BoJack Horseman has given fans plenty of tearjerker moments over its five seasons, but the show’s season 3 finale had some of its most heartbreaking scenes yet. The first season of Netflix’s surreal animation premiered in 2014 and quickly became a firm favorite with viewers and critics. The Raphael Bob-Waksberg created show has multiple Golden Derby and Annie Awards under its belt and was renewed for a sixth season in October 2018.
For the uninitiated, BoJack Horseman is set in an alternate Hollywood in which humans and anthropomorphic animals exist side by side. The show follows its titular protagonist (voiced by Will Arnett, Arrested Development) – a washed-up, self-loathing, substance-abusing former star of sitcom Horsin’ Around who is trying to reclaim his celebrity relevance. It might essentially be about a talking horse, but it’s also a biting satire of Hollywood and the human condition that can be incredibly dark.
Case in point: BoJack Horseman season 3. BoJack’s film Secretariat – a biopic about his childhood hero – is enjoying success but his personal life is a mess having lost most of his friends due to his own toxic behavior. In the season 3 finale “That Went Well” BoJack is distraught over the death of his troubled former Horsin’ Around co-star Sarah Lynn after their drug-fueled binge in the previous episode. He reluctantly agrees to take a part in a Horsin’ Around reboot sitcom but backs out when he meets his young co-star Chloe who says she wants to be just like him when she grows up and reminds him of Sarah Lynn. Realizing he’s about to repeat the same cycle he did with Sarah Lynn, he flees the set hoping to save Chloe from a similar fate.
We next see BoJack Horseman speeding down a desert highway in his yellow Tesla as he closes his eyes and takes his hands off the wheel in what seems to be a suicide attempt. Just as his car starts to swerve dangerously, BoJack catches something out of the corner of his eye – a herd of wild horses running free – and slams on his brakes. It’s a bittersweet moment for Bojack. It seems he feels a kinship with the wild horses since they represent what he could have – a life free from drugs and booze and all the vicious trappings of Hollywood. It’s a sliver of hope, yet at the same time BoJack is still at rock bottom. He’s escaped the vicious cycle he was trapped in but has no idea what he should be doing and is just as lost as he’s ever been.
The ending of BoJack Horseman season 3 was a gut-punch for sure, but still one of the best episodes of the show and typical of its bittersweet tone. And though it probably broke many a BoJack Horseman fan’s heart, it provided a set up for the show’s brilliant fourth season so there’s some solace in that at least.
Next: Is Tuca and Bertie Set in the Same Universe as Bojack Horseman?
