Line #50 Recap/BojackHorsemanS4E12WhatTimeIsItRightNow


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bj_s4_e_12.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[EarnYourHappyEnding The horse's neverending pursuit of happiness seems to finally pay off...]]]]
3
4	->''"The woods are dark and scary, but the only way out is through!"''
5	-->--'''Todd'''
6
7	Princess Carolyn pitches "Philbert" as a series to [=WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com=], after mixing up the story a bit, the buyers seem happy to take the series, especially with [=BoJack=], who is still unaware that Princess Carolyn signed the contract for him. [=BoJack=] fails attempting to talk with Hollyhock again and talk about what happened with his mother.
8
9	Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane buy a new house and are overjoyed with their decision, but decide that they wish to take a trip to Hawaii before settling down. After a rocky start, they stay in a thrifty motel midway through the road, where they stay instead of going to Hawaii.
10
11	Princess Carolyn's alcoholism causes trouble, so Todd decides to give her a pep talk by taking her to the middle of the woods, where he learns his clown dentists have gone rabid, but it works in helping PC to get herself back together, who is now ready to face [=BoJack=] and take the series to the end. Todd enlists Yolanda to help him take care of the clowns in the woods, together, they are unable to take them out of there, but realize there's a business there. Todd starts selling people the opportunity to run from rabid clown dentists as an exercise motivation. With that business being a success, Yolanda asks him out on a date, confessing that she is also asexual.
12
13	[=BoJack=] has a sudden realization while talking with Princess Carolyn about her pitch that his D.N.A. and Hollyhock's matching doesn't mean they're father and daughter. Traveling to San Francisco, he finds out that his mother hid the daughter his father had with a maid, finds Henrietta and acquires her phone number. He travels to Wichita and gives the phone number to Hollyhock's parents, hoping that they'll give it to her and states that he will not contact Hollyhock again. He just wants her to find her birth mother she wanted. They agree to make sure she gets it.
14
15	Princess Carolyn finally manages to get to talk with [=BoJack=] about "Philbert", which he promptly accepts, noting how much PC has already done for him through the years, and supports her in the decision of hers to start thinking about adopting instead of waiting for a man to have a kid.
16
17	Back in their house, Mr. Peanutbutter reveals to have built Diane's "Belle room" in their new home, which causes Diane to be unexpectedly angry at him for yet again making big gestures she already specified to dislike. After a fight, she breaks down crying, and their marriage is implied to have come to an inevitable end.
18
19	While in his pool, [=BoJack=] gets a call of Hollyhock, to tell him that she knows he got her the number of her mother and that she has been communicating with her, getting a plane to meet her in person. She also tells him that unlike her parents, she doesn't blame him for Beatrice secretly drugging her. The episode ends as Hollyhock wants him in her life as the brother she never had and [=BoJack=] gives his first genuine smile in the entire show.
20	----
21	!!Tropes:
22
23	* ActorAllusion: Creator/RobMorrow makes a brief appearance on the ShowWithinAShow playing O.J. Simpson's lawyer Barry Scheck, reprising his role from ''Series/ThePeopleVOJSimpson''.
24	* ArtShift: [=BoJack=]'s explanation about how he found out about Hollyhock's mother is accompanied with drawings in the same style as the ones in his inner monologues back in episode 6.
25	* BaitAndSwitch:
26	** Hollyhock seems to be letting [=BoJack=] down easy by saying that she never expected him to be a father, and that she's happy with her eight dads.
27	--->'''Hollyhock:''' ...but I've never had a ''brother''.
28	** Conversely, Diane's magic eye metaphor seems to be her asserting that her marriage to Mr. Peanutbutter can work out if the two of them really try, until she comes to the conclusion that she can't keep trying anymore.
29	* BittersweetEnding: Princess Carolyn and [=BoJack=] patch up their friendship and he agrees to star in "Philbert," plus he happily talks her into adoption. However, it's implied that the script is terrible. Meanwhile, Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane's marriage seems to have finally collapsed, which itself is bittersweet as it shows Diane is no longer willing to be a StepfordSmiler just to keep Mr. Peanutbutter happy. Todd may also have a potential new relationship with another ace person, and gives a look at the end of his scene indicating that this could be really good for him. Most importantly, Hollyhock's fathers still don't trust [=BoJack=], but she and him are still on good terms and she tells him she's happier to have a brother than another dad.
30	* BorrowedCatchphrase: Todd uses Princess Carolyn's "You've gotta get your shit together" pep talk on her when she spirals.
31	* CallBack: Back in the first episode of the season Katrina had gotten approval for a bridge to Hawaii to be built as part of an elaborate scheme to get Mr. Peanutbutter elected governor. Here Diane and Mr. Penutbutter decide to drive to Hawaii on the now completed bridge.
32	* CharacterDevelopment: [=BoJack's=] ringtone is now a generic ringtone, rather than the ''Horsin' Around'' theme, indicating he is finally letting go of his past.
33	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mr. Peanutbutter went to great expense to fill the library with fake prop books instead of real books, thus defeating the purpose of a library.
34	* {{Determinator}}: [=BoJack=] does absolutely everything he can to find Hollyhock's birth mother, despite how agonizing the process had previously been shown to be for him. The result of putting someone else's happiness before his own for once ultimately [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn him his happy ending]].
35	* {{Deconstruction}}: ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' gets this in the last scene between Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter. Diane reveals that she's always wanted to have her own private library just like the one the Beast gave Belle, so Mr. Peanutbutter gives her one. This doesn't improve their marriage one bit, as the issues that keep them from connecting on a deeper level aren't addressed and Diane feels like she's being pressured into loving Mr. Peanutbutter.
36	* DramaticIrony: Hints of Hollyhock's true parentage (which we now know from the previous episode) are dropped all over the place, but [=BoJack=] doesn't put the pieces together until he hears a random comment about Matthew Perry.
37	* EarnYourHappyEnding: After three seasons of trying and failing hard, [=BoJack=] finally, finally ''finally'' gets some closure. Not only is he still on good terms with his half-sister, but he's patched things up with one of his best friends, he's going back to work and he's made peace with his mother. There's a reason the episode (and, by extension, the season) ends on him giving a huge smile.
38	* EurekaMoment: {{Subverted\|Trope}}. [=BoJack=] discusses the trope ranting to Princess Carolyn how much he despises mysteries where "a single comment overheard at just the right moment makes the hero re-contextualize every conversation to that point and gets the magic answer at just the right time." Moments later, an offhand comment about Matthew Perry isn't what suddenly solves the mystery, but simply makes him realize he can't give up on finding Hollyhock's mother. He eventually does learn the truth, but only after he puts in the hard work himself.
39	* FeeFiFauxPas: As eight adoptive polyamourous fathers, Hollyhock's dads clearly feel very strongly about a parent being the person who raised you, which makes it extremely difficult for [=BoJack=] to discuss the subject of the male from which a child shares half their DNA with.
40	-->'''[=BoJack=]:''' I feel like you're willfully misunderstanding me. What I am saying is, ''I'm not even her father biologically!''
41	* HopeSpot: After the initial shock of seeing the "Belle Room" wears off, it seems like Diane is about to give an uplifting speech about how they can still work through their differences. But then, well, see the Wham Line below.
42	* {{Homage}}: Raphael Bob-Waksberg has stated that [=BoJack=]'s smile at the end is partly inspired by Sullivan's smile from the ending shot of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''.
43	* InternalReveal: Hollyhock and [=BoJack=] find out that they are half-siblings. They are both happy about this information.
44	* ItIsDehumanizing: Hollyhock's birth certificate just said "Girl Horse" in lieu of an actual name.
45	* LaserGuidedKarma: [=BoJack=] for the first time ever does a selfless deed that fails to benefit him. He gives Hollyhock's parents the contact information for her mother and says he doesn't care if he's never allowed to see Hollyhock again as long as she's happy. As a result, Hollyhock calls him, reveals they're actually siblings, and says she still wants a family relationship with him.
46	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Long story short, after Todd abandons the clown dentists in the woods, they begin exhibiting zombie-like behavior.
47	* TheReveal: Given how late into his life he's seen working on it in flashbacks, one might assume that Butterscotch never actually finished his novel, but a copy of it is seen in Beatrice's belongings.
48	* RubeGoldbergDevice: Todd's solution for trapping the zombie clown dentists. Knowing Todd, it backfires immediately.
49	* SequelHook:
50	** Diane makes it clear her marriage with Mr. Peanutbutter has reached its last legs, but their divorce isn't officialized until the next season. On the flipside, Todd finds himself a potential new girlfriend in Yolanda.
51	** [=BoJack=] is set to work on ''Philbert'' with a script that's implied to be terrible, setting up plenty of new potential hijinks for him to get involved in. He also gets to keep Hollyhock in his life as a reward for his CharacterDevelopment, only now as his half-sister rather than his previously-assumed daughter.
52	* ShoutOut: Among Beatrice's things is a copy of Butterscotch's book, "The Horse That Couldn't be Broken". Its cover is a shout out to the cover of Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man".
53	* TakeThat: Near the end Hollyhock complains that honeydew gets put everywhere despite nobody liking it (and in-universe nobody seems to like it indeed) and says that it is the Creator/JaredLeto of fruits.
54	* WhamLine:
55	-->'''Diane:''' You know, sometimes I feel like our marriage is like a Magic Eye poster.\
56	'''Mr. Peanutbutter:''' I love those things!\
57	'''Diane:''' I know. And it's messy and at first glance it doesn't seem to make any sense, and it's hard to figure out. But sometimes, if you squint at it just right, everything lines up and it's the most perfect, beautiful, amazing thing.\
58	'''Mr. Peanutbutter:''' Yeah, I know what you mean.\
59	'''Diane:''' But... ''I'm so tired of squinting!''\
60	''(Breaks down in tears as Mr. Peanutbutter looks like he's realizing that this isn't going to work out)''
61	* YouAreNotAlone: When Todd gets asked out on a date, he tells the girl that he's asexual. She simply says "me too". Zoom out and we see that everyone in the diner Todd's eating at is dressed the same as him, with the obvious symbolism being that Todd is not as unusual as he initially believed.

Context Recap / BojackHorsemanS4E12WhatTimeIsItRightNow