5x10 Head in the Clouds

[7.0/10] This is another kind of weird episode that I don’t really know what to do with, since it’s a lot of scattered bits that are all sort of built around, but not really connected, the one big conversation that anchors the episode.

But the bits are largely enjoyable! I liked, though didn’t love, the whole “being there” shtick where Henry Fondle is made the CEO of whattimeisit.com. The cold open reveal of Character Actress Margo Martindale was an absolute treat. The continued prestige drama satire of Flip’s speeches and description of his show was fun. I didn’t really like PC having to unravel the copyright dispute with the joke popsicle guys, but it was inoffensive.

And I really liked the continuing subtle growth of Mr. Peanutbutter! He is slowly but surely growing up, and you can see it in how he’s trying to be a good actor, and a little hurt that Pickles wasn’t into his show. The idea that he’s outgrowing someone for once is an interesting one, and I appreciate the development of one of the show’s most plain comic relief characters, even if it seems to be headed for a reunion with Diane that I’m lukewarm on.

But it really all comes down to BoJack and Diane. Their confrontation is well done, if a little over the top, and does a solid job at exploring what seems to be the main theme of this season -- whether someone can or should be able to be okay with and move past the bad things they’ve done. For her part, Diane feels like an enabler, and the reception to Philbert acts as a wake up call when she’s worried about people, BoJack in particular, seeing the vulnerability she introduces as something that excuses an “open wound” of a character doing awful things.

There’s a lot of meta-ness there, as BoJack Horseman grapples with whether it’s done too much to excuse its own protagonist. But it also doubles down on that at the same time, having BoJack admit how much pain he’s experienced, how much pain he’s tried to run from, and how being told that he could be okay is a balm, something that helps him to be better.

But that only works if he wants to keep improving. Diane is right. BoJack is still a mess, even before he downs his pill bottles and mixes it with booze (and tramples on Gina’s long-awaited chance to be in the spotlight). It’s good that he’s come this far, but also not enough, and doesn't excuse the bad things he’s done in the past.

That’s the push and pull of this season. We see BoJack making some legitimate progress, doing nice things for people, even if it’s in a very BoJack sort of way. But he’s also still the author of some pain and misery. How much he should be permitted to get past that an earn our sympathies, and how much he deserves the guilt that haunts him is a very tough question to answer, one that “Head in the Clouds” doesn't try to answer, just confront.

So BoJack and Diane have it out, both are hurt and vulnerable in the aftermath since each’s emptional well-being is, regrettably, at least somewhat tied to the other, and they both do stupid things. BoJack mixes pain medication and alcohol and jumps into things with his would be girlfriend for comfort and relief, and Diane invites her ex-husband is. Neither choice seems poised for good to come out it, especially heading into the penultimate episode of the season, where the most harrowing and heavy crap tends to rain down in this series.

But hey, time to get ready for the fun once more, I suppose. Go go sad horse show!

What ? After the darkness of the previous episode, it's like nothing happened ? Bojack is with Gina. He's been popping pills for months while still appearing functional enough ? That's... disappointing.

Diane saying that she doesn't know who Bojack is anymore... girl, you basically haven't spoken to him in 2 years and set up a pretty harsh trap for him.

Well, most of the episode is contained inside the argument between Bojack and Diane. It's been a long time coming, and it's nowhere as good as hoped. Bojack is being Bojack and Diane is being a bitch. She's probably right, on the moral side of things, but her attacks are totally out of context. It's not even clear what she wants out of this, what she would want Bojack to say or do. He did make some progress, and she wants to deny that. Bojack is right in that she's the one that made him feel better than the trash state he was in at the beginning. But she does not accept that and now act like forgiveness and progress do not exist and he should just stay in his misery because that's all he deserves. Even when Bojack makes some steps towards her, and tells the Penny story, she keeps pushing back. Strangely Bojack does nor appear as the more messed up in this conversation. But in the end, it's neither comically nor dramatically satisfying.

I never really understood why the Penny thing was so big anyway. It's probably far from the worse he's done. It was legal, she's the one who insisted heavily, he still refused many times, then she came back, her, again, at a moment he was vulnerable, and nothing happened anyway! Yes it's not pretty, and made worse by his relationship to Charlotte, but come on !

Rest is totally useless. Todd's sex robot is even worse than previous' season clowns. The joke bit with Princess Carolyn was entirely to throw away.

B: I’m not gonna change. I don’t need your help for changing, so you can stop trying to make me your project. When I met you, I was depressed because I didn’t like myself. And when you wrote that book and sold a bajillion copies, you taught me that as screwed up as I am, that’s okay. You did that. And now I’m okay.
D: I don’t believe that’s true. And I don’t think you believe it’s true. I think you want me to tell you that you can be better. And even though you’re being a total asshole right now, I still believe it. If all you’ve gotten out of this friendship, is the idea that you should be okay with yourself, as you are, then I don’t think this is a good relationship... for either of us».
—
B: Io non cambierò mai. Non mi serve il tuo aiuto per cambiare, quindi smettila di fare di me un tuo progetto. Quando ti ho incontrato io ero depresso perché non mi piacevo. E quando hai scritto quel libro e venduto un fantastilione di copie, mi hai insegnato che io sono questo, un casino. Opera tua. E ora sto bene.
D: Non ci credo, no. E credo che neanche tu possa crederci. Io credo che tu voglia spingermi a dire che puoi essere migliore. E anche se in questo momento ti stai comportando da totale stronzo, io credo ancora in te. Ma se tutto quello che hai ricavato da questa amicizia è l’idea che tu stai ok con te stesso, così come sei, allora non credo che questo sia un rapporto positivo... per nessuno dei due».