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BoJack Horseman

We’re on the second to last episode of BoJack Horseman’s second season, and things are not looking good.

“Escape from L.A.” opens back up at our deer friend’s store. Charlotte (Olivia Wilde) takes BoJack back to her place so that he can get some sleep. She then tells him how excited she is for him to meet her family.

Getting off track…it’s a horse pun.

The normal title sequence has been replaced by a Kyle and the Kids theme song…just to rub it in.

At the breakfast table, Charlotte’s teenage daughter, Penny (Ilana Glazer), is grilling BoJack. There’s no way he drove to New Mexico just to see Charlotte. BoJack lies, telling the family that he’s in town for a secret boat show.

On the phone, he convinces a reluctant Princess Carolyn to buy him a couple of days so he can figure things out. He then catches up with Charlotte, but Penny interrupts, asking Charlotte to take her driving. BoJack volunteers to take her instead.

With Penny’s behind the wheel, they seem to be passing the same house multiple times. Penny admits that she has a crush on the guy who lives there. They both say “Hey” to each other, so it’s pretty serious.

Through the web of gossip, Penny knows that Diego could “forsee a situation” where he would take Penny to prom. BoJack calls Penny out for stalking Diego, and she counters by critiquing his plan. What is he really doing in New Mexico?

BoJack admits he didn’t like the person he was in L.A., and he doesn’t know where else to go. Penny points out people are going to notice if BoJack goes to a boat show and returns sans boat. To cover his story, BoJack trades in his SUV for a yacht.

Penny names the non-gendered object “Escape from L.A,” and Charlotte tells BoJack to stay as long he wants. Everyone loves him.

Princess Carolyn calls BoJack again, but BoJack no longer cares about his career. He tells her he’s not going to be back on set Monday and crushes his phone.

Two months later, BoJack is now living in Charlotte’s driveway, and he actually seems happy. He’s even laughing at the painfully unfunny Kyle’s (Ed Helms) jokes.

Penny has an outburst at the dinner table, and Charlotte and BoJack go talk to her. The two give contradictory advice as Charlotte tells them about asking Diego to prom. Since Penny can’t go to the prom alone, BoJack offers to go with her. Penny could relax and enjoy herself, and when Diego sees how much fun she’s having, he’ll be jealous. It’s a foolproof plan.

On the way to prom, BoJack buys Penny and Penny’s friends, Maddie and “Pete Repeat,” bourbon to cut with water so they don’t get hungover. Hooray responsibility?

After an embarrassing dance number, BoJack proposes the unthinkable — leaving prom. He steals some balloons and takes the sober Penny, Pete, and drunk Maddie to the desert. They release their balloons into the air, and Penny and BoJack climb on top of the water tower. As the two dance, they have a moment, and what are you doing, BoJack??

Meanwhile, the very drunk Maddie has passed out, and Pete Repeat is afraid she has alcohol poisoning. BoJack insists she can sleep it off, but Pete Repeat wants to take her to a hospital.

He drives them to the hospital but tells Pete he has to go. If anyone asks, BoJack and Penny left early, and Pete doesn’t know where he got the whiskey. It’d be different if it was just kids getting drunk, but since BoJack’s in the mix and he provided alcohol to underage minors, the whole thing feels creepy. Just realizing that now?

After bullying Pete into saying what he wants, BoJack and Penny leave Pete and Maddie at the hospital.

Back at home, Penny tells him that she had a great time before kissing him on the mouth and telling him she’s ready to have sex!? WOAH.

BoJack finally makes one responsible choice and turns her down, causing Penny to cry and run to her room. BoJack goes to see Charlotte. He asks her is she still thinks L.A. is a tar pit, and she says people are their own tar pit. You can’t escape you.

They start to kiss, and Charlotte backs off. She tells him that he should go tomorrow. Charlotte has a good life, and she’s not going to let BoJack uproot it. He leaves.

One of the balloons from earlier leads Charlotte to BoJack’s boat. Hearing Penny’s voice inside the yacht, Charlotte barges in and finds BoJack and Penny in bed together.

Charlotte tells him to leave immediately. If BoJack ever tries to contact Charlotte or her family again, she’ll kill him.

BoJack rides on his boat back to L.A. to find a destroyed house and Diane.

BIGGER PICTURE

Seriously, BoJack? Seriously!? I’ve been defending you for a while now, but this is the line.

All this season, BoJack has been struggling with his unhappiness, and he’s done a very good job of convincing himself, and us, that his unhappiness might be circumstantial. Maybe it’s because BoJack is such an openly wounded, bitter, and insightful person that we’re able to relate to him, and for that reason, when the characters around BoJack point to his inner brokenness, we want to believe they’re wrong. First BoJack thought the book would make him happy, then Diane, then Princess Carolyn, then the Secretariat movie, then Wanda, then leaving L.A., but he’s always been wrong. In this episode, we see a BoJack who is completely stripped of all the vices he’s been blaming his discontent on, yet he still makes terrible choices.

It seems fitting that Season One included a major fight and fallout between Herb and BoJack, and now, he’s ruined the one spark of potential happiness he’s clung to — Charlotte. BoJack truly is his own tar pit, and I think (I hope) he actually started to realize it in this episode. Last season was lauded as being one of the most accurate depictions of depression on TV, and Season Two continues the trend. Watching BoJack ruin his life as completely as he does is almost too painful to watch.

On to smaller details, Ilana Glazer killed it as Penny. It’s not too surprising from her Broad City character that she makes an awesome teenage girl. And even though he didn’t get much spotlight in this episode, Ed Helms was great as the perpetually un-cool dad.

BEST BACKGROUND JOKE

The posters in Penny’s bedroom win it this round, mostly because of Llama Del Ray.

BEST QUOTES

“Oh my god, I’m not in a mood! Whatever! Get bent! I hate my life! I can’t wait to be dead!” — Penny

“Well, I don’t want to tell tales after school, but this Lila K. seems like a real bustass supa-skank.” — BoJack Horseman

“Awesome! Wait, how many times did I just say awesome? Was it twice, or was it just once? Ah, it was probably twice. It was twice!” — Pete Repeat

“Why is there an adult at our high school prom?” — Random and intelligent girl at prom

“My flask got empty. Can we be back to the car so, for more get for put in it?” — Drunk Maddie

[You can stream BoJack Horseman on Netflix]

Kayla Cobb is a proud graduate of Clemson University and loves her cat and TV shows more than some people love their kids. You should really follow her on Twitter at @KaylCobb.

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