directly up to the drug dealer's face while instructing him to speak loudly.
- Karma Houdini: BoJack deliberately crashing his car in a busy intersection and potentially endangering the lives of dozens of people just to get more drugs is pretty much glossed over, even when later episodes dig up every single one of BoJack's past sins. Then again, since BoJack is the only one who knows what he did (and it's entirely possible he forgot about it), it makes sense that this is the one thing BoJack never had to reckon with.
- Kick the Dog: BoJack harshly dismisses Hollyhock's lingering trauma at being drugged for months on end and almost fatally overdosed by his mother as "one bad experience" to justify his own drug addiction.
- Loophole Abuse: Hollyhock makes BoJack promise not to take any more pills unless he's really injured and gets prescribed medicine from a real doctor. He starts having withdrawals within minutes, and drives into traffic (seriously injuring himself) so he can get more pills while keeping his promise.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Twice.
- In trying to distract Gina while Hollyhock looks for pills, BoJack charms her into wanting a relationship.
- The birth mother of the baby Princess Carolyn wants to adopt is giving up the baby because she's a single mother. She doesn't want to give it up to Princess Carolyn because of this, but Princess Carolyn gives a Rousing Speech about how she will succeed. That inspires the mother to keep the baby.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Todd makes Henry Fondle for Emily so she can date Todd romantically (as she's been hinting she wants) but have her sexual needs fulfilled by a Sex Bot. It's... the thought that counts.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Officer Meow-Meow's badge is visible under his T-shirt, and hasn't even bothered to hide his uniform pants and gun belt.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: After realising BoJack doesn't need the pills and has dragged her into one of his Zany Scheme, along with getting chewed out over it, a disillusioned Hollyhock sadly asks to be taken to the airport. Upon there however, BoJack sincerely apologises and promises to keep off painkillers unless he's genuinely sick, preventing them from parting on bitter terms.
- The Reveal: It turns out BoJack may not necessarily need his painkillers as much as we thought, after he lifts Hollyhock over a fence to escape the police, something he shouldn't have been able to do otherwise.
- Sarcasm Mode/Sincerity Mode: Parodied. When a paranoid Hollyhock dumps BoJack's pills into the sink, she lets out a flat "Oops". When a horrified BoJack points out they were for his back, she corrects herself with a genuine apologetic "Oops".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Hollyhock asks BoJack to take her to the airport early once she learns he's been exaggerating his need for pills, and after his Kick the Dog moment regarding her drugging trauma.
- Sex Bot: Todd creates Henry Fondle to fulfill Emily's sexual needs.
- Shout-Out: Continuing the Doctor Who reference from his last appearance, Dr. Hu describes the reevaluation of his life after Sarah Lyn's passing as if he "regenerated" into a whole new doctor. He ends his lecture to BoJack by concluding that "this Hu won't get fooled again."
- Smash to Black: BoJack drives into traffic, and the episode cuts to black as he crashes.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial:Officer Meow Meow Fuzzyface: If I were a cop, I'd have pancake breath from the precinct's Friday night pancake dinners! And I do not, so clearly, not a cop.
- Title Drop: When Hollyhock has a Freak Out when her Trauma Button is pressed, BoJack assures her that's ancient history; his mom's dead and no one is trying to drug her.
- Trauma Button: Hollyhock still has bad memories of being drugged by Beatrice, causing her to freeze up in the doorway to BoJack's house, and dump BoJack's painkillers down the sink later that evening.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- The whole episode is kicked off by this. Hollyhock thinks BoJack plans to drug her like Beatrice did and dramatically dumps his painkillers down the drain. She quickly finds out that no, they were prescribed (whether or not he actually needs them. See The Reveal above). BoJack's desperation to find more painkillers not only ends up using up Hollyhock's entire visit but may have led to him purposefully injuring himself just to get more, sending his addiction spiraling out of control.
- A very indirect comment from Diane inspires the creation of Henry Fondle the Sex Bot, who will later take a fateful toll on the show Philbert. See Chekhov's Gunman above.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: The drug dealer is suspicious BoJack is a cop due to his Philbert attire, but isn't the least bit suspicious of Officer Meow-Meow's Paper-Thin Disguise.
- You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Parodied. Upon noticing the traumatized Hollyhock staring at his room, he says that she looks like the publicist of Scarlett Johansson after seeing the Ghost In The Shell remake.
