With Its Fake-out Ending, ‘BoJack’ Gives Us a Glimpse of Happiness Before Putting the Horse Down

From its very first episode, BoJack Horseman‘s final season exudes an emotion the show has rarely explored: comfort. Every character in Netflix’s depressed horse series is finally getting what they’ve needed all along. BoJack (Will Arnett) commits to therapy. Diane (Alison Brie) slowly learns to love herself. Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) finds a balance between her work life and her newfound personal life. Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tomkins) learns to grow in the wake of his third marriage. In the first part of its sixth season no one is quite happy in the world of BoJack; but they’re getting there.

And all of that happiness and hope makes the bomb BoJack is about to drop all the more devastating.

“A Quick One, While He’s Away,” the last episode of Season 6’s first part, never actually reveals the shocking secrets that will inevitably ruin this delicate state of bliss. It never needs to. Anyone who’s been watching Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s excellent animated comedy already has their own running list of atrocities BoJack has committed. Director Amy Winfrey and writer Raphael Bob-Waksberg brilliantly evoke the building resentment toward their main character as they twist the knife one final time.

Most of BoJack’s sins have been accounted for in their own way. After generally being a nightmare to Todd (Aaron Paul) for years and sabotaging his rock opera, BoJack saved Todd from an improv cult. Years of torturing Princess Carolyn with his narcissism and selfishness were followed by the eventual promise he would follow her to her new agency. BoJack’s moments of reckoning are few and far between, and they’re not always accepted. Todd and Diane in particular have called BoJack out on his toxicity more than once. But these redemptive moments always happen.

That is, they happen except in two very important cases: BoJack’s involvement in the death of Sarah Lynn (Kristen Schaal), and the night he almost slept with his friend’s teenage daughter Penny (Ilana Glazer). Those are the bombs laying in wait at the end of this first batch of episodes. BoJack, for all his newly discovered growth and self-reflection, still has the capacity to destroy the people who love him. So the second BoJack’s half-sister Hollyhock (Aparna Nancherla) is approached by a guy named Pete (Jermaine Fowler), the same Pete who once went with BoJack to an ill-advised prom, we already know what he’s about to say. We know how much it’s going to destroy everyone around him.

And it sucks. For six seasons we’ve watched these characters explore their own personal demons and slowly start to find peace. Diane is finally happy with herself, and in a relationship with a man who loves her, warts and all. Princess Carolyn has her baby Ruthie. Todd has found a purpose as Ruthie’s very silly caretaker. Mr. Peanutbutter is in a marriage that may actually work for him. We’ve grown to love these complicated people and animal-people, and they were on the brink of happiness.

And then here comes Pete Repeat and two (incredible) Hollywood Reporter journalists who threaten to destroy that hard-fought for happiness. Those final moments feel like giving a beloved pet their favorite meal before putting them down. They’re excruciatingly painful, yet necessary.

BoJack has always been a story about the long and painful process of self-improvement. In his journey to become a better person BoJack has backslid more times than even he can count. He’s yelled at friends, emotionally abused exes, and strangled his co-star. A stint at therapy could never redeem BoJack for his sins. Only he could do that. And just like his apologies to Todd and Diane, there is no guarantee he will be forgiven.

The first part of BoJack’s final season leaves us on one of the most heart-breaking cliffhangers in modern television, with the main characters on the edge of the truth. In January we’ll know how BoJack will respond. But for now we’re stuck where his friends inevitably will be, drifting aimlessly in the seas of pain this horse has caused.

Watch BoJack Horseman on Netflix