"You play these games of 'if I hadn't done this, if I wasn't so that,' but you did, and you were, and here we are. Here we are! Because we did what we had to do."
— Angela
Following the Sarah Lynn exposé BoJack's life has hit rock bottom. He's hated by the public, a radioactive pariah to the industry, has had to sell his house to cover the costs of several lawsuits and everyone except Mr Peanutbutter is keeping their distance.
It's at this point he's suddenly approached by his old producer, Angela Diaz, with an ultimatum: sign over his rights to Horsin' Around for a final payout so the network can issue it in reruns, with all references to him removed. After a heated argument, BoJack agrees, then drunkenly storms off in anger at his situation.
Eventually he returns to and breaks into his old house, where he seemingly wants nothing more than to drink himself into oblivion while a DVD of his old show plays on the TV...
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: BoJack has this reaction when he learns Angela was bluffing when she told BoJack he's risking his career for Herb.
- As Herself: Indie filmmaker Nicole Holofcener makes an appearance as herself, who keeps Character Actress Margo Martindale from going to jail so she can appear in her new movie.
- At Least I Admit It: When BoJack tries to blame Angela for everything that ever went wrong with his life after she basically tricked him into firing Herb, she calls him out on always trying to blame other people for his horrible actions, indirectly admitting that she's aware that her actions ruin lives too, but at least she's aware of what she is, accepts it, and is at peace with what she's done.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Herb disses Michael Eisner and is instantly told he's a wonderful person. Eisner owns the company
that produces the show. - The Bus Came Back: Even though she told BoJack in "The Telescope", "if you're lucky, we never have to see each other again", Angela calls BoJack for a favor.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Subverted. Angela assumes this is the case for her last interaction with BoJack when she convinced him not to support Herb back in the '90's. She stressed over it and practiced her speech in the mirror beforehand, but she figures BoJack doesn't even remember the encounter since he's worked with so many people and, as far as she knows, Herb was just another face in the crowd. But for BoJack, it was a formative moment; it's the first time he screwed over a close friend for his career, and he considers it his Start of Darkness.
- Call-Back: When Guy and Diane are discussing moving down to Houston, Diane states she hopes she doesn't have to get another abortion since they're hard to get in Texas.
- Darkest Hour: BoJack's career is basically over, his friends and family are keeping their distance from him if they haven't cut ties with him entirely. A series of lawsuits have left him broke and force him to sell his house. He's even forced to erase his proudest achievement, Horsin' Around, when Angela convinces him to sell his shares to the show so they can edit him out of future re-releases.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Angela calls out BoJack on blaming everybody for his bad decisions:BoJack: Every stupid decision I made, every bad thing that has ever happened, it all started because of you!
Angela: Grow up! You play these games, "if I hadn't done this, if I wasn't so that", but you did, and you were, and here we are. - The Heavy: Angela is revealed here to have indirectly been the source of the chain of events that led to BoJack's downward spiral, as being the one to convince him to sack Herb from Horsin' Around - though the episode implies she's also trying to cover her own lesbianism. Of course, when BoJack angrily confronts her on this fact, Angela turns it back on him and calls him out for looking for someone else to take responsibility for his choices.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While BoJack saying that Angela was responsible for every horrid thing that he did was a Never My Fault moment, his anger to her is justified since she used unethical means to keep BoJack from leaving Horsin' Around.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Angela takes this attitude in regards to what she and BoJack did to Herb.
- It's All About Me: Angela is another party revealed to be trying to cash in on the controversy surrounding Sarah Lynn's death, hoping to repackage Horsin' Around to exploit the controversy. BoJack though is more outraged that this is going to come with the consequence of erasing his legacy from the show.
- Mythology Gag: Both Angela and consequence Herb refer to Michael Eisner by name, since, during the flashback, Disney was about to buy ABC. Of course, Eisner is now the head of The Tornante Company, which is the main production company behind BoJack.
- Never My Fault: After learning from Angela that she tricked him into firing Herb, BoJack proceeds to blame her for being the catalyst of everything that went wrong in his life. Angela immediately shuts down his argument by pointing out that he's just looking for someone else to place blame on for his own actions.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: Horsin' Around has become this In-Universe because of BoJack's involvement with costar Sarah Lynn's death, as well as his numerous other instances of toxic and downright predatory behavior, getting publicly exposed. This is why Angela wants BoJack to sign away his rights to the series so ABC can re-edit the show without including him so they still profit off of the series.
- Phrase Catcher: We get one last "Hey! Aren't you the horse from Horsin' Around?" from Angela.
- Relationship Upgrade: Judah serenades Princess Carolyn in her office, and it ends with him quietly, but earnestly, confessing his love for her. They have their wedding in the finale.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The final shot of the episode is of BoJack staring back at himself on the TV screen. Broken, hopeless and contemplating suicide. As soon as it cuts to credits the upbeat and cheesy 90’s style pop song "Do the BoJack" starts playing. It doesn’t make the final shot of the episode any less eerie or heartbreaking.
- Un-person: After removing Bill Cosby from the titular The Cosby Show, Angela decides to re-edit Horsin' Around without the horse.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As it turns out, a flashback reveals that Herb unintentionally became a catalyst in making BoJack have second thoughts on defending him from being dismissed from Horsin’ Around when he gave Angela the idea to give a huge Break Them by Talking pitch to BoJack.
- Where It All Began: Horrifyingly Played for Drama. After hitting his lowest Rock Bottom yet, BoJack by the end of the episode finds himself in the same position he was at when the show first started: a drunk, washed-up mess doing nothing but self-loathing while watching reruns of Horsin' Around. The final shot makes it all too clear he's aware of how far he's fallen.
