"Just let me have this night."
— BoJack
BoJack and his drama students are celebrating the end of the semester but the mood turns sour when he learns an expose on his involvement in Sarah Lynn's death will be published soon. There's seemingly nothing he can do to blunt the impending ruining of his career, unless he comes clean first.....
Tropes:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Maximillian finally tells Paige that he loves her, but, being the fast-talking Screwball Comedy Cloud Cuckoolander that she is, she tells him, "Of course, everyone's in love with Paige Sinclair."
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Let's be honest, many of the transgressions on the whiteboards do not exactly qualify as being scandal-inducing, such as taking Diane's scarf and using the giant Todd head to take the carpool lane.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Pickles and Joey Pogo. Maximillian and Paige pick up on it right off.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with an empty shot of BoJack's office.
- Bottle Episode: Subverted. All the characters enter and leave BoJack's office, and there are times when the focus shifts to Mister Peanutbutter at Elafino, but the episode begins and ends with an empty shot of Bojack's office, and the audience's perspective never leaves the room as long as the episode takes place in it, even when BoJack isn't there.
- Continuity Cavalcade: On the whiteboards is a smorgasbord of all the shitty things that BoJack ever did. Diane and Todd even add some of their own. Diane's are in cursive, no less. See here
for the entire list and the breakdown of all the events, including the Noodle Incidents. - Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Princess Carolyn has Todd cover Ruthie's ears with his hat while BoJack lists off every bad thing he's ever done.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Pickles describes Joey Pogo as the opposite of Mister Peanutbutter claiming that he's "Arrogant, annoyingly cheerful and fake nice" whereas Mister Peanutbutters "Confident, refreshingly optimistic and wryly sweet with an ironic self-aware edge that reads to some as inauthentic but I recognize as archly sincere."
- Later it happens again with this exchange:
Pickles: When I'm with [Mister Peanutbutter] we finish each others sentences meanwhile you are always...Joey: Interrupting just to say the exact thing you were going to.Pickles: Yes! It's so a....Joey: Annoying?Pickles: Thank you, that's the word. - Extremely Short Timespan: The episode takes place over a couple of hours.
- Gone Horribly Right: Mr. Peanutbutter's attempts to get Pickles and Joey to have sex lead them to develop real feelings for each other. For his part, Mr. Peanutbutter sounds resigned to the inevitable when he puts his engagement to Pickles "on hold" so she can start a career traveling with Joey. Sure enough, Pickles breaks up with Mr. Peanutbutter via text next episode.
- Internal Reveal:
- Todd and Princess Carolyn finally learn about BoJack and Penny nearly having sex in "Escape from L.A.". They honestly take it pretty well but admit that what BoJack did was "super sketchy".
- BoJack, Princess Carolyn, and Diane find out Paige and Max are trying to find out about Sarah Lynn's death when Diane gets a phone call from Paige asking her about the last time he saw BoJack and Sarah Lynn together.
- The real drama bomb was Princess Carolyn and Diane finally understanding what happened to Sarah Lynn.
- Ironic Echo: Mr. Peanutbutter describes his decision to do all three of his, Pickles and Joey's theme ideas for their restaurant as "The perfect compromise, one were everyone gets what they want and no one has to compromise" later when convincing Pickles to postpone their wedding and go on take a job with Joey he says the same thing, less sincerely.
- It's All About Me: Once BoJack learns that a hitpiece is being written about him, he along with Diane, Princess Carolyn, and Todd, all begin to list the terrible things he's done in the past to hurt others. He fills out two chalkboards' worth. He then breaks out into an angry rant about how the journalist doesn't even care that he's a changed person now, and that they only care about boosting their career at his expense. This is all while his friends are looking disturbed and the list of horrible actions he's committed in the past are staring him in the face.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: This episode largely focuses on BoJack getting hit with his and his desperate attempt to avoid it. Diane acts as the Voice of Reason and tries to convince him that there is no stopping the story about him at this point, and the best thing he can do now for himself is actually be honest.
- Long List: Princess Carolyn tells BoJack that his best chance of damage control is getting an overview of all the bad stuff he has done, and so asks him to give her, Todd, and Diane an exhaustive List of Transgressions. In response, BoJack's sighs, takes a seat, and tells them that they are in for a "long night". By the time they are done, they have filled out two chalkboards' worth of transgressions.
- Noodle Incident: Some of the things on the whiteboards include "Keyed Kenan Thompson's Kia"/"Fobbed Elon Muskrat's Tesla", "Habitual bad tipper", "Lied about dating Natalie Portman", "Lied about 'getting' Radiohead", and, as always, the obligatory "Sneezed on Marisa Tomei". Also, at some point, BoJack told Mr. Peanutbutter about the "Cry-anne" video.
- Running Gag: Elifino somehow has an old fashioned candlestick telephone for Paige to again make her overdramatic calls that wrap her and others in the cord. Unlike at the Hollywoo Reporter, the restaurant patrons roll pretty well with it.
- Secret-Keeper: Mr. Peanutbutter knew about BoJack's involvement with Sarah Lynn's death after he told Mr. Peanutbutter during a drunken episode (which BoJack has no memory of).
- Spanner in the Works: BoJack's attempt to circumvent the upcoming article on him gets blown to water when Mr. Peanutbutter reveals that he knew about BoJack's involvement in Sarah Lynn's death.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The theme of the episode more or less pushes the moral that just because you may be a "changed person" doesn't mean it will instantly wash away the consequences of your previous actions. It's something that BoJack is forced to reckon with, that his journey to self improvement still got paved with a lot of chaos in his wake.
- Take That!: Apparently Moby isn't the only one who lied about dating Natalie Portman.
- Title Drop: By Princess Carolyn. When BoJack asks her why she's still sticking with him, she replies that she's been by his side for 25 years, and she doesn't want an unhappy ending for someone she's invested so much in (hence "sunk cost, and all that").
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Mr. Peanutbutter answering the reporters questions and spilling the beans about the Sarah Lynn incident is what soon led to BoJack's new perfect life crumbling in the next few episodes.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Todd is willing to stand by BoJack after reading his list of transgressions, knowing he's a changed person. It's the moment he reverts back to his old assholish behavior and starts ranting that Paige Sinclair is trying to take him down that Todd draws the line.
- Diane stays for a bit longer, but has to leave after Princess Carolyn and BoJack can't be honest and try to spin the situation.
