[6.5/10] This is kind of a weird episode, but let’s start about what I liked.
First off, I liked the sideways humor the show’s so good at. Using the frame story of Diane’s psychiatrist and her wife to gives the adventures of BoJack & co. through a tilted lens is a great conceit. Conversations between an angsty zebra and Princess Diana, plus a hand-faced Todd and pulsating fog version of Princess Carolyn is all just weird enough to make me laugh, and the show doubles down on it in very funny ways. Plus, Flippy the dolphin and his chittering subtitles cracked me up, and Mr. PB’s revelations about his parents dying played for surprisingly good laughs.
I also liked the Todd/Princess Carolyn story (which is, explicitly, the lighter B-story). The two of them arguing over who stole whose string cheese and who needs an office, and the insecurities that underlie both concerns made for some wacky but amusing comic hijinks and a solid heartfelt moment. Plus the whole setup and payoff with Todd reaching for his pen was capital-D Delightful.
But man, I have mixed feelings about the Diane/BoJack story here. It feels a little like season 1 BoJack, which is maybe the point, but the whole situation with Diane asking for space and BoJack responding by nabbing her psychiatrist is really odd, in a kind of outsized loony way. I get what the show’s going for -- where BoJack is selfish and oblivious to Diane’s needs to the point that she lashes out -- but this is a really strange way to dramatize that.
At the same time, I have even more mixed feelings about Diane’s reaction. Her writing BoJack’s real life confession into the script, and blindsiding him with having to read/perform it on set feels vindictive and likely to cause a lot of problems for both of them. Knowing this show, those problems will be explored in depth, but still, it seems like a hurtful thing to do that is harsh in a way Diane isn’t usually. I’m curious to see what the show will do with it, but initially, it rubs me the wrong way, both as a character choice and as a culmination of a kind of oddly-tuned plot in the episode to begin with.
Overall, the A-story here is off enough to raise an eyebrow, but the comedic and creative structural stuff make it worth it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-09-18T23:01:50Z
[6.5/10] This is kind of a weird episode, but let’s start about what I liked.
First off, I liked the sideways humor the show’s so good at. Using the frame story of Diane’s psychiatrist and her wife to gives the adventures of BoJack & co. through a tilted lens is a great conceit. Conversations between an angsty zebra and Princess Diana, plus a hand-faced Todd and pulsating fog version of Princess Carolyn is all just weird enough to make me laugh, and the show doubles down on it in very funny ways. Plus, Flippy the dolphin and his chittering subtitles cracked me up, and Mr. PB’s revelations about his parents dying played for surprisingly good laughs.
I also liked the Todd/Princess Carolyn story (which is, explicitly, the lighter B-story). The two of them arguing over who stole whose string cheese and who needs an office, and the insecurities that underlie both concerns made for some wacky but amusing comic hijinks and a solid heartfelt moment. Plus the whole setup and payoff with Todd reaching for his pen was capital-D Delightful.
But man, I have mixed feelings about the Diane/BoJack story here. It feels a little like season 1 BoJack, which is maybe the point, but the whole situation with Diane asking for space and BoJack responding by nabbing her psychiatrist is really odd, in a kind of outsized loony way. I get what the show’s going for -- where BoJack is selfish and oblivious to Diane’s needs to the point that she lashes out -- but this is a really strange way to dramatize that.
At the same time, I have even more mixed feelings about Diane’s reaction. Her writing BoJack’s real life confession into the script, and blindsiding him with having to read/perform it on set feels vindictive and likely to cause a lot of problems for both of them. Knowing this show, those problems will be explored in depth, but still, it seems like a hurtful thing to do that is harsh in a way Diane isn’t usually. I’m curious to see what the show will do with it, but initially, it rubs me the wrong way, both as a character choice and as a culmination of a kind of oddly-tuned plot in the episode to begin with.
Overall, the A-story here is off enough to raise an eyebrow, but the comedic and creative structural stuff make it worth it.