History Characters / BojackHorsemanSarahLynn

[[center:[-[[Characters/BojackHorseman Main Index Page]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanTheHorsemanHimself [=BoJack=] Horseman]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanPrincessCarolyn Princess Carolyn]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanDianeNguyen Diane Nguyen]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanMrPeanutbutter Mr. Peanutbutter]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanToddChavez Todd Chávez]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanTheMainGroupFamilyMembers Main Characters' Family Members]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanTheHorsemanFamily Horseman Family]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanBeatriceSugarmanHorseman Beatrice Horseman]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanButterscotchHorseman Butterscotch Horseman]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanHollyhock Hollyhock]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanLAResidents Los Angeles Residents]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanHollywooResidentsAndOtherStars Hollywoo(d) Residents]] | '''Sarah Lynn''' | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanHollywooTVMovieCrews TV/Movie Crews]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanHollywooBusinesses Businesses]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanHollywooTalentAgencies Talent Agencies]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanMBNNetwork MBN Network]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanTesuqueNM Tesuque, New Mexico]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanCharlotteMooreCarson Charlotte Carson]] | [[Characters/BojackHorsemanWorksOfFiction Works of Fiction]]-]]]
----
'''Beware of rampant spoilers of season 1 and 2! While the majority of spoilers involving plot points of the current season will be hidden, this is not consistent depending on the situation, with just the presence of certain tropes being spoilers. Enter the subpages at your OWN RISK.'''

!This article is for a major supporting character of ''Creator/{{Netflix}}'''s original animated series ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman''.
!!!For the main character index, see [[AC:[[Characters/BojackHorseman here]].]]
!!!For people related to Hollywoo ventures in any way, see [[AC:[[Characters/BojackHorsemanHollywooResidentsAndOtherStars here]].]]
!!!For other ''JustForFun/HorsinAround'' 's castmates, see [[AC:[[Characters/BojackHorsemanHorsinAroundCastAndCrew here]].]]


[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4f335e17_8bcb_4a55_90da_4e2ba4258932.png]]
[[caption-width-right:150:"Suck a dick, dumbshits!"]]

->'''Played By''': Creator/KristenSchaal\\\
'''First appearance''': [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS1E01TheBojackHorsemanStoryChapterOne "The [=BoJack=] Horseman Story: Chapter One"]]\\
'''Official Debut''': [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS1E03PricklyMuffin "Prickly Muffin"]]\\
'''Last appearance''': [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E11ThatsTooMuchMan "That's Too Much, Man!"]] (Alive); [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS6E15TheViewFromHalfwayDown "The View From Halfway Down"]] (Dream)\\\
''"I can constantly just surround myself with sycophants and enablers until I die tragically young."''

The actress who played Sabrina, the Horse's younger human daughter on ''Horsin' Around''. After several attempts to stay famous, including a pop album and fashion line, she ends up burnt out and drug-addicted. In season one, she and Bojack reconnect and reestablish their friendship.
----
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A-F]]

* ActingYourIntellectualAge: Sarah Lynn is 30 years old at the start of the series, but she still acts like a rebellious and reckless teenager.
* ActorAllusion: InUniverse. Bojack's AffectionateNickname for her in ''Horsin' Around'' was "Prickly Muffin". When Sarah became a one-time pop star, one of her most successful singles was named "Prickly Muffin" complete with [[IncestSubtext suggestive lyrics]].
* AmbiguouslyBi: While she's only shown in relationships with men onscreen, she also makes statements about not really caring about gender.
* AmicableExes: Despite their very nasty break-up, she at least cared enough about Andrew to visit him in the hospital during the Season 1 finale.
* AmbiguouslyJewish: Her original surname was "Helmulfarb", according to the captions, which seems to be a garbled version of "Himmelfarb", a generally Ashkenazi Jewish surname. Also, she mentions that she doesn't want her body to be a temple because she's been to Temple and it's boring; using "Temple" in that context implies a Jewish service.
* AttentionWhore: She wants to be the center of attention at all times, and she's willing to go to extremes, including self-mutilation, to achieve that.
* BareYourMidriff: As a pop star she wore a white crop top.
* BigSleep: [[spoiler:After all of their misadventures, Sarah Lynn just dozes off peacefully at the planetarium and never wakes up.]]
* CastIncest: An in-universe example. In a drunken stupor, Sarah Lynn and Bojack, who played her foster father in ''Horsin' Around'', have a blow-out argument, [[SlapSlapKiss then have sex]].
* CatchPhrase:
** Her character Sabrina's catch-phrase on ''Horsin' Around'' was "That's too much, man!"
** "Suck a dick, dumb shits!" (sometimes followed by BlowingARaspberry), later [[BorrowedCatchphrase adopted by other characters]].
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:After going on a massive binge with Bojack, she ends up dying in a planetarium.]]
* CheerfulChild: She {{used to be|ASweetKid}} an extremely sweet-natured child who just wanted to be loved. The juxtaposition of the genuine NiceGirl she was in flashbacks and the jaded, spoiled adult she eventually became is at the heart of her relationship with [=BoJack=], who both sees her as something like his own daughter as well as seeing much of his own life and many regrets in how she turned out.
* ChildishToothGap: Had a tooth gap as a child which symbolized her child-like innocence.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Sarah was a curious, kind child who just wanted to please the people around her -- which ended up destroying her as she tried to live up to Hollywood's impossible standards and the adults around her taught her she was only valuable as long as she was popular.
* ClothingReflectsPersonality: Her default outfit is an endorsement rather than one she chose herself, showing she's sold out to Hollywood.
* CloudCuckoolander: She has a... [[InsistentTerminology different]] [[MetaphoricallyTrue perception]] of things when she's [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on drugs]]. She even describes herself as eccentric.
* ContractualPurity: InUniverse example. Her contract for ''Horsin' Around'' was written to preserve her family-friendly, innocent image. After the show ended, she was desperate to shed her squeaky-clean image, and ended up JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope in the other direction.
* CorruptTheCutie: Sarah Lynn started out her career as a sweet, eager-to-please child, but abuse from her parents, neglect from her costars, and terrible advice from the one person she looked up to put her on a path to become a nihilistic, reckless and erratic hedonist.
* CreatorBacklash: InUniverse, Sarah Lynn has a tortured relationship with her TeenIdol[=/=][[ChildPopStar pop star]] career -- proud of the work, but disgusted by perverted fans telling her how she was the first girl they ever masturbated to ''every day''.
* CynicismCatalyst: Her reunion with Bojack in 2007. At that point, Sarah Lynn was extremely famous and understood that people mainly cared about her image, but still hardworking, intelligent and charitable. When [=BoJack=] visits her, she sees it as a chance to reconnect with someone who really care about her. Then, [[spoiler:he lets it slip he wants her to appear on ''The [=BoJack=] Horseman Show'' to boost ratings. Seeing that even her close friends just see her as someone to exploit, she tells [=BoJack=] to leave, and later decides that nothing really matters, including her own life.]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Exposed to the toxic culture of Hollywoo as a child star where she was under the "guidance" of her self-absorbed co-star, overbearing StageMom, and heavily implied sexually abusive stepfather.
* DeadArtistsAreBetter: In-universe, [[spoiler:after her death, her innocent waif image is extolled more than her party girl lifestyle, and she is remembered fondly after all her attempts to stay relevant]].
* DescentIntoAddiction: After JustForFun/HorsinAround ended, Sarah Lynn struggled to keep herself relevant through launching a clothing line and becoming a pop star. The failure of these attempts, along with the awareness that people only cared about what they could get from her, lead to Sarah Lynn turning to drugs.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: As a child, Sarah Lynn just wanted the approval of the adults around her, even when they blatantly ignored her wishes or taught her terrible lessons. As an adult, this desire for love mutated into [[AttentionWhore an unhealthy hunger for fame and attention.]]
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Falls asleep curled up with [=BoJack=] at the planetarium and never wakes up. [=BoJack=] is deeply traumatized by her death, and blames himself.]]
* DissonantSerenity:
** While she's stabbing herself in the hips with the bayonets, all she mutters are a few sedated if pained grunts. Even after starting to bleed and everyone looking at her horrified, Sarah Lynn asks calmly (even with difficulty) if someone would like to see her take a dump in some of the furniture. When almost bleeding to death in [=BoJack=]'s car, she's treating the whole thing like a minor mishap.
** She identifies the bear fur in Herb's suitcase by licking it, and casually says she can recognize the taste because [[RapeAsBackstory her stepfather was a bear]]. Everyone else is taken aback, but Sarah Lynn is completely casual about it.
* DramaQueen: When she's not too hopped up on drugs to care, Sarah Lynn flies off the handle at the smallest thing. Her EstablishingCharacterMoment is her screaming and stabbing herself at the mere suggestion her boyfriend might leave her.
* FormerChildStar: Of the "drug-addled trainwreck" variety, capped off with a pushy StageMom and having several terrible role models (including [=BoJack=] himself).
-->'''Sarah Lynn''': Oh, you 'know what I'm going through'? Why? Because you were on some dumb kids' show a million years ago? I had [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen my own fashion line when I was]] ''ten''. By 20, I was packing stadiums. I get letters every day from boys telling me that I was the first girl they masturbated to. ''[[NotHyperbole Literally]]'', someone tells me that every day!\\
'''[=BoJack=]''': That is gross.\\
'''Sarah Lynn''': Oh-ho, I know!
* FreudianExcuse: Most of her flashbacks include trying to be friends with Bojack or her other co-stars and always getting rejected. There's also her stepfather who took advantage of her, and her mother was a very pushy StageMom. It didn't help that she was introduced to alcohol at a young age.
* FriendlessBackground: Because she grew up a child star with an exploitative StageMom, she's never formed a relationship that went beyond the superficial.
%%* FullNameBasis: Everyone who meets her calls her "Sarah Lynn".
* FunctionalAddict: '''More''' so than Bojack. She takes whatever drug she can find, but she still leads a (semi) normal life, at least by Hollywoo standards.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-K]]
* GenkiGirl: As a young girl, Sarah Lynn was bouncy, energetic, and extroverted. After losing her relationships to the pressure of the entertainment industry, the destruction of her career, and her descent into addiction, Sarah Lynn still has her effervescence, but it's been redirected into a constant need for stimulation and gratification in the form of drugs, partying, and other excess.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:After a series of drug-fueled misadventures, winning an Oscar and finally going to the planetarium like she wanted, she dies peacefully in Bojack's arms.]]
* TheHedonist: Sarah Lynn lives for her pleasure. In Season Three, she manages to go sober for nine months just so her high will be intensified once she goes off the wagon.
* HiddenDepths: Expresses an interest in being an architect that she quickly dismisses as a joke, and yet demonstrates an actual appreciation and knowledge of architecture. She wants to go to the planetarium because of how trippy everything gets if you're there while high. Later, [[spoiler: she reveals that it's actually because she loves the amount of effort that goes into making a domed building]].
-->'''Sarah Lynn''': ''(regarding a playhouse they smashed)'' You gotta use parallel joints to support that foundation, dumb-shit!
* HotterAndSexier: Reinvented herself as a sexy teen pop star in a desperate attempt to shed her squeaky clean sitcom child star image.
* IAmWhatIAm: [[spoiler: Sarah Lynn is aware that her lifestyle and abuse of drugs ''will'' catch up to her at some point, and she's quite accepting of that fact.]]
* IcyBlueEyes: She has these and they fit her cold, self-absorbed personality pretty well.
* InnocenceLost: She was a sweet kid, until the entertainment industry took everything from her and discarded her, leaving her a jaded mess..
* InnocentBlueEyes: As a child, her blue eyes signified her innocent, hopeful outlook.
* {{Jerkass}}: Sarah Lynn is rude, abrasive, self-centered and frequently manipulative.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS2E03StillBroken "Still Broken"]]: Sarah Lynn calls out [=BoJack=] for trying to absolve himself of guilt for what he did for Herb, something that hits home.
--->'''Sarah Lynn:''' Oh, I get it. You just don't wanna be here.
** [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E11ThatsTooMuchMan "That's Too Much, Man!"]]: She points out the ethical issues with letting children act.
--->'''Sarah Lynn''': You know, it's amazing that it's legal for kids to be actors. How is that not child labor? I didn't know what I was signing up for. I was three.
* KickTheDog: She pawned Bojack's TV Guide award which he gave to her in a moment where he said she was LikeADaughterToMe because she "needed" drug money. The lady is a celebrity and can easily afford drugs. While her telling Bojack she was a bigger celebrity was a legitimate point, her rejecting his kind gestures wasn't.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:L-R]]
* LackOfEmpathy: She'll play on others' emotions for her own benefit but goes out of her way to ignore anyone's suffering [[ItsAllAboutMe but her own]]. Interestingly, she does seem to expect the same treatment in return -- she'll pawn a keepsake for drugs, but instantly forgive someone for using her.
* ALessonLearnedTooWell: The crux of her character. During a {{Flashback}} in "Prickly Muffin", [=BoJack=] gives her a little [[AntiAdvice advice]] on life. She takes it to heart.
-->'''[=BoJack=]''': Hey, you see those people?\\
'''Sarah Lynn''': Yeah.\\
'''[=BoJack=]''': Those boobs and jerkwads are the best friends you'll ever have. Without them, you're nothing. Remember that. Your family will never understand you. Your lovers will leave you or try to change you, but your fans, be good to them and they'll be good to you. The most important thing is, you got to give the people what they want, even if it kills you, even if it empties you out until there's nothing left to empty. No matter what happens, no matter how much it hurts, you don't stop dancing, and you ''don't stop smiling, and you give those people '''what they want'''.''
* LustObject: {{Deconstructed}}. She's this for a lot of teens who grew up in TheNineties and still send her love letters that detail how she was the first girl they masturbated to. She thinks this is disgusting, but she doesn't want to disappoint people by saying so publicly.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Barely bats an eye when she stabs herself.
* MoralityPet: Zigzagged with Bojack.
** When he was filming with her, he was dismissive and gave her AntiAdvice that would shape her worldview. Then he wanted to use her when she was a pop idol, which sent her further down the path of self-destruction.
** As an adult, however, [=BoJack=]'s nicer side tends to come out around her. He lets her stay in his house for several days and tells her to go to rehab. Todd even noted that Bojack has never been that "nice" to anyone using him.
** But then [=BoJack=] gives up and convinces her easily to go OffTheWagon in Season 3 [[spoiler:which leads to her death after he takes her to the planetarium]]. Nevertheless, when [[spoiler:Sarah Lynn dies, Bojack is genuinely motivated to clean up his act and become a better person and apologizes to her in his DyingDream for letting her succumb to the overdose]].
* MsFanservice: While she oscillates between flaunting her figure and being disgusted at people's reactions, Sarah Lynn is very attractive indeed and can be quite open about her figure when she feels like it, using it for her HotterAndSexier revamp.
* NaiveEverygirl: When younger, Sarah Lynn entered show business with nothing more than the desire to have fun and make friends. No need to say how that turned out.
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: [[spoiler: After Sarah Lynn dies from a heroin overdose, the public sees her more as the innocent waif she was before her party-girl and drug-fueled lifestyle. In fact, this is one of the reasons why the public turned against Bojack when word gets out that he was responsible for her death]].
* NotSoDifferent: Sarah Lynn, with [=BoJack=]. Both are washed-up, self-absorbed celebrities who bury their deep-seated parental issues and resentment towards Hollywood under heaping mounds of substance abuse as a way to run from their problems. One of the main differences is that Sarah Lynn started earlier, crashed harder, and was more famous than [=BoJack=] ever was. Lampshaded:
-->'''Diane''': [Sara Lynn] is the one with substance abuse problems and daddy issues.\\
'''[=BoJack=]''': Hey, we BOTH have substance abuse problems and daddy issues!
* ObfuscatingStupidity: She tends to act mostly like a deranged drunken lunatic with little understanding of the world, but she uses this as a shield to protect herself from people who extort her. She also has a passion for architecture and is quite knowledgeable on the subject. Her mother however forces her to be a pop star against Sarah Lynn’s will, so she turns to alcohol and drugs to cope with having a lifestyle she never wanted or asked for.
* OnlyAFleshWound: When [=BoJack=] tries to send her to rehab for a second time in [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS1E03PricklyMuffin "Prickly Muffin"]], she claims she's fine, and shows him that she fixed her stab wound with duct tape.
* PassedInTheirSleep: [[spoiler: After too much drugs and recklessness, Sarah Lynn dies sleeping at the planetarium in "That's Too Much, Man!".]]
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: In her introduction episode, Sarah Lynn's OnAgainOffAgainBoyfriend, Creator/AndrewGarfield, tries to walk off on her. At first frantic, she immediately threatens to kill herself right there to stop him, then [[{{Yandere}} follows through with it]] by stabbing herself in the gut with a rusty bayonet.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: [[spoiler:Her death turns out to be the lynchpin of season 6, serving as the catalyst of the weight of all of Bojack's past mistakes and abhorrent behavior crashing down on him in the worst ways possible.]]
* PrettyFreeloaders: Takes advantage of [=BoJack=]'s offer to stay at his house by partying and destroying the place. When called out on it, she plays the guilt card, then goes right back to it.
* PromiscuityAfterRape: Heavily implied that she was molested by her stepfather. She currently engages in a great deal of casual sex.
* RapeAsBackstory: {{Implied|Trope}}, what with her being homeschooled and [[spoiler: familiar with bear fur because of her bear stepfather.]]
* RealityEnsues: She went sober for a few months to shed her drug tolerance, to regain her beloved highs. It was nine before Bojack called her. [[spoiler:When she gets off the wagon, the same amount of alchohol and heroin that she could handle was enough to give her an overdose]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Sarah Lynn gives Bojack a pretty harsh (if not justified) one:
-->'''Sarah Lynn''': You sit up here in your little house and feel sorry for yourself? Ugh, guess what, Bojay: in order to be a has-been, you actually have to have, y'know, BEEN!
* RecognitionFailure: It takes her several hours (and a lot of paint huffing) to realize the weird redhead that's been following them at Herb's funeral is her former co-star Bradley Hitler-Smith, even when he was standing in front of her and it was their first "unofficial" reunion in years.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:S-Y]]
* SafetyInIndifference: She doesn't care about anything anymore, not if she can help it. Intensely jaded and constantly high, she uses her entitled tabloid antics to distract herself from the emptiness of her life.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: InUniverse. In a flashback, Joelle recalls that in the later years of ''Horsin' Around'', the show would often focus on Sarah Lynn and her [[ComingOfAgeStory coming of age experiences.]] This would ignite the [[SiblingRivalry feud]] described above.
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: She often uses it at the end of her sentences or insults.
* TookALevelInJerkass: From [[ChildrenAreInnocent sweet, innocent]] child actress to [[HorribleHollywood tantrum-throwing, entitled]] fading former pop star.
* TraumaCongaLine: A distillation of the abusive childhoods and erratic adulthoods of various real {{Former Child Star}}s: [[CelebrityIsOverrated Pushed into showbiz]] by her overbearing StageMom when she was three. Implied to have been sexually molested by her photographer and stepdad. Brushed off when she tried to connect with her ''Horsin' Around'' coworkers. Received horrible AntiAdvice from her [[ParentalSubstitute surrogate father figure]] [=BoJack=] about how no one would ever love her except an audience, so she must play to them all the time no matter ''what''. As a result, she threw herself into fame and celebrity, becoming a pop star, fashion icon, and drug-addled HardDrinkingPartyGirl before she even hit 18. At some point, "the light inside [her] died," and she StoppedCaring, embracing her DramaQueen celebrity image. And then [=BoJack=] came back into her life, eventually pulling her out of rehab/recovery on a weeks-long bender [[spoiler:before she eventually overdosed and died]].
* TwoFirstNames: ''Sarah'' and ''Lynn''. Not that it's confusing for anyone, since she's carved out a niche for herself as a world-famous pop star.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: From a charity-running TeenIdol to a sultry pop star sex symbol. As a child, Sarah Lynn was as sweet and friendly as the character she played on ''Horsin' Around''. She lost her innocence early, and a life of Hollywood/music industry excess have turned her into a spoiled DramaQueen.
* WomanChild: At thirty, she still dresses and acts like a spoiled teenager.
* YouthfulFreckles: Which represent her [[InnocenceLost lost innocence]] and [[WomanChild stunted maturity]].
[[/folder]]
----

* ManChild: At thirty, she still dresses and acts like a spoiled teenager.

* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Just give her a few nights, a few kegs and contacts for all partygoers and she'll wreck your place in record time. Hell, she'll do it in her place, no problem.

* WomanChild: At thirty, she still dresses and acts like a spoiled teenager, who thinks the world revolves around her (or at least desperately craves attention for herself even as she senses her fame fading).

* ActorAllusion: InUniverse. Bojack's AffectionateNickname for her in Horsin' Around was "Prickly Muffin". When Sarah became a one-time pop star, one of her most successful singles was named "Prickly Muffin" complete with [[IncestSubtext suggestive lyrics]].

* DropInCharacter: In her first appearance, she crashes at Bojack's house after getting dumped, stabbing herself and being taken to the hospital.

%%* MadeOfIron: For a drug addict, she has shown to be very resilient. [[spoiler:Subverted in Season 3, where she dies after going on an extended bender with Bojack.]]%%Not sure this is the best trope for this.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Barely bats an eye when she stabs herself. As for what happened after that, see JustAFleshWound above.
* ManipulativeBastard: She manipulates Bojack into forgiving her various party antics on the basis of her childhood trauma that he still feels guilty for, then appeals to his lust when that fails. {{Inverted|Trope}} later on, as Bojack unconsciously starts to become the manipulative one, taking Sarah Lynn with him on a weeks-long bender of drugs, alcohol, and some late-game soul-searching.

* TheOphelia: Free-spirited, manic-depressive, sudden flights of fancy, wandering uneasy here and there, troubled and often yanked around by people and forces around her without anyone realizing or caring. Of course, she has come a long way from being PurityPersonified and more than just a tragic figure, she is a force of nature who's dooming herself to crash. [[spoiler:Adding to the parallel, Ophelia and Sarah Lynn meet the same fate: one by drowning, the other by overdosing]].

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:After a life of heartbreak and false starts, at the end of a long drug-fueled bender with [=BoJack=], Sarah Lynn finally decides to pursue her dream of being an architect. A few minutes later, she dies.]]

* {{Stripperiffic}}: As part of her music career, starting in her teens, she's worn a variety of [[FormFittingWardrobe skin-tight revealing clothing]] on stage -- her [[LimitedWardrobe usual outfit]] has her wearing black cutoffs with the legs torn off so the bottom of the white pockets are hanging out, and her idea of funeral-appropriate apparel is a lace blouse with black hands covering her breasts and another hand reaching up out of the same black cutoffs.
* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: After a death fake-out earlier, there's no possibility of dying, right? '''Nope'''. After spending a few weeks with the closest thing she has to family, Sarah Lynn falls asleep in her favorite place: the planetarium. [=BoJack=] makes a comment, expecting her to answer. She doesn't.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: She did get an epiphany that she didn't like who she had become. [[spoiler:She dies of an overdose just as Bojack takes her to a planetarium to cheer her up, where the show allows her to contemplate]].
* HeelRealization: While on a bender in a motel room with [=BoJack=] during "That's Too Much, Man!", Sarah Lynn suddenly realizes that she doesn't like ''anything'' about herself, or her life.

* HiddenHeartOfGold: In the season one finale montage, she visits Andrew Garfield in hospital and nuzzles his hand.

* ICouldaBeenAContender: {{Inverted}}, as she regrets not going to college or leaving showbiz behind to pursue her interests in [[spoiler:architecture.]]
* IconicOutfit: Her skull-patterned blue and purple jacket and black shorts. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that she never wanted to wear them, but since she's getting paid for it and she was the first choice to do so, she accepted]].

* ImmuneToDrugs: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. Sarah Lynn initially seems to remain functional, despite the large amounts of drugs she does. However, it's later revealed that she's building up a tolerance, and needs to take more and more drugs to get a high [[spoiler: leading to her death from an overdose. For a few months before her last bender she had gone sober for the sole purpose of lowering her immunity and getting a better high afterwards]].

* {{Irony}}:
** Due to her celebrity status, she is still earning millions on song royalties that she could use to go to college and become an architect like she always wanted. Thanks to Bojack's AntiAdvice, however, she clung to the Hollywood lifestyle. [[spoiler:By the time she realized that she could quit the star life and pursue her dreams, she was dying of an overdose and the one person who could have saved her chose to create an alibi instead]].
** As Bojack quietly points out at one point, no one cared that Sarah Lynn [[spoiler:was in trouble]] for all of her life, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone not even him]]. They tolerated her diva antics, drug addiction, and all-around self-destructive behavior. While she wasn't willing to accept any help, it would have meant more if Paige Sinclair had talked about [[spoiler:her life rather than her death and trying to give her a wakeup call]]. [[spoiler:People only care after she dies, and when she no longer exists as a spectacle. They see her as an innocent girl that Bojack left to die, and the fallout creates more negative consequences than positive ones]].
** Her mother only showed she cared about Sarah Lynn once. That was when [[spoiler:her daughter had died and all Carol could do was talk to the coroner]]. Related to the above, [[spoiler:Sarah Lynn may have appreciated the gesture more when she was alive]].

** [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS2E03StillBroken "Still Broken"]]: Sarah Lynn calls out [=BoJack=] for trying to absolve himself of guilt for what he did for Herb.
-->'''Sarah Lynn:''' Oh, I get it. You just don't wanna be here.

-->'''Sarah Lynn''': You know, it's amazing that it's legal for kids to be actors. How is that not child labor? I didn't know what I was signing up for. I was three.
* JustAFleshWound: When [=BoJack=] tries to send her to rehab for a second time in [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS1E03PricklyMuffin "Prickly Muffin"]], she claims she's fine, and shows him that she fixed her stab wound with duct tape.

* MoralityPet: Zigzagged with Bojack. When he was filming with her, he was dismissive and gave her AntiAdvice that would shape her worldview. Then he wanted to use her when she was a pop idol, which sent her further down the path of self-destruction. As an adult, Sarah Lynn rebuffs Bojack's genuine attempts to help her by staying in his house for several days, trashing up the place, pawning one of his heirlooms for drug money -- which she didn't need to do as a wealthy celebrity-- and then leaving to take advantage of another friend rather than go to rehab at his behest. Todd even noted that Bojack has never been that "nice" to anyone using him. Bojack gives up and convinces her easily to go OffTheWagon in Season 3 [[spoiler:which leads to her death after he takes her to the planetarium]]. Nevertheless, when [[spoiler:Sarah Lynn dies, Bojack is genuinely motivated to clean up his act and become a better person and apologizes to her in his DyingDream for letting her succumb to the overdose]].
* MsFanservice: While she oscillates between flaunting her figure and being disgusted at people's reactions, Sarah Lynn is very attractive indeed and can be quite open about her figure when she feels like it. PlayedForDrama later on; as more of her backstory is revealed, it becomes clear that as she grew up, Sarah Lynn was never able to reconcile with her changing body and as such has mixed feelings about her figure.

* {{Narcissist}}: An [[UpToEleven even bigger one]] than Bojack. ''That should sum it up''. As a more specific diagnostic, Sarah Lynn fits the criteria for an "[[http://www1.appstate.edu/~hillrw/Narcissism/stylesunprincipled.html unprincipled Narcissist]]" in that she has little to no problem [[TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity exploiting sympathy to take advantage from others]], [[PrettyFreeloaders rarely sees any problem with what she does to sustain her habits of consuming drugs]] and [[WildCard has little to no allegiances to anyone in particular]], being incapable of having a relationship that deep with a person.

* {{Nosebleed}}: After snorting drywall instead of cocaine in [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E11ThatsTooMuchMan "That's Too Much, Man!"]].
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Given her [[FormerChildStar history]], present behavior and many drug issues, Sarah Lynn definitely was modeled after Jodie Sweetin (starred in a family-friendly sitcom and fell into hard drug use, but has since cleaned up her act and got her career back on track), Creator/LindsayLohan (became far more famous for her appearances in the tabloids and drug addiction than for her talent, with a career that's all but dead in the water), to an extent, Music/BritneySpears (starred in "The Mickey Mouse Club" as a kid, became a HotterAndSexier TeenIdol later on, and had a massive CreatorBreakdown), and, to an extent, Music/LilyAllen (let her addictions rule her life, had a CreatorBreakdown, and has stated she would've wanted to be an architect). Unlike a lot of comedy characters that are based on these types of celebrities, Lynn's failing battle with mental illness and addiction is portrayed with sympathy and humanity. The show is emphatic about showing that it's not fair to mock former child stars for their personal struggles, as deep down they're just broken people who were forced into a stressful and confusing lifestyle at a young age.

* ParentalIncest: {{Implied|Trope}} to have been molested by her stepfather, the bear who showed up in the background several times in previous episodes, in her third appearance.
* PeacefulInDeath: [[spoiler:She passes quietly while watching a presentation in the planetarium, her favorite place (as seen in as early as the music video for "Prickly Muffin") curled up with her ParentalSubstitute who she considered possibly the only person to ever "get" her, after having won an ''Oscar''.]] It was such a [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism peaceful and idyllic moment]] that until the next episode some fans believed it was a Hollywoo {{biopic}} version of what happened.
* PetTheDog: During her singer phase, she wouldn't hesitate to do anything for her fans or even postpone whatever she was doing at the moment for a moment to catch up with her old co-stars, being openly affectionate with them. She was young enough that the ''Horsin' Around'' cast really became the closest thing she had to a family.

* PoesLaw: {{Enforced|Trope}} and {{deconstructed|Trope}}. Sarah Lynn's music career, according to Diane, was pretty much a DeconstructiveParody of the TeenageWasteland mindset, criticizing everything from misogyny to shitfaced antics. Her audience, however, thought it was a full-on celebration of such lifestyle without any irony, something Sarah Lynn loved (they were listening...) and hated (...to all the wrong things!). Even after realizing that, she still kept going even if it frustrated her. Knowing her countless fans loved her but didn't understand her, Sarah Lynn continued to spiral out of control.
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler: She dies from a drug overdose at the end of Season 3, but her death has a heavy toll on both Bojack and the remainder of the series, especially during Season 6 when [[MurderByInaction the truth of [=BoJack=]'s involvement in it]] is publically revealed]].

-->'''Sara Lynn''': You sit up here in your little house and feel sorry for yourself? Ugh, guess what, Bojay: in order to be a has-been, you actually have to have, y'know, BEEN!
* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: During her argument with [=BoJack=] in "[[Recap/BojackHorsemanS1E03PricklyMuffin Prickly Muffin]]", she's disgusted by the aforementioned letters from fans about "being the first girl [they] masturbated to". She's never fully reconciled her innocent childhood image on TV with the abuse she suffered in real life, and that's without even getting into becoming a world-famous LustObject as a tween. She's never really come to terms with it all, and there are times, like the argument, where she knows it.

* RhymesOnADime: During her musical montage at the beginning of [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E11ThatsTooMuchMan "That's Too Much, Man!"]].

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: One of the paintings at her mansion is a reworking of [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Ophelia's]] suicide by the river with Sarah Lynn occupying her place. Besides being very much TheOphelia in spirit, [[spoiler:it's used to foreshadow Sarah Lynn's eventual death later that episode]].
* SiblingRivalry: Even if they're not really siblings, her feud with her Joelle has shades of this. Years later, they haven't let go and still behave like competitive sisters.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: In terms of the whole series, she was an example of a MoralityPet that Bojack inadvertently ruined and failed to protect. [[spoiler:Bojack flip-flops between actually helping her and enabling her worse tendencies, the latter which eventually leads to her death]]. Everyone is saddened, even though as Bojack points out, [[spoiler:if someone wanted to intervene they would have done so ages ago.]] It is [[spoiler:the reveal that he left Sarah Lynn to die that turns the public against Bojack for a year]].

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Deconstructed. [[spoiler:She admits in her debut episode that she overdoses all the time, and celebrities in her presence usually call the paramedics. [=BoJack=] was the first one who didn't until he had created an alibi]]. People mainly know her as a teen idol and Sabrina from ''Horsin Around'' without realizing how putting her on a pedestal turned her into a people-pleasing drug addict. [[spoiler:Her death sends shockwaves through the nation when Paige Sinclair uncovered that the horse was responsible for not calling 911 on time, because what he did was pretty terrible]]. At the same time, as [[spoiler:[=BoJack=] points out while grieving her, few people wanted to help her while she was alive, and any attempts made to get her to rehab or clean up her act were often rebuffed]]. Not to mention that she didn't just exist to serve his angst: Sarah Lynn had her own desires, hopes, and dreams.

* TragicHero: More like Tragic Deuteroganist. Sarah Lynn was reared by her mom and the Hollywood industry to become the ideal FormerChildStar, taught by Bojack to please everyone so that they would never leave her, and eventually a LustObject for her fans before she even hit her teenage years. Even though it's established she has enough money to retire quietly and spend the rest of her life in luxury or go to college [[spoiler:the way that Sextina retired after becoming pregnant]], Sarah Lynn couldn't let go of the need for everyone's affection and worship. Thus she becomes a party girl and singer, riding on her idol image and only entering rehab to maintain her beloved highs. Anyone who truly tried to help her, like Bojack in the beginning, was sadly rebuffed because she didn't believe their care was genuine. [[spoiler:Even though she says that usually people have the decency to call paramedics and revive her when she overdoses in their presence, all it took was one horse to spend twenty minutes creating an alibi rather than dialing 911 immediately. That horse was Bojack, and he let her die moments after she said she wanted to be an architect]].

* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: {{Invoked|Trope}}. Sarah Lynn is always up for a party, to the point of it being the only thing she cares about any more. Hell, in the show's opening during [=BoJack=]'s party, Sarah Lynn is standing in the background with a beer in her hand talking to someone [[spoiler:until she disappears upon her death at the end of season 3.]]

* YouAllShareMyStory: [[spoiler: Bradley, Joelle and Sarah Lynn's memories of their last talk to him help them discover what was the thing Herb wanted them to do after his death: publish his novel.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards:
** Despite Herb getting blacklisted, Sarah Lynn still met up with him regularly when she was an adult. She was surprised that Bojack had cut himself off from talking to Herb.
** Sarah Lynn sincerely promised Herb that she would get his novel published. At his funeral, when the ketamine wears off, she decides to try and honor that promise.
** She is visibly shocked at [=BoJack=] admitting he nearly slept with Penny, and goes into great detail about how emotionally damaging it probably was for Penny.
* FairytaleMotifs: Her reintroduction in [[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E11ThatsTooMuchMan "That's Too Much, Man!"]], is Sarah Lynn going through her morning routine singing Disney Princess-style. Then, the paparazzi show up and [[MoodWhiplash everything goes to hell]].
* {{Foil}}: Sarah-Lynn and [=BoJack=] have a lot of similarities; both of them are famously washed-up TV actors who starred on the same old sitcom; they [[StepfordSmiler actually lived very miserable personal lives]]; and who indulged in heavy amounts of [[TheHedonist sex, drugs, partying]], and [[{{Jerkass}} boorish behavior]] in order to cope with their depression, loneliness, and self-loathing.

* FriendInTheBlackMarket: Her contact to get prescription pills is named [[Series/DoctorWho Dr. Hu]].

* GeniusSlob: Sarah Lynn seems to care about nothing but her next fix or party, but in the few times when she focusses on something else, she shows that she's smarter than she first appears. She has a deep knowledge of architectural techniques; during a drunken blender, she wrecks the playhouse Oxnard was building for his son and then criticizes his building techniques. Diane's comments on her pop career imply that Sarah Lynn was satirizing the LowestCommonDenominator aspects of pop music.

* HiddenDepths: Expresses an interest in being an architect that she quickly dismisses as a joke, and yet demonstrates an actual appreciation and knowledge of architecture.

** Earlier in the same episode, she wants to go to the planetarium because of how trippy everything gets if you're there while high. Later, [[spoiler: she reveals that it's actually because she loves the amount of effort that goes into making a domed building]].

* HisStoryRepeatsItself: Two examples, each taking part of her personality and paths.
** First and most obvious is Sextina Aquafina. Teen pop stars who are concerned with appearances, wear revealing outfits and exploit their sex appeal, and act like their PopularityPower gives them free reign to be entitled.
** Then, there's Chloe, the actress playing the Sabrina-{{Expy}} in ''Ethan Around''. She's an innocent girl with dreams of stardom, who looks up to [=BoJack=]. Only time will tell if she'll wind up just as broken as Sarah Lynn, although she seems to have better parents.
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:She manages to win the Oscar for Best Song only to die not long after.]]

** Due to her celebrity status, she is still earning millions on song royalties that she could use to go to college and become an architect like she always wanted. Thanks to Bojack's AntiAdvice, however, she clung to the Hollywood lifestyle long before it lost the D out of a desire to grab whatever attention and affection she could from others. [[spoiler:By the time she realized that she could quit the star life and pursue her dreams, she was dying of an overdose and the one person who could have saved her chose to create an alibi instead]].

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Dies of a drug overdose in "That's Too Much, Man!"]]

* LustObject: {{Deconstructed}} She's this for a lot of teens who grew up in TheNineties and still send her love letters that detail how she was the first girl they masturbated to. She thinks this is disgusting, but she doesn't want to disappoint people by saying so publicly.
* MaddenIntoMisanthropy: Downplayed, but the realization that even those she viewed as her closest friends were leaching off of her fame for the sake of their own careers sent her into a downward spiral of hedonism and apathy.

* MythologyGag: InUniverse. Bojack's AffectionateNickname for her in Horsin' Around was "Prickly Muffin". When Sarah became a one-time pop star, one of her most successful singles was named "Prickly Muffin" complete with [[IncestSubtext suggestive lyrics]].

* AddledAddict: She shows realistic signs of her drug abuse, including an inability to focus when not high, manipulating others as a means of indulging her addiction, and emotional volatility. While not quite functional, she's experienced enough that her tolerance can make it difficult to tell when she's legitimately impaired versus just being a {{Jerkass}}.

* AmbiguousDisorder: She's an AddledAddict, AttentionWhore, and her mood shifts rapidly. In addition, the first time we meet her, she's shown to not exactly care for her own well-being... as she'd just stabbed herself with a rusty bayonet in the middle of a hardware store over a breakup... then sealed the wound with duct tape...
--->'''[=BoJack=]''' (in response to Sarah Lynn telling him she'll just find somewhere else to party): Well, you should... not... do that.\\
'''Sarah Lynn:''' Oh, I know. I know, but I can, so I will. I'm at a place in my life right now where I don't have to "grow as a person" or "rise to any occasion," so I can just keep surrounding myself with sycophants and enablers until I die tragically young.

* BrainyBrunette: While she rarely speaks about it as an adult, she's always been interested in architecture. The real reason she loves planetariums is because she can tell how much work goes into building a dome.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: In-universe, she [[spoiler:is seen more as the innocent waif she was before her party girl lifestyle rather than a spectacle to laugh at for diva antics, after she overdoses and dies for real. In fact, Paige Sinclair implies that Bojack took advantage of her to enable her addictions when Sarah Lynn mentioned in her first appearance that she overdoses all the time and one day someone wouldn't revive her. This is how Paige convinces the public to turn against Bojack and see him as a monster]].

* DiedHappilyEverAfter: For what it's worth, [[spoiler:Bojack accidentally gave her a few peaceful moments after her WhatHaveIBecome epiphany at the motel. He took her to a planetarium where she cheerfully talked about the domed building and her interest in architecture, before falling unconscious painlessly]].

** Despite Herb getting blacklisted, Sarah Lynn still met up with him regularly when she was an adult. She was surprised that Bojack had cut himself off from talking to Herb

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:"I want to be an architect." Also [[BookEnds one of the things a young Sarah Lynn]] said in her very first episode.]]
* {{Foil}}: Sarah-Lynn and [=BoJack=] have a lot of similarities; both of them are famously washed-up TV actors who starred on the same old sitcom; [[NiceCharacterMeanActor pretended to be wholesome people on-set]], [[StepfordSmiler but actually lived very miserable personal lives]]; and who indulged in heavy amounts of [[TheHedonist sex, drugs, partying]], and [[{{Jerkass}} boorish behavior]] in order to cope with their depression, loneliness, and self-loathing.
* ForgetfulJones: Sarah Lynn forgets important things fairly often as a result of her drug use. She doesn't even recognize Bradley when they reunite, despite having been on a show with him for years.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Regarding her [[spoiler:eventual death]] and [[spoiler:desire to be an architect]].
** When Sarah Lynn and Bojack hook up for the first time, she tells him that the only drug she needs is "horse." [[spoiler: In season three, Goober explains to Bojack that "horse" is a street name for heroin, and Sarah Lynn's death is caused by overdosing on a specific type of heroin named after [=BoJack=].]]
** In "Prickly Muffin", the episode where she's first introduced, her music video takes place in a planetarium, and in a flashback to her days on the ''Horsin' Around'' set she tells her mother that she wants to be an architect. In "That's Too Much, Man!", she and Bojack end their drug bender by going to a planetarium, where she says that she's always been fascinated by domed buildings [[spoiler:and her final words before she dies in Bojack's arms are that she still wants to be an architect]].
** At [[spoiler:Herb Kazzaz's funeral]], Sarah says, [[spoiler:"We probably won't even see each other again, until the next funeral."]]

* FriendlessBackground: Ultimately, she's never formed a relationship that went beyond the superficial. She's tried to bond only to be constantly disappointed time and again until she finally StoppedCaring. Once the novelty fades, everyone abandons her, one way or another.
** She was isolated from her peers as a child, homeschooled and kept away from non-industry friends by her exploitative StageMom.
** Hollywoo sees her as a star on a comeback when she dips into pop music, only to toss her aside when she hits [[WhiteDwarfStarlet her dreaded thirties]].
** Andrew Garfield is her boyfriend up until her popularity fades and her addictions and flightiness become unmanageable.
** All the party girls and boys (and lemurs) only hang out with her for the drugs.
** [=BoJack=], seeing the wreck she has become, tries to act as a father figure to her, then ends up sleeping with her (without even knowing she might have been abused by her stepfather as a child).
** Even after everything, she's desperate for approval and affection, but has no idea where to start.
* FullNameBasis: Everyone who meets her calls her "Sarah Lynn". Not Sarah, not Lynn, her full name.