Netflix’s animated comedy BoJack Horseman is coming to an end with season 6, part 2. In August 2014, when writer Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s animated series BoJack Horseman premiered on Netflix, people didn’t have the greatest expectations for it. Not only was it one of the first original series to drop on the streaming service (one a lot of people was doomed to fail) but the show itself seemed too esoteric to find an audience.
Critics enjoyed the erratic first season and saw potential but were unsure if this Hollywood satire set in a world where humans live alongside anthropomorphic animals had long-term possibilities. Five years on and BoJack Horseman has become one of the sharpest, strangest, and most politically daring shows on television.
Its razor-sharp dissection of the entertainment industry’s many ills works in tandem with a sly takedown of the entire Prestige TV subgenre and a series of deftly explored character studies that dive head-first into topics as tough as depression, addiction, trauma, sexual exploitation, and general human existential panics. Not bad for a show centered on a cartoon man-horse sitcom star voiced by Will Arnett. But now that BoJack Horseman season 6, part 1 is over, here’s what to expect from season 6, part 2.
BoJack Horseman Is Ending With Season 6 Part 2
Sadly, BoJack Horseman is now coming to an end, with BoJack Horseman season 6, part 2 being its final release. This isn’t how the showrunners wanted it to end, as it was ultimately Netflix’s decision. Fortunately, the show is getting a final season to conclude its narrative, a fate not given to its stylistic sibling, Tuca and Bertie, which was canceled earlier this year after only one season. Given Netflix’s recent trend for thinning the herd of its original content with more cancellations than ever, it’s somewhat surprising that BoJack Horseman has lasted as long as it has.
When BoJack Horseman Season 6 Part 2 Drops
BoJack Horseman season 6, part 1 released on October 25 with eight episodes, and BoJack Horseman season 6, part 2 will release on January 31, 2020, with another eight episodes. A final season of 16 episodes is a pretty solid deal given that all the other seasons of the show have been 12 episodes long, as well as a Christmas special. Combined, fans will have a grand total of 77 episodes of BoJack Horseman to revisit once the show concludes with BoJack Horseman season 6, part 2.
What Will BoJack Horseman Season 6 Part 2’s Story Be?
BoJack Horseman season 6, part 1 opened with BoJack at his lowest point, having succumbed to a painkiller addiction on top of his chronic alcoholism and assaulting a co-star during one of his trips. Diane had driven him to rehab and the first couple of episodes see him struggling with the process of getting clean, not just from his substance abuse but his lifelong trauma and personal problems. One of the prevailing themes of the show has been BoJack’s journey of self-realization over his status as a bad person and his true desire to overcome that, and this is the first time we really see him not only try to improve but make real steps forward in that regard.
When BoJack gets out of rehab and starts trying to improve his life, the season concludes with a reminder that the after-effects of such poisonous behavior are much harder to get rid of. Other people still have to live with the consequences of his actions. Gina Cazador, his co-star on last season’s Philbert, is still living with the trauma of him choking her, which has left her branded as “difficult” to work with, while Kelsey Jannings, the director BoJack got fired from his Secretariat film, is having trouble finding work for similar reasons. His sister Hollyhock displays anxiety and PTSD-style symptoms from her terrible encounter with BoJack’s mother and a duo of journalists are hot on the trail of figuring out what really happened to the late Sarah Lynn, BoJack’s former Horsin’ Around co-star who he was with when she died of a drug overdose. The impact of these connected threads and how they all lead back to BoJack will be major once the inevitable sets in, and that’s what BoJack Horseman season 6, part 2’s story will have to take on.
There are other characters to keep up with, too: Princess Carolyn is finally settling into life as a working single mother; Mr. Peanutbutter admitted to his fourth fiancé Pickles that he cheated on her with Diane but they’re still trying to make it work and he’s inadvertently become “the public face of depression” after an on-set mishap; Diane is dealing with her own depression and making a fresh start in Chicago with her new boyfriend; and Todd is just Todd, always and forever. It is unlikely the BoJack Horseman season 6, part 2 finale will be a cheery one. This is not a show that has ever sugar-coated the serious issues or traumas of its central characters in any way. Still, it is a series that offers glimmers of hope and redemption, and while fans aren’t expecting a happy climax, they are certainly hoping for one with moments of light.
Next: Why BoJack Horseman Is Ending With Season 6
