Bojack Horseman

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cobl04

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So yeah, I am really loving Bojack Horseman. A few episodes into season two now after I joined up to Netflix (oh my god what an invention). Takes a wee while to get going but really hits its strides ep eight of season one; when Bojack (Will Arnett is fantastic in this role, easily the best thing I've seen him in since Arrested Development, and made me happy after seeing him wasted in that awful show where he moves in with his mum) visits his former best mate and colleague Herb, who is dying of cancer. They end up having a big fight because Herb doesn't forgive Bojack for abandoning him at his lowest ebb. And that's where I started to really like it. He's sort of the bizarro-Walter White; a character you start out hating for being an arsehole but come to like as he begins to show signs of growth. He's still an arsehole of course, but there's some complexity there, there's some relatable themes in the avoidance, the indulgence to distract, etc.

It's also well-animated, pulls off its animals-and-humans-together world with ease, self-awareness and a touch of irony, has some great music (aside from fucking Grouplove doing the credits theme, fuck me does that sound send me into a rage), really cool intro titles (they remind me a lot of Mad Men actually). Aaron Paul is great as Todd, his wide-eyed character makes a great comic foil. Alison Brie is perfect in every way and so of course I love her as Diane, although I hope her character gets some more development, and she leaves Mr Peanut Butter, cos he's a fuckin douche, although well-played by Paul F Tompkins. There's a MASSIVE range of impressive (ie actually good people) guest voices, Joel McHale and Lisa Kudrow in the episode I just watched alone, alongside Colbert, JK Simmons, Wyatt Cenac, Ken Jeong, Jean-Ralphio, Olivia Wilde, John Krasinski, as well as a heap of A-list celebs playing themselves.

It's also pretty fucking funny. This shit makes me laugh out loud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMV8btPW4wU

Anyone else watching?
 
I binge-watched this last weekend, and had been intending to get to it for a while with not having Netflix being the big issue. I really like it.
 
I'm about halfway through season 2. The chicken subplot in the last ep I watched was dark, some Walking Dead shit going on there.

Cobs, are you using the Aus or USA Netflix? You can use your Aus account and a DNS service to get into the USA library, it's like 10x the size.
 
What's a DNS service? (Sorry I'm a bit oblivious when it comes to this stuff.) I'm using Aus netflix at the moment, I'm pretty sure, although I do have a Canadian VPN thing set up on my laptop.
 
Have a squizz at this:

https://unlocator.com

It basically makes your device or router think it's in a different location, but unlike a VPN doesn't hide your traffic or slow down connection speeds.

$5USD a month. I'm currently using it on a smart tv and Aussie Netflix account, so it thinks I'm holidaying in the States and switches to the US library.

If you're watching on a laptop your current VPN should work just fine, just switch it to USA and allow some buffering.
 
I just watched that chicken episode, Becka? I have not seen The Walking Dead so don't know what you're talking about there, but it was funny, and yeah a bit dark, that murky underside of capitalist business. I was kinda heartbroken when the Chicken4Dayz dude's wife was like "take me with you, I don't wanna kill chickens, I wanna make video games" and they drove off and left her behind.

I hope we see more of Charlotte the deer.
 
Episode seven of season two is really something. Very, very bleak and not funny at all (aside from Todd switching places with the prince of Cordovia) but a depressingly frank look at how Hollywoo(d) and misogyny are so intertwined. Relevant, too, given the Bill Cosby shit. Bravo.
 
I can't wait a year for the new series :scream:

I thought the final episode was a bit shit, particularly after such an intense one the episode prior. Cool they used Avant Gardener though.
 
I just binge-watched season 1 with Ashley, who I'm sure will jump in sooner rather than later.

Here's the thing about Bojack Horseman (why does everyone have to introduce "the thing?" Why can't they just say "the thing?")...

I don't think critics got the first season of this show wrong. I think what happened is that a lot of them only reviewed the first handful of episodes despite the show being available in full because that's typical industry practice. AV Club specifically said they only watched half the season (which in their review of season 2 they specified as a weak patch for the show). Fact is, the first few episodes of BH aren't very good. The jokes are heavy-handed, no one is especially likable and everything feels plastic and distant. The pilot in particular is total crap. I would have panned the show based on that episode too, if it were my job and deadlines had to be met.

But something great happens. Bojack sneaks Todd the video game and all of a sudden we're on a totally different track. The humor is more natural (episode 5 is one of the funniest episodes of television I've seen in ages), the characterizations are much better and the show's overarching plot gets rolling. The last 8 or 9 episodes of the season are fantastic. Sad, witty, unique yet possessing a comfortable, well-worn style of humor; it's perfect. I love the episode-to-episode continuity and its ease with animal characterization jokes. The writers have done a tremendous job of making Bojack a balanced, complex character with flaws and likable qualities. The show has a voice cast of great pedigree and the writers have crafted strong characters for all of them.

Can't wait to watch season 2. This show is on a totally different level right now and it's great to see critics eating their words. They should have stuck around and given it a fair chance instead of turning people away from it based on a handful of mediocre early episodes.
 
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Also, anyone who is a fan of Bojack Horseman needs to read Achewood. The whole series, in its entirety. Go to the archives and start from the beginning.

It has the California setting, the humans-and-talking-animals-coexisting angle, the absurdist sense of humor, the lapses into surreality, the industry jokes, the harebrained business ventures, the substance abuse, all of it. BH may be the closest we get to having Achewood on TV and that's actually OK with me.
 
I did not think about the connection between Achewood and Bojack, but definitely couldn't agree more that if you like one, you'll love the other.

This is such a great show. I'm so pleased with Bojack's character. So many television, and especially cartoon, characters can easily be two-dimensional, but they've developed a character that is somehow a pastiche and yet completely unpredictable at the same time. That balance and ability to surprise is what I love so very much.

I'll never forgive them for making me have an emotional connection to a Tegan and Sara song, though.
 
It's tremendous viewing. Not sure I'd agree the first few episodes were that bad. It starts slow, for sure, but so do a lot of shows. Once you hit the mid-point it's firing on nearly all cylinders (and you'll be blown away by season two, it's even better).

I need to read Achewood but I don't want to do it online. Surely it's been put into a book?
 
The last three people to post in here are all huge Achewood fans, so yeah.

The use of Wild Horses was both an extremely lazy pun and very appropriate.
 
If I never see the premiere of Bojack again, I'll be perfectly fine with that, BUT no, it's not that bad. I've loved every other episode to varying degrees, however. I think episode 6 was the other week one.
 
I wish there were more books of Achewood. I'd probably own them all.

God, episode 11 of Bojack would fit RIGHT in with the Hencho en Mexico plot from Achewood.
 
comic.php
 
I broke a sacred rule of marriage and binge watched way too much of this show without Ashley tonight. Still have four episodes to go, but I like the direction it's heading in.

To be honest, I'm preferring the end of season 1 to most of what I've seen from season 2, though Let's Find Out, which is where I stopped, is one of the best episodes of the whole series. Perfect mix of humor and revelatory drama. The ending was so fucking dark but I was applauding anyway.

My biggest problem with this season has actually been the stark lack of Bojack. There is a larger supporting cast with Wanda around and while I do enjoy her character a great deal, I don't feel she's added as much to the tension of the show as Herb did. It seems like less work is being put into exploring Bojack's character after dedicating so much (very valuable) time to it over the second half of season 1. The Secretariat movie also hasn't contributed as much as I had hoped.

That said, I think the laughs are coming more naturally than ever before. There were a lot of cringeworthy jokes when the show first started, but those have virtually disappeared in favor of fluid timing and a large repertoire of animal jokes to draw from that usually land. I still think it's a great show. Certainly, all 8 episodes I've watched are head and shoulders above the first 3-4 episodes of the show. This season is far more consistently enjoyable. I've just had my heart broken a little less often this time around.

Best joke of the season so far: the cell phones falling in love. I was in tears. Todd is getting just the right amount of screen time this season.
 
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The Secretariat plot was a bit of a letdown in the end, I agree. I was hoping for it to be a moment of triumph for Bojack but it wasn't to be.
 
Completely agreed with Bonnie, BTW, that JD Salinger was a revelation. He's awesome. I hope he sticks around for the remaining four episodes because megalomaniacal "dead" authors need to feature in comedies more often.
 
The finale was incredibly rushed, but Avant Gardener + the jogger from every episode of the show imparting wisdom made it all worthwhile. What a great way to end the season. The Mr Peanutbutter/Diane split screen was also wonderful. Basically the bookends were A+ and the rest of the episode was a solid B.

The penultimate episode on the other hand was just...wow. I was legitimately scared as Charlotte walked over to the door of the boat to find the inevitable. All I could feel was dread for that entire scene. The episode is top notch all the same. That one and Let's Find Out were the real gems of the season.
 
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