Bojack Horseman: Christmas Thymezzz

I have just finished watching the christmas special episode of Bojack Horseman. The episode gets meta fairly quickly, as a reluctant Bojack and his eager friend are watching a christmas special episode. It can be hard to understand the essence of a show from a single episode, especially a contrived christmas special. However, Bojack Horseman plays off this, and becomes in on the joke. In a tongue in cheek fourth wall break, Bojack mentions to his friend how, “special holiday episodes are always stupid.” This episode actually felt like a pretty appropriate microcosm of the rest of the show.

The lead character, Bojack, was actually the star of the hit sit-com he and his friend are watching, Horsin’ Around. This episode goes back and forth between the Horsin’ Around episode and Bojack and his friend watching it. We see Bojack in the sitcom having a typical but endearing family christmas, but this only emphasizes the reality we flash back to; he is actually getting drunk with one of the few people that tolerate him, without any family in sight. Bojack remarks that he typically skips the christmas episodes, to which his friend responds, “Because the themes of family and togetherness are a chilling reminder of your own isolation?” Isolation is one of the recurring themes of the show.

Bojack barely even begins watching the episode. He says terrible things about his only friend to try to get him to leave him alone, but eventually begrudgingly accepts. This is typical of his character.  He hates himself and he hates being alone, but he shoves that hate onto the people around him. This show is actually very depressing at times. Just when you think he will change, he doesn’t. However, the constant cynicism and apathy of the show make the rare endearing moment that much more impactful, similarly to Rick and Morty. Yes, Bojack is incredibly self centered and self serving, but he is capable of good. It’s in these relavatory moments that the brilliance of the show shine through.

By the time the meta sitcom comes to its tired “meaning of christmas” ending, Bojack is completely invested. He realizes he wants to spend this time with someone, even if it’s only his half-wit friend. He lets his friend know that Horsin’ Around actually has eight christmas specials, and the episode comes to a thoughtful end as the viewer can imply they spend the day together watching these episodes.

While Bojack Horseman can be a very heavy show for a comedy, this happy christmas ending is actually reflective of the true themes of the show in total. Flawed characters that only change marginally making the best of their current situation is so touching because it rings true to life. The reason the happy sitcom ending feels so stupid is because it’s obviously fake. None of the characters have the real, crippling problems that the characters in Bojack Horseman do. Their problems are resolved basically as soon as they’ve happened. Bojack Horseman is a much more intricate, incremental show than this. It’s truly more than meets the eye. Not every problem is solved, but good moments do shine through.