I think the whole 'wrong funeral' thing was another instance of something I noticed throughout the series. Whenever Bojack comes to a meaningful conclusion or says something profound, nobody important is around to hear it. You see it in the underwater episode where he's trying to apologize to Kelsey with a really beautifully worded note, but the note is washed away and she never gets it. In the planetarium, Sarah Lynn is unconscious before she can hear him reassure her and talk about the present moment. It happens over and over again. I guess it's the whole thing of being seen. Nobody is ever there to see Bojack at his best moments.
I agree with your comment and I think it has to do with the fact that most (if not all) relationships in BoJack's life are toxic. Like How BoJack brings the worst in Diane and Todd (they feed off each other's misery whenever they're too close). Throughout the show we have this pattern where BoJack hurts every one who crossed paths with him, and I think at the end when he let go of every relationship he had in the show, is a good sign of him changing and understanding that he can't be around those people or he'll keep ruining them. This is one of the reasons I think the series finale has a happy ending. BoJack seemingly finally understand that some relationships in life eventually get too "worn out" and you just have to step away from it. Letting go, at that moment was the best decision he could do, and seeing how Diane and everyone else was happy after BoJack disappeared for a few months, it shows that he was the problem in their lives. Maybe BoJack finally learned how to cope with his traumas and becomes better, maybe he'll repeat the same mistakes again, but the fact the show ends there it gives me hope that BoJack will become a better person. I feel like in life, there's always no one around to see our growth, whenever we realize what we were doing it wrong and how we were hurting people. I speak out of experience. So yeah that plays into your comment. Maybe the fact the show ends there it means that we won't ever get to see BoJack grow up as a person, because we were also stuck in the cycle of abuse he created it, and as with every other character, our relationship with BoJack ends there, at the finale episode.
I don't know that I'd say bojack trying to make himself feel better about messing up his life by pretending to comfort Sarah Lynn's corpse at the planetarium was "at his best", but it's certainly an interesting pattern
The other interesting thing about the ending of this episode is that it also heavily implies Bojack has no idea who would show up to Beatrice’s funeral. You would think the room full of lizards would be a good indication, but Bojack is so estranged from his mom that he has no clue who her friends are or who cared enough to show up. For all he knows, she just hung out with a lot of lizards.
I always took it as BoJack being so wrapped up in himself and his own thing that he didn't even notice he was clearly in the wrong booth, despite the guests being all lizards and clearly not there for Beatrice's funeral. But I like your take.
@@efoxkitsune9493 i have a feeling it's a miz of both, Bojack doesn't question the lizards further than he should because he is so wrapped up in himself Sure she just hung out with lizards end of that train of thought
also the line "i'm your son. all i had was you." is one of my favourite lines in all of television. like fuck, if you've ever had an abusive parent/grandparent that line hits like a ton of bricks
It sucks. Because eventually you realise they will never change. You'll never be a happy family. You'll never get the love you wanted and needed. You can't choose your family and as much pain as they cause they are always going to be your family. That to me is the saddest part. I can't stand my parents but they're the only parents I have. I wouldn't be here without them. Though sometimes their treatment made me wish I wasn't. What do we do? We can cut them off but something will always be missing wither way.
Amen, that line hit me real hard too. It sickens me to imagine all the children on Earth that are, and have been, forced to live in Bojack’s very situation.
The most surreal part of this episode was that Jack in the Box ran a bizarre promotion where, if you mentioned the episode, they would give you a free order of mini churros with your purchase. So I watched this episode, drove to Jack in the Box feeling absolutely gutted about what I had just seen, and got free churros. Truly a bizarre tie-in, but actually really immersive
Why Are You Capitalizing the First Letter of Almost Every Word? You didn't capitalize "a" or "for," and you didn't do "minutes" or "straight." So what's the deal?
The saddest part of the episode for me is when he realizes that his mother wasn’t seeing him, that part wrecked me because I saw him losing his one chance to feel love and a sense of care from his mother.
But then that's what Bojack thinks of the whole situation. He doesn't see what Beatrice sees and that sums his relationship to her. She doesn't know him and thus, he doesn't know her...
I got 2 interpretations for that scene: Beatrice was lucid for a few solid seconds and was trying to figure out where she was before seeing Bojack, but passed out before doing so. Beatrice really did see Bojack, but in Bojack's mind, he though she was reading ICU, because to him, his mom doesn't care about anyone but herself.
He doesn't just lose a chance to feel loved and a sense of care from his mother, he loses any and all potential meaning from that statement alone. BoJack assumed it could've been affection or that it could've been spiteful, or even delirium brought upon by his presence in the room ("you are an object in my field of vision"), but the fact that she was just reading a sign kills any and all possible connection, positive or negative, to her final words. It quite literally had nothing to do with him whatsoever in any way, even as an object in her line of sight because she was looking elsewhere, and that's what hurts the most.
I interpreted the "wrong funeral" bit to reflect how Bojack had no idea who Beatrice's friends were, if she had any at all. For all he knew, all of the reptiles were her friends.
or that he was never truly with his mother in the first place, i mean at the funeral paralleling how she never saw him at the home either. she’s never seen him and now she never will.
Every time I hear the "half a mind" line I almost lose it. That's gotta be the biggest gut punch from any show I've seen in a very long time, and it was from a horse in an animated show.
I always felt the gag at the end was to illustrate the cycle and irony of pain between Bojack and Beatrice. He spends the entire time lamenting not being seen, only for it to be revealed that he didn't see he was in the wrong place. Because Beatrice couldn't see him, Bojack can see no one but himself.
Or maybe the paper cup you saw on one shot that wasn't on another shot was just because some idiot on the crew forgot to take it off early 💀 But hey. Art is less about what you put in it but more about what you get out from, am I right Todd? 🤣
one of my favorite moments in the previous episode is when he is complaining about the philbert script having a 5 page monologue and how no one wants to watch that. Then they do that very thing with free churro and it is one of the best episodes of television to exist. This show is so brilliant.
There is a stark difference between a monologue and a GOOD monologue. Bojack wasn't being pedantic in this monologue (as monologues tend to degenerate into) nor he is preachy. It sounds natural and spontaneous, something made off the cuff but straight to the point and does not lecture or paint himself better than the subject of the whole speech. Or make it about himself. Nobody would want to read, much less listen to John Galt's monologue from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged because of its length (full monologue is 72 pages long) and how ramblingly preachy it is that subsequently goes nowhere...
“Suddenly, you realize you’ll never have the good relationship you wanted, and as long as they were alive, even though you’d never admit it, part of you, the stupidest goddamned part of you, was still holding on to that chance. And you didn’t even realize it until that chance went away.” That line rocked me to my core. I can still hear myself crying for my dad as a little girl and I feel terrible that I was never able to give that relationship to her
This line hit me because it made me realize that I'm in the same situation with my mother. Our relationship has always been up and downs with the downs being rock bottom and the highs being mount Everest, but the highs never last long. But despite me working so hard to have a good relationship with her, it never happens. It's always temporary. And one day, she'll be gone. And I hope one day I'll be able to say I have a good relationship with my mother. But deep down, I know that won't happen. And then I'll feel like how Bojack felt.
Another thing about A Doll’s House is that there is actually an “alternative” ending in the play. For the German premiere of the play, Ibsen’s agent essentially forced him to create a new ending. Instead of leaving, Nora is led to her children after arguing with her husband and ends up collapsing. It’s implied that she stayed for the sake of her children. It’s not known if Beatrice saw this alternative ending or the true ending. She may have felt that, unlike Nora, she had no possibility for escape. She was too stubborn to step away from Butterscotch, as that would mean she made a mistake in marrying him in the first place (she does the crossword in sharpie, so like Kelsey, she “doesn’t make mistakes”). Funnily enough, she initially rejected becoming a standard housewife like Nora, that’s why she went out with Butterscotch in the first place. Her act of defiance against her father landed her in the same exact position anyway, so in her mind, there is no escape. And if she did see the alternative ending, she may have realized that she doesn’t even want to stay in the marriage for her child. Either way, she realized she had nothing. And that’s profoundly sad.
I did read about that! It’s very likely she saw the original ending, though. It seems the German ending has been generally rejected. But still a very interesting point!
Beatrice's story is eerily similar to Nora. She has her own Dr Rank in Corbin Creamerman, a nice idea that never could be, she was traded from her father to her husband, she sacrificed herself for her husband's ambition and, at the end of it all, she never really experienced love.
Plus I think the creators drew a lot of inspiration from A Doll's House, especially with the finale. In the play, Nora originally plans to drown herself to avoid confronting the reality of her situation, the consequences of her actions, just as Bojack threw himself in the pool to escape his guilt and grief. Even the description of the water as 'black, bottomless' directly parallels the manifestation of death in TVFHD. But Nora doesn't drown: her husband forces her to stay and listen to his ranting, and during that confrontation she realises that he doesn't care about her at all, or at least more than his reputation: 'I did it out of love for you' -> 'don't make silly excuses', 'when I'm gone from the world, you'll be free' -> 'oh, don't be melodramatic' - the revelation that Torvald doesn't love her. And in that moment, she realises that she's been living in a dollhouse, playing a game, married to a stranger, and she determines to strike out on her own and live to be her own person. She's devastated, she's lost everything, but she keeps going. Indeed, 'life's a bitch and then you keep living'
Beatrice's awakening after seeing "A Doll's House" is part of what I feel compelled her to be an absolutely horrible mother to Bojack. She didn't just neglect him because she was damaged: she neglected him out of a moral stance. Neglecting him was her form of rebellion. Her way of vengeance against the men in her life. And men in general. The one "good" thing she believes she did was to "save" Hollyhock's mother from making the same mistake and ruining her own life for the sake of "that". "That" here, being both Bojack and Holly. After Beatrice saw Ibsen's play, she realized: She regrets Bojack's existence and resents how his merely being alive anchored her to Butterscotch. She realized how much she lost by being "played" by her father and now her husband. She felt like they stole from her. Stole her childhood, her choices, her futures. And now? Her son is next in line. The next one to siphon away whatever life and agency she has left. The next man in her life to jerk her around like a toy, and she refused to have it. She hardened her heart and saw Bojack differently after that. He wasn't someone to protect or nurture--he was an enemy to defeat. He could ruin her the same way her brother ruined their mother. She will not love him. Will never give him or any of the other men in her life the same kind of power over her again. Let them see her as cruel, cold, and difficult. But she'd be damned to give them anything else after everything else that was taken from her. After Doll House, Beatrice believed no woman should lose what she saw as their personhood to anyone. Least of all to the men in their lives. Even if the man in question is her little son. She doesn't care that Bojack was trying so hard to please her. It doesn't matter. She loathes him for merely being alive. She thinks he owes her everything and she owes him nothing. She will not give another "him" anything more. She's here to take from him, not give. To take as much from Bojack as her father, brother, and husband took from her and what she was entitled to.
@@BriarPatchNyra Uh huh. Because wanting a person with basic decency, morals and a respectable attitude is considered incel behaviour these days. Fucking Christ we really are going backwards.
When BoJack says that you have to be good consistently, I always saw that as a callback to the monkey at the end of season 2 when he says "But you gotta do it every day, that's the hard part."
It probably was intended as such. What's especially depressing about is that Bojack knows being good is something you have be consistent with, he knows he's a flawed person, yet he doesn't have the discipline to better himself.
It's still hard to fathom that both the lines "You were born broken, that's your birthright." and "There's only one way out of this: Apple slices and story time!" came out of the same mouth, and both sounded like the voice really meant it. Wendie Malick deserves all the applause!
I am rewatching this video in 2024 and it occurred to me.. maybe when Beatrice says "You're Bojack Horseman.. there's no cure for that" maybe she means that she knows what it's like to be a part of the Horseman family, that she knows she's broken too, she realizes all the damage she caused, but it is just irreparable.
He actually pointed out some details that I would never have noticed otherwise. Possibly the best thing about BH is how the closer you look at it, the more you think about it, you just appreciate it more and more. Not many shows can do that. Not many shows have such depth, detail and hidden meaning.
Something I noticed is that when Herb died and the Horsin' Around cast goes on the scavenger hunt, BoJack was trying to see if the computer password was something indicating forgiveness towards himself before Herb died, and it wasn’t. When Beatrice and Herb were gone, he still believed his relationships with them could still be preserved, and they would never be.
Free churro has always been my favorite episode. As someone who grew up with an abusive mother this one hits hard. In a weird way it brings a sense of comfort. It reminds me why I cut off my mom.
it’s kinda nice coping with bojack and his grievance over bea passing. i resent my mother but i know if she went, i’d also feel sad and like i missed out on an opportunity to somehow mend things, or at least receive some sort of proper acknowledgement. you truly get to embody bojack and his mindset as he monologues
@@anthonysmith3415 well give it a watch once in a while, it’s worth it. Just like taking the opportunity in real life to just sit and reflect to ourselves on issues in our own lives is also very well worth it.
@@ohanna5074 I watched it twice, it has very little rewatch value and the character just stays stuck in one location and talks, I hate those kinds of episodes the most of any series Family guy bank episode Always sunny cruise episode Bojack funeral episode
Hearing you talk about interpretation reminded me of Todd Chavez’s quote on art: “Isn’t the point of art less what people put into it, and more what people get out of it?” Always hit me ♥️
I just rewatched the episode and noticed that when Butterscotch is picking up Bojack, he says "Yes, yes, I see you." I feel like there's a lot to say about that, It subtly foreshadows the "I see you" portion of the eulogy. Butterscotch is clearly being dismissive of Bojack and only thinking of himself. It speaks to his nature. Bojack was never able to accept his parent's nature, or his own.
i noticed this too! i was surprised this wasn’t mentioned, as it’s all bojack wants to hear just in the entirely incorrect context. butterscotch, obviously, does not see him. he recognises him, but doesn’t see anything more than surface level. it’s really beautiful :)
A year and a half ago, I got a call that my (very very estranged) father had been in a serious motorcycle accident. That he was in a coma in the ICU, that he’d lost a leg, a kidney, and his spleen, and things were “touch and go”. I felt absolutely nothing at all. That completely blindsided me. I could have understood being sad, or regretful, or angry, or remorseful, or suddenly desperate to reconnect with him, or whatever. What I wasn’t prepared for was to just feel “huh… well, that’s something.” That’s the main thing I kept reflecting on watching on that episode. That nothing about one’s emotions for an abusive or neglectful parent at a time of grief or potential grief ever seem to fit into tidy narratives. They never “make sense”. They never look like a TV show about the same events might look. They’re just… strange, and unpredictable, and messy, and self-contradictory.
@@remmy9678 No, I didn't. I wouldn't have been able to afford it even if I'd wanted to. He did survive, though. And it provided a chance to reconnect with my brothers, who did go out to see him.
I’m working through this show for the first time and you describe exactly what happens two episodes later. Butterscotch Horseman died during a duel and BoJack was called by Beatrice to help with figuring out the funeral. He describes feeling nothing and asks himself what’s wrong with him.
I actually like how Beatrice dies before Bojack gets cancelled in season six she was in a way waiting for him to fail basically proving her right but i like how she dosen't live to see it robbing her of the potential enjoyment she would have gotten out of it just like how she robbed Bojack of a good childhood
I think it's unlikely that she felt good or bad about it. She never showed that she cared about hurting others but she also never showed pleasure in it.
I really like the way it ends. We never see the audience, because the end of the episode is the first time Bojack himself notices. And it's not that he's an enormous bonehead, it's just that he was so focused on himself the entire time that he didn't take basic stock of who was at the funeral. Moreover, it recontextualizes the whole episode. One of the most poignant, meaningful twenty minutes of dialogue ever delivered, and right as we come out of it, we realize that no one was even listening. The only people who heard about Beatrice didn't know who she was, and the revelations Bojack came to over the course of the monologue were, effectively, unseen. The implication is that now, he has to go to the correct funeral parlor and try to deliver the eulogy again, having already said everything he wants to say about his mom, and having already come to the realization that the crux of his speech, the "I See You" line, was a simple misinterpretation. *Fuck,* that's dark.
I think it also shows how distanced Bojack was from his mother, just accepting that he wouldn't know anyone who came to her funeral and didn't realise until the he looked in the casket.
I think the part that hits the hardest about this episode, comes from the people who come from dysfunctional families. It's a strange feeling, to grieve a parent you never really had but always wanted. You grieve what could never be, because "...you'll never have the good relationship you wanted." This episode made me cry and I had to take a break after. Best episode of the entire series.
honestly, as someone that has been abused by my parents up until a certain point in my life, i feel like "free churro" really does a great job portraying those sorts of relationships as what it is - messy and complicated. it's not always black and white like people think they are, like "i hate my mother because she's abusive", but way deeper than that.
F*ck you hit the nail on the head. Both of my parents were physically and mentally abused, and I'm gonna admit they had their moments where it definitely wasn't normal, how they treated me, but when I grew up and eventually, not only discover but also have to stomach the idea of my abusers having it even worse than me. I can't explain it, not guilt or anger or even sadness...once you see the world like that, you become numb.
The thing about abusive parents is that they're the only parents you have You get used to thinking the abuse is normal and since their good moments can wash away the bad you never really notice anything is wrong until you grow up and they don't feel the need to attempt to emotionally support you anymore Rose colored glasses indeed
Free Churro was my favorite episode from Season 5, and one of my top 3 of the whole show. The part where he turns to Beatrice and says, "I'm your son, all I had was you," broke me in undescribable ways.
This is one of, if not THE best written and performed episodes of TV I have ever seen. A 23 minute masterpiece of emotion, nuance, psychology and philosophy leavened with humor. Will Arnett killed it and the writers… 💋
Defnitely my favourite out of the "gimmicky" episodes. I think it's just a testament to how well written Bojack's character is. The whole episode is just him letting his thoughts out freely without much rhyme or reason but that's why it's so interesting because it feels genuine
This episode legitimately broke me, having been raised with a negligant alcoholic mother. This line, specifically, towards the end gets me everytime. "Suddenly, you realize you’ll never have the good relationship you wanted, and as long as they were alive, even though you’d never admit it, part of you, the stupidest goddamn part of you, was still holding on to that chance. And you didn’t even realize it until that chance went away." It's like a sharp blow to the gut hearing that because it hits the nail, with pin point accuracy, right on the head. Complicated grief is an absolute bitch.
My mother wasn't alcoholic, but in just about every other way, she was Beatrice Horseman. This episode and that line are among my favorite pieces of all media. Watching Free Churro was *cathartic* in a way nothing else has ever been. People who didn't go through what we went through will never, ever understand. And you know what? That is a truly wonderful thing.
I think out of all the moments (and there are many, I think this episodes has the most haunting sentences) in this episode, the one that stayed with me the most and have never failed to completely break me is when Bojack drops the act for a bit in pure frustration and just yells at the coffin "I'm you're son! All I had was you!". It captures that raw desperation and the frustration of how things turned out perfectly. I relate to it a lot and it gives me headaches from how much it makes my eyebrows furrow and my nose tense up anytime I think about it.
Ive been waiting for this one! I am 14 years old and was abused by my mother my whole childhood until a couple years ago and she still effects my life. I feel like i related to this episode and it resinated with me more than almost any other in the series. I love your videos, i love this show, and i thank you for these.
Bingo. definitely my favorite episode of the series due to my own unhealthy relationship with my mom and honestly made me wonder what I would say at my own mom’s funeral if I even go
dude, my love, darling, I understand you. and that's why I'm saying to you, learn to know your parents are human and probably doesn't know how to teach you. this is something maybe u wouldn't understand now, but you will, it's difficult, but learn to forget and forgive. that's my advice. have a great life boy, I hope you know how to be better everyday
@@MediumDSpeaks i just meant up to this point in my childhood so far she has been, and is now continuing stuff without even being near me, its a very long story
"Everything I learned about being good I learned from TV" This hits way too close to home for me to spend the rest of my day comfortably every time I hear it.
This is one of the best episodes imo, no other show could make me cry at a Will Arnett character's 20 minute monologue about how he and his family hated each other. This show really isn't comfort media though, I know a lot of people who are put off by the show and it "making them depressed" and that's a shame because it has a lot of intelligent things to say. I played this for a friend yesterday (who hadn't seen any of the show outside of a few tiktok audio clips) and their takeaway was that they were bored the whole time, which is unfortunate. But I for one love this show because of the way it makes me feel, and BoJack and his interactions actually helped me work through a lot of the same family trauma detailed in this episode. All time favourite show, great vid as always!
The irony I always found in bojack was that he always complained that no one saw him as a “real actor” but he doesn’t even know he’s as deep as someone who’s disconnected comes. If he had been truthful about his pain and turned it into something real with his acting he would’ve been a really great drama actor. Seriously even the VA for him is seriously underrated like Cranston level in my opinion. Great show as always
Free Churro always hits hard, because I feel the same way about my dad. I hate him for what he’s done to me and my family, but I still search for connection. I fear I always will, even after he dies.
I love this episode because we get to see Bojack unpack all of his trauma with his mother, which is something we were waiting for since season 1. It took her dying for him to be able to voice how he really felt and his deepest desires to have a normal loving relationship with his mother. The saddest part of this episode is when Bojack comes to the realization that he will never really know if his mother loved him or not. Such a great episode. Thanks so much for breaking this down. ✨
i think it’s ironic how in the last episode of horsin around the doctor tells sarah lynn it’s her fault bojack died because she didn’t love him enough, but in reality it’s the other way around :(
This monologue was so cathartic to watch as I was the main person to take care of my abusive parent's funeral as well. It has so many things I wish I could've said myself when it happened. One of my favorite episodes 💚
Thank you so so much for taking a deeper dive into Free Churro! This episode solidified Will Arnett's status as a brilliant actor for me. All of your takes on this show make me connect and love it so much more. Keep up the great work as always, and I'll look forward to your next BoJack video ❤
This was amazing as always Johnny! I would love to see your opinions on the episode “the Amelia Earhart style story” specifically about Princess Caroline’s past and how it enforced more of who she is today because of her relationship with her mother.
@@Johnny2Cellos I would be elated to see you cover Cutie Cutie Cupcake's emotional manipulation of and overreliance on Princess Carolyn. As someone who watched BoJack Horseman to understand Michelle Plumby's character shift in Gwendy & Ghost, a webcomic made by a woman who's familiar with being emotionally manipulated by family members, that episode felt quite cathartic to watch. I often wonder if Gwendy & Ghost's creator has watched the show. I just know it would be one of her favorite cartoons of all time.
13:13 - 13:22 The irony is this perfectly applies to what he tried to do with Herb Kazzaz I can imagine to Herb it felt mean…like hey, you knew what I wanted, for you to contact me, and you waited till I had cancer to give it to me
Free Churro is one of my favorite episodes. It felt so cathartic to see Bojack give a eulogy about Beatrice and not be dressed up as praising or loving Beatrice because she was his mother (which I could see some sitcoms doing). I was happy to see him work through his grief of his mother not living up to his expectations of a mother who loves unconditionally. Especially as someone who has a complicated relationship with their mother who's emotionally abusive, this ep made me feel seen. Plus the fact everything I learned about love and relationships was through tv too. Also tempted to write a Free Churro monolgue to deal with my mother, but not at her funeral and in front of guests though
this season came out a few weeks before I lost my own mother suddenly at 21. She and I watched it together... I have never had a piece of media put into words exactly how I was feeling as well as this one and it still rings true every time I rewatch. My mom is dead, and everything is worse now.
The Ipson running theme absolutely blows my MIND. The amount of detail, forethought and planning to drop a single line in the first episode of your show, which will become a indicator for a MASSIVE part of a different character two seasons later???
On your comments about applied meaning: hi, I’m a writer! - I’m a poet published in a couple of magazines through the University of Glasgow. What I’ve always been taught about analysis or using a “stretched” analysis is that when a writer creates a piece of work, they have to accept both “true” and “false” analyses of the content, but neither is more valid than the other. Different and often unseen interpretations of a text or medium do not defy the canon, but instead expand it in possibility. Thanks for your work, loving your videos!
Something else I wanted to talk about with Bojack being in the wrong room. This joke gets increasingly sad when you ask one fair question, who would be at her funeral? Bojack is her only living relative, she had no friends by the time she was in the nursing home, there's no way hollyhocks 8 Dad we're going to let her go anywhere near that woman after what she put her through, so other than Bojack who would have been there?
Yup. My first thought was “Well Beatrice never really left the rich circles, so maybe some acquaintances would have shown up?” But you’re right, after she gets dementia she’s left abandoned at a nursing home and no one visits her. It’s safe to say that only Bojack would’ve attended.
It's better that Bojack went to the wrong funeral. He wouldn't have come to terms with all his feelings about his mom if he was monologing to an empty room
This episode and The View From Halfway Down are my favorite in the series. In this episode, there is an uncomfortable familiarity I feel when Bojack’s dad goes “Thank youuu?” after his diatribe about Beatrice. Like somehow Bojack should be thankful for the insane amounts of guilt his father throws at him for existing. This show was incredible.
I saw this episode a few days ago when my step brother passed away and I found a strange sense of calm, the way Bojack shows mixed feelings resonated with me.
I’ll never forget this episode as being the point in my marathon of the series that I said “I’ll take a break and go to the bathroom after this scene” and sitting there in desperation as it just kept going.
What you pointed out about bojack turning his eulogy into a performance and how that reflects his instilled *dont stop dancing* beliefs is something i never realized!! Thank you for the analysis >:0
No matter how doucey one may find Tarantino, he has one of my favorites philosophies about content: that there's no "intended meaning", the form may be objective, but the meaning is always personal. It doesn't matter what art says, it matters what it says to *you*. And if it says nothing, then you've wasted your time, even if it's the most beautiful piece of art in the world.
I feel like there's such a massive irony that Bojack glosses over his father as much as he can, really not caring about the guy as much compared to the complex over his mother. He doesn't even show up for his near death "party". But the irony is that he really did grow up to be just like his dad, the only difference is that unlike his father he was actually able to make a career out of what he did (and was at least a bit more socially conscious I'll give him that). Hell his behavior with his friends, particularly Princess Carolyn, mimics how his father treated his mother.
Only at the end did I realize the episode was a monologue. I was so encapsulated that I didn’t even notice nothing else was going on in a show that’s full of quick wacky characters, situations, jokes, and quick pacing. Beautiful job to the writers in this one.
I LOVEEE free churro The episode explains my relationship with myself and my family SOOO WELLL! Even though I moved out of my parent’s house, even though I cut them off all. I felt like I lost them, even though they aren’t dead. And I want to go back to them, even though they would hurt me. The monologue helps me sooo well
Great video but I'm surprised you didn't talk about the part where Bojack start talking about his dad. In that moment Bojack reveals how his father died, defending his book in a dual. Also that Bojack has never read his dad's book, because "why would I give him that". As much as I love how the show goes into full detail with Beatrice's character Ann backstory, I always wanted to know more about his dad. We get a little of who he is here and there throughout Bojack and Beatrice's life stories but we never had an episode that talks about him. Why was it so important that he write this book? Why does he resent his wife for coming from money, and why did he stay with her if at some point he could have left her and married his secretary? Did he actually care about Bojack, like what we saw in view from halfway down? I know it's not too important because the idea is it's vague because he was barely in Bojack Life as a father but it would be nice to get a little more info on him.
I argue that unlike Beatrice who was constantly in his life, Butterscotch is that classic emotionally distant father trope who also is not near him a lot of times. Aside from work that kept him away from Bojack, he secluded himself in his study most of his free time thus insulating him from his family. The fact that most of Bojack's most impactful memories of his youth involve Beatrice and in his own words in this very episode Butterscotch acted like Pliny the Elder during Saturnalia (ie lock himself in his study) whenever Beatrice holds a party in the house or whenever he's at home generally exemplifies how distant Bojack is to Butterscotch. To Bojack, Secretariat is more Father to him than Butterscotch in both an emotional and physical level (ie face to the screen close)...
I’d say the reason butterscotch’s background isn’t explored, is because there’s little to explore. He’s simply a product of a patriarchal society, willfully i would add. There’s a diference in beatrice’s backstory as she had no agency on the matter, as illustrated by referencing a doll’s house. Way easier, and understandable to dismiss butterscotch as simply an asshole
i remember seeing someone theorise that his constant cheating (notice he's never able to be HAPPY with any woman when he's not using them for pure pleasure), using 'queer' as an insult against bojack, his misogyny (even moreso than joseph sugarman in some respects!) and strange insistence on how 'pearls are for ladies' pointed to him being severely repressed in some way in his own childhood. someone taught him to fear and disrespect anything that could be considered feminine, however nonsensical that thing was to even be gendered, and taught him that the abusive, emotionally stunted and resentful man he eventually became was the only way to be a 'real' man. which is not true. you can be the most masculine manly man in the world, and you'd be nothing like butterscotch horseman because being abusive, cruel and bitter is not what it means to be a man.
This entire show took me places emotionally that I have never been to in my life. And I didn’t watch it until I was in my 30s. Now im hooked on these videos.
Thank you so much for these videos. I have a deep, personal appreciation for Bojack Horseman as someone with a long list of mental illnesses, an abusive mother, and the tendency to use laughter as a coping mechanism. And I’m far from alone in that, so I love people who keep the conversation and analysis about this show going. There’s so much catharsis and comfort in this show and in your videos about it and I (and judging by the comments, many others) really, really appreciate that.
This episode blew me away the first time I watched it. It amazed me how a character could just talk for an entire episode and I was into it the entire time.
Even if your analysis videos dig too deep…they give honest valid looks at various psychology. So even if it doesn’t service analyzing the show… it helps me dissect my own emotions!
Wow, not only this video, but the comments are shedding so much light on the small things that speak at immense volumes makes my brain tingle in all the good ways.
It's interesting and an incredible testament to the quality of the show, because you can think "wow how did they write a whole episode as a monologue?" but because of the work they put into character development, you can think "wow, must have been hard to get this down to 22min."
I think something that many characters in this show dealt with in one way or another (Diane especially since she goes through this literal thought process on screen), is that they're trying to find meaning in their suffering. And, for the most part, suffering is just that: suffering. Nothing else. It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't make you better, frequently (like with Butterscotch and Beatrice), it makes you worse. Healing is what makes you better. Healing is what makes you whole. I love the line from Midnight Gospel, when Clancy asks his mom what you do with feelings of grief, and she tells him, "Oh Clancy... you cry."
Surprised there's so little mention in either video and comments about the girl at the Jack in the Box who got the episode its name. I guess it's not substantial enough for much mention, but I thought it was at least notable for something, the strange contrast of this cold, unloving, yet eternal presence in Bojack's life and mind, and this one nobody who he passed by while getting some food and may never see again yet seemed to show more care for his feelings than she ever did. A lot of (deserved) love for the "I'm your son, all I had was you" bit but not enough appreciation for the preceding "This woman at the Jack in the Box didn't even know me". Both for how it ramps up the moment emotionally, but also makes clear that this isn't just a cruel, loveless world - it has good in it, and people who care, but Beatrice decided she would not be one of them. Having that love, even so minor from such an insignificant character, really pulls into focus his parents' lovelessness - you can't cast a shadow without light, after all. Plus, something to be said about just how insignificant and unrecognised that brief act of kindness was, and how our brains so often choose to dwell on negativity while letting positivity pass by. Things like that.
The interesting thing is...the sheer detail of how Bojack behaves, and how he tries to navigate life is so painfully accurate to someone who's emotionally abused and lost it makes me wonder about the writer(s). The ending to this episode is not cheap, it's not lazy, it's simple. A character that's so damaged just lost his last tie to what he thought was a family. He's very lost, and in his emotions and thoughts. He's gone to the wrong place. It's such a simple thing to do, yet the depth of his impromptu ramblings reflects his desires, and regrets. His recognition of his life, and it's imperfections. Bojack Horseman the show, is so well done I don't have words for it.
The first time I saw this episode, I was watching it on my phone with headphones on during a roadtrip with some people I didn't quite knew. And I felt so vulnerable, like I couldn't espace from the raw emotions. This episode is truly a masterpiece. Once again, from the bottom of my heart... Thank you Johnny.
Beatrice's story, personality and flaws always reminded me of my grandmother, so similar. The woman had four children and none could give the priest a good memory for his eulogy. What's even scarier though is reading all these comments from so many people who've had a Beatrice in their lives
I really like the line "My mom died and *all i got* was this free churro" because it also says a lot about BoJack's perspective. It seems like he really expected to get something when she dies ("All i got"). This phrase doesn't express being sad about his mother's death - it expresses disappointment. It almost seems like he expected for it to be made up for somehow. Or maybe he expected one of these grand gestures he talked about before. But that didn't happen, all that happened is his mom died, and a stranger felt pity for him and gave him a free churro.
Free Churro is the only episode of Bojack Horseman I actively watch on a regular basis. What an artistic masterclass of an episode in an already amazing show.
I remember watching this episode the first time, and it wasn’t till near the very end of the episode that I realized how long Bojack had been talking. I was just so enraptured by his feelings.
I finished Bojack horsemen yesterday in a span of 40 days. I enjoyed the show and watched your review and analysis after every season. It is a beautiful show and ur videos made showed me many things I missed. I just want to say Thanks for enhancing my experience. Really appreciate your work, man.
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I think the whole 'wrong funeral' thing was another instance of something I noticed throughout the series. Whenever Bojack comes to a meaningful conclusion or says something profound, nobody important is around to hear it. You see it in the underwater episode where he's trying to apologize to Kelsey with a really beautifully worded note, but the note is washed away and she never gets it. In the planetarium, Sarah Lynn is unconscious before she can hear him reassure her and talk about the present moment. It happens over and over again. I guess it's the whole thing of being seen. Nobody is ever there to see Bojack at his best moments.
I agree with your comment and I think it has to do with the fact that most (if not all) relationships in BoJack's life are toxic. Like How BoJack brings the worst in Diane and Todd (they feed off each other's misery whenever they're too close). Throughout the show we have this pattern where BoJack hurts every one who crossed paths with him, and I think at the end when he let go of every relationship he had in the show, is a good sign of him changing and understanding that he can't be around those people or he'll keep ruining them. This is one of the reasons I think the series finale has a happy ending. BoJack seemingly finally understand that some relationships in life eventually get too "worn out" and you just have to step away from it. Letting go, at that moment was the best decision he could do, and seeing how Diane and everyone else was happy after BoJack disappeared for a few months, it shows that he was the problem in their lives. Maybe BoJack finally learned how to cope with his traumas and becomes better, maybe he'll repeat the same mistakes again, but the fact the show ends there it gives me hope that BoJack will become a better person. I feel like in life, there's always no one around to see our growth, whenever we realize what we were doing it wrong and how we were hurting people. I speak out of experience. So yeah that plays into your comment. Maybe the fact the show ends there it means that we won't ever get to see BoJack grow up as a person, because we were also stuck in the cycle of abuse he created it, and as with every other character, our relationship with BoJack ends there, at the finale episode.
That's a very good point
I don't know that I'd say bojack trying to make himself feel better about messing up his life by pretending to comfort Sarah Lynn's corpse at the planetarium was "at his best", but it's certainly an interesting pattern
Goddamn that’s even more depressing
Its like having the chance but missing the mark everytime.😢
The other interesting thing about the ending of this episode is that it also heavily implies Bojack has no idea who would show up to Beatrice’s funeral. You would think the room full of lizards would be a good indication, but Bojack is so estranged from his mom that he has no clue who her friends are or who cared enough to show up. For all he knows, she just hung out with a lot of lizards.
Because she is cold blooded
I misremembered then 😭
I used to think they were flies before rewatching the episode, for some reason 😹
@@cat_savage05 Probably because the episode that tells Beatrice's backstory, is while Bojack and the fly neighbor are fixing the house
I always took it as BoJack being so wrapped up in himself and his own thing that he didn't even notice he was clearly in the wrong booth, despite the guests being all lizards and clearly not there for Beatrice's funeral. But I like your take.
@@efoxkitsune9493 i have a feeling it's a miz of both, Bojack doesn't question the lizards further than he should because he is so wrapped up in himself
Sure she just hung out with lizards end of that train of thought
also the line "i'm your son. all i had was you." is one of my favourite lines in all of television. like fuck, if you've ever had an abusive parent/grandparent that line hits like a ton of bricks
It sucks. Because eventually you realise they will never change. You'll never be a happy family. You'll never get the love you wanted and needed. You can't choose your family and as much pain as they cause they are always going to be your family. That to me is the saddest part. I can't stand my parents but they're the only parents I have. I wouldn't be here without them. Though sometimes their treatment made me wish I wasn't. What do we do? We can cut them off but something will always be missing wither way.
Amen, that line hit me real hard too. It sickens me to imagine all the children on Earth that are, and have been, forced to live in Bojack’s very situation.
That line truly broke my heart :(
The crack in his voice when he says it... agh
The delivery is so heartbreaking
The most surreal part of this episode was that Jack in the Box ran a bizarre promotion where, if you mentioned the episode, they would give you a free order of mini churros with your purchase. So I watched this episode, drove to Jack in the Box feeling absolutely gutted about what I had just seen, and got free churros. Truly a bizarre tie-in, but actually really immersive
Its actually pretty sad, that everyone got a free churro but bojack thought its a grand gesture of kindness
@@lolllwwwwaae1690 holy shit this show is so depressing, even their collab with jack in the box was sad. i love it.
Bojack’s mom died and all I got was a free churro
Po
bro wait do they still do this???
No Other Show Could Make Me Watch a Single Character Talking for 20 Minutes Straight
SAAAAAAME I hate monologs on most occasions but this was so wonderful crafted and well executed
a for minutes straight
Why Are You Capitalizing the First Letter of Almost Every Word? You didn't capitalize "a" or "for," and you didn't do "minutes" or "straight." So what's the deal?
oh I hated this episode, along with the stewie psychiatrist episode
What about Black Lagoon?
The saddest part of the episode for me is when he realizes that his mother wasn’t seeing him, that part wrecked me because I saw him losing his one chance to feel love and a sense of care from his mother.
But then that's what Bojack thinks of the whole situation. He doesn't see what Beatrice sees and that sums his relationship to her. She doesn't know him and thus, he doesn't know her...
especially the part where his eyes dilated from the realization. fucking shattered me
I got 2 interpretations for that scene:
Beatrice was lucid for a few solid seconds and was trying to figure out where she was before seeing Bojack, but passed out before doing so.
Beatrice really did see Bojack, but in Bojack's mind, he though she was reading ICU, because to him, his mom doesn't care about anyone but herself.
He doesn't just lose a chance to feel loved and a sense of care from his mother, he loses any and all potential meaning from that statement alone. BoJack assumed it could've been affection or that it could've been spiteful, or even delirium brought upon by his presence in the room ("you are an object in my field of vision"), but the fact that she was just reading a sign kills any and all possible connection, positive or negative, to her final words. It quite literally had nothing to do with him whatsoever in any way, even as an object in her line of sight because she was looking elsewhere, and that's what hurts the most.
My partner, who had already seen the series, was watching my reaction at that moment. Apparently my mouth fell open and I looked so scandalized.
I like how the lizards don't interrupt him. Either they were too awkward, they were invested in his speech, or they just didn't care.
It could be mixture of all things, considering that some appeared apathetic, while others cried.
"He needed to get this out."
all of the above tbh
I don’t think it was indifference or investment, I think they just knew he needed to say it
Probably a little of column A B and C
I interpreted the "wrong funeral" bit to reflect how Bojack had no idea who Beatrice's friends were, if she had any at all. For all he knew, all of the reptiles were her friends.
or that he was never truly with his mother in the first place, i mean at the funeral paralleling how she never saw him at the home either. she’s never seen him and now she never will.
Honestly that's a really funny joke when you put it that way, made me laugh
also links to nihilism - nothing matters
As a matter of fact, the room full of lizards is also a gag! They aren't lizards, they're mourning geckos! It's brilliant, just brilliant
What's brilliant about them being geckos?
@@FabiusPyromanusi think it’s a type of gecko called a ‘mourning gecko’
@FabiusPyromanus the type of gecko "mourning"
Every time I hear the "half a mind" line I almost lose it. That's gotta be the biggest gut punch from any show I've seen in a very long time, and it was from a horse in an animated show.
Yeah, it's too much man
"The view from halfway down" is the first quote that gets me teary eyed and then "For I have half a mind"..
Going back and rewatching the show, so many little things are actually just fuses for huge things.
Yeah I think that phrase is going to trigger PTSD for the rest of my life now 😂😂
I always felt the gag at the end was to illustrate the cycle and irony of pain between Bojack and Beatrice. He spends the entire time lamenting not being seen, only for it to be revealed that he didn't see he was in the wrong place. Because Beatrice couldn't see him, Bojack can see no one but himself.
This is so on point. Every time I watch one of Johnny’s videos on Bojack I find something interesting in the comments. The show’s just brilliant.
Or maybe the paper cup you saw on one shot that wasn't on another shot was just because some idiot on the crew forgot to take it off early 💀
But hey. Art is less about what you put in it but more about what you get out from, am I right Todd? 🤣
I doubt it was that intricate.
@@remyhavoc4463 okay, this cracked me up 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Whether or not intentional or just a gag, it fits so well because it does encapsulate their whole relationship.
one of my favorite moments in the previous episode is when he is complaining about the philbert script having a 5 page monologue and how no one wants to watch that. Then they do that very thing with free churro and it is one of the best episodes of television to exist. This show is so brilliant.
There is a stark difference between a monologue and a GOOD monologue. Bojack wasn't being pedantic in this monologue (as monologues tend to degenerate into) nor he is preachy. It sounds natural and spontaneous, something made off the cuff but straight to the point and does not lecture or paint himself better than the subject of the whole speech. Or make it about himself. Nobody would want to read, much less listen to John Galt's monologue from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged because of its length (full monologue is 72 pages long) and how ramblingly preachy it is that subsequently goes nowhere...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 tldr
@@piewright5756 he monologued, lol
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 I agree ! This was a good monologue and it just felt natural yk
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Who's John Galt?
Free Churro is 100% my favorite Bojack Horseman episode. it's perfection.
On goolly
it's top 6ish for sure
This and the view from halfway down. That's my favorite n least favorite at the same time
Same
Mine is The Old Sugarman Place
“Suddenly, you realize you’ll never have the good relationship you wanted, and as long as they were alive, even though you’d never admit it, part of you, the stupidest goddamned part of you, was still holding on to that chance. And you didn’t even realize it until that chance went away.”
That line rocked me to my core. I can still hear myself crying for my dad as a little girl and I feel terrible that I was never able to give that relationship to her
This line hit me because it made me realize that I'm in the same situation with my mother. Our relationship has always been up and downs with the downs being rock bottom and the highs being mount Everest, but the highs never last long. But despite me working so hard to have a good relationship with her, it never happens. It's always temporary. And one day, she'll be gone. And I hope one day I'll be able to say I have a good relationship with my mother. But deep down, I know that won't happen. And then I'll feel like how Bojack felt.
Another thing about A Doll’s House is that there is actually an “alternative” ending in the play. For the German premiere of the play, Ibsen’s agent essentially forced him to create a new ending. Instead of leaving, Nora is led to her children after arguing with her husband and ends up collapsing. It’s implied that she stayed for the sake of her children.
It’s not known if Beatrice saw this alternative ending or the true ending. She may have felt that, unlike Nora, she had no possibility for escape. She was too stubborn to step away from Butterscotch, as that would mean she made a mistake in marrying him in the first place (she does the crossword in sharpie, so like Kelsey, she “doesn’t make mistakes”). Funnily enough, she initially rejected becoming a standard housewife like Nora, that’s why she went out with Butterscotch in the first place. Her act of defiance against her father landed her in the same exact position anyway, so in her mind, there is no escape. And if she did see the alternative ending, she may have realized that she doesn’t even want to stay in the marriage for her child. Either way, she realized she had nothing. And that’s profoundly sad.
I did read about that! It’s very likely she saw the original ending, though. It seems the German ending has been generally rejected. But still a very interesting point!
Beatrice's story is eerily similar to Nora. She has her own Dr Rank in Corbin Creamerman, a nice idea that never could be, she was traded from her father to her husband, she sacrificed herself for her husband's ambition and, at the end of it all, she never really experienced love.
Plus I think the creators drew a lot of inspiration from A Doll's House, especially with the finale. In the play, Nora originally plans to drown herself to avoid confronting the reality of her situation, the consequences of her actions, just as Bojack threw himself in the pool to escape his guilt and grief. Even the description of the water as 'black, bottomless' directly parallels the manifestation of death in TVFHD. But Nora doesn't drown: her husband forces her to stay and listen to his ranting, and during that confrontation she realises that he doesn't care about her at all, or at least more than his reputation: 'I did it out of love for you' -> 'don't make silly excuses', 'when I'm gone from the world, you'll be free' -> 'oh, don't be melodramatic' - the revelation that Torvald doesn't love her. And in that moment, she realises that she's been living in a dollhouse, playing a game, married to a stranger, and she determines to strike out on her own and live to be her own person. She's devastated, she's lost everything, but she keeps going. Indeed, 'life's a bitch and then you keep living'
I have a mock A level on Ibsen in 11 hours and it's far more enjoyable to compare ADH with Bojack instead of Chaucer
Beatrice's awakening after seeing "A Doll's House" is part of what I feel compelled her to be an absolutely horrible mother to Bojack. She didn't just neglect him because she was damaged: she neglected him out of a moral stance. Neglecting him was her form of rebellion. Her way of vengeance against the men in her life. And men in general.
The one "good" thing she believes she did was to "save" Hollyhock's mother from making the same mistake and ruining her own life for the sake of "that". "That" here, being both Bojack and Holly. After Beatrice saw Ibsen's play, she realized: She regrets Bojack's existence and resents how his merely being alive anchored her to Butterscotch. She realized how much she lost by being "played" by her father and now her husband. She felt like they stole from her. Stole her childhood, her choices, her futures. And now? Her son is next in line. The next one to siphon away whatever life and agency she has left. The next man in her life to jerk her around like a toy, and she refused to have it. She hardened her heart and saw Bojack differently after that. He wasn't someone to protect or nurture--he was an enemy to defeat. He could ruin her the same way her brother ruined their mother. She will not love him. Will never give him or any of the other men in her life the same kind of power over her again. Let them see her as cruel, cold, and difficult. But she'd be damned to give them anything else after everything else that was taken from her.
After Doll House, Beatrice believed no woman should lose what she saw as their personhood to anyone. Least of all to the men in their lives. Even if the man in question is her little son. She doesn't care that Bojack was trying so hard to please her. It doesn't matter. She loathes him for merely being alive. She thinks he owes her everything and she owes him nothing. She will not give another "him" anything more. She's here to take from him, not give. To take as much from Bojack as her father, brother, and husband took from her and what she was entitled to.
There’s a good message in there that a lot of modern women could do with taking into their lives. Not that any of them will unfortunately.
@@jxy_vbn8156 lol okay incel
@@BriarPatchNyra Uh huh. Because wanting a person with basic decency, morals and a respectable attitude is considered incel behaviour these days. Fucking Christ we really are going backwards.
@@jxy_vbn8156 Sir what
Very great take.
When BoJack says that you have to be good consistently, I always saw that as a callback to the monkey at the end of season 2 when he says "But you gotta do it every day, that's the hard part."
It probably was intended as such. What's especially depressing about is that Bojack knows being good is something you have be consistent with, he knows he's a flawed person, yet he doesn't have the discipline to better himself.
It's still hard to fathom that both the lines "You were born broken, that's your birthright." and "There's only one way out of this: Apple slices and story time!" came out of the same mouth, and both sounded like the voice really meant it. Wendie Malick deserves all the applause!
Yes!!
Eda would totally punch Beatrice in the face and/or share a drink with BoJack if she got the chance.
@@zer0w0lf94 Eda would eat Beatrice alive
I am rewatching this video in 2024 and it occurred to me.. maybe when Beatrice says "You're Bojack Horseman.. there's no cure for that" maybe she means that she knows what it's like to be a part of the Horseman family, that she knows she's broken too, she realizes all the damage she caused, but it is just irreparable.
@@zer0w0lf94Something tells me she wouldn’t like bojack either
He actually pointed out some details that I would never have noticed otherwise. Possibly the best thing about BH is how the closer you look at it, the more you think about it, you just appreciate it more and more. Not many shows can do that. Not many shows have such depth, detail and hidden meaning.
Something I noticed is that when Herb died and the Horsin' Around cast goes on the scavenger hunt, BoJack was trying to see if the computer password was something indicating forgiveness towards himself before Herb died, and it wasn’t.
When Beatrice and Herb were gone, he still believed his relationships with them could still be preserved, and they would never be.
Free churro has always been my favorite episode. As someone who grew up with an abusive mother this one hits hard. In a weird way it brings a sense of comfort. It reminds me why I cut off my mom.
I always skip it
it’s kinda nice coping with bojack and his grievance over bea passing. i resent my mother but i know if she went, i’d also feel sad and like i missed out on an opportunity to somehow mend things, or at least receive some sort of proper acknowledgement. you truly get to embody bojack and his mindset as he monologues
@@crypt7cmsp yeah I completely agree
@@anthonysmith3415 well give it a watch once in a while, it’s worth it. Just like taking the opportunity in real life to just sit and reflect to ourselves on issues in our own lives is also very well worth it.
@@ohanna5074 I watched it twice, it has very little rewatch value and the character just stays stuck in one location and talks, I hate those kinds of episodes the most of any series
Family guy bank episode
Always sunny cruise episode
Bojack funeral episode
Hearing you talk about interpretation reminded me of Todd Chavez’s quote on art: “Isn’t the point of art less what people put into it, and more what people get out of it?”
Always hit me ♥️
I was reminded of that, too!
I just rewatched the episode and noticed that when Butterscotch is picking up Bojack, he says "Yes, yes, I see you."
I feel like there's a lot to say about that, It subtly foreshadows the "I see you" portion of the eulogy. Butterscotch is clearly being dismissive of Bojack and only thinking of himself. It speaks to his nature. Bojack was never able to accept his parent's nature, or his own.
i noticed this too! i was surprised this wasn’t mentioned, as it’s all bojack wants to hear just in the entirely incorrect context. butterscotch, obviously, does not see him. he recognises him, but doesn’t see anything more than surface level. it’s really beautiful :)
A year and a half ago, I got a call that my (very very estranged) father had been in a serious motorcycle accident. That he was in a coma in the ICU, that he’d lost a leg, a kidney, and his spleen, and things were “touch and go”.
I felt absolutely nothing at all. That completely blindsided me. I could have understood being sad, or regretful, or angry, or remorseful, or suddenly desperate to reconnect with him, or whatever. What I wasn’t prepared for was to just feel “huh… well, that’s something.”
That’s the main thing I kept reflecting on watching on that episode. That nothing about one’s emotions for an abusive or neglectful parent at a time of grief or potential grief ever seem to fit into tidy narratives. They never “make sense”. They never look like a TV show about the same events might look. They’re just… strange, and unpredictable, and messy, and self-contradictory.
If you don't mind, did you end up visiting him?
@@remmy9678 No, I didn't. I wouldn't have been able to afford it even if I'd wanted to. He did survive, though. And it provided a chance to reconnect with my brothers, who did go out to see him.
I’m working through this show for the first time and you describe exactly what happens two episodes later. Butterscotch Horseman died during a duel and BoJack was called by Beatrice to help with figuring out the funeral. He describes feeling nothing and asks himself what’s wrong with him.
maybe watch theramin trees videos?
I actually like how Beatrice dies before Bojack gets cancelled in season six she was in a way waiting for him to fail basically proving her right but i like how she dosen't live to see it robbing her of the potential enjoyment she would have gotten out of it just like how she robbed Bojack of a good childhood
this is true but nevertheless she lost that chance even before she died because she developed dementia
I think it's unlikely that she felt good or bad about it. She never showed that she cared about hurting others but she also never showed pleasure in it.
I really like the way it ends. We never see the audience, because the end of the episode is the first time Bojack himself notices. And it's not that he's an enormous bonehead, it's just that he was so focused on himself the entire time that he didn't take basic stock of who was at the funeral. Moreover, it recontextualizes the whole episode. One of the most poignant, meaningful twenty minutes of dialogue ever delivered, and right as we come out of it, we realize that no one was even listening. The only people who heard about Beatrice didn't know who she was, and the revelations Bojack came to over the course of the monologue were, effectively, unseen. The implication is that now, he has to go to the correct funeral parlor and try to deliver the eulogy again, having already said everything he wants to say about his mom, and having already come to the realization that the crux of his speech, the "I See You" line, was a simple misinterpretation.
*Fuck,* that's dark.
I think it also shows how distanced Bojack was from his mother, just accepting that he wouldn't know anyone who came to her funeral and didn't realise until the he looked in the casket.
I think the part that hits the hardest about this episode, comes from the people who come from dysfunctional families. It's a strange feeling, to grieve a parent you never really had but always wanted. You grieve what could never be, because "...you'll never have the good relationship you wanted." This episode made me cry and I had to take a break after. Best episode of the entire series.
I really like the way you describe that strange feeling, sounds like it could’ve been in the monologue
"I'm your son. All I had was you." is still one of my favourite line deliveries in television
honestly, as someone that has been abused by my parents up until a certain point in my life, i feel like "free churro" really does a great job portraying those sorts of relationships as what it is - messy and complicated. it's not always black and white like people think they are, like "i hate my mother because she's abusive", but way deeper than that.
F*ck you hit the nail on the head. Both of my parents were physically and mentally abused, and I'm gonna admit they had their moments where it definitely wasn't normal, how they treated me, but when I grew up and eventually, not only discover but also have to stomach the idea of my abusers having it even worse than me. I can't explain it, not guilt or anger or even sadness...once you see the world like that, you become numb.
when he talks about the waiting for that one moment, fuck that hits home.
The thing about abusive parents is that they're the only parents you have
You get used to thinking the abuse is normal and since their good moments can wash away the bad you never really notice anything is wrong until you grow up and they don't feel the need to attempt to emotionally support you anymore
Rose colored glasses indeed
Trauma bonds suck
Free Churro was my favorite episode from Season 5, and one of my top 3 of the whole show. The part where he turns to Beatrice and says, "I'm your son, all I had was you," broke me in undescribable ways.
"that small act of kindness Showed more compassion Than my mother gave me Her entire Goodman life" This one hits hard
Truly astounding how the entire episode is just bojack in the same room talking and it's one of the best episodes in the entire show
14:45
I think Todd put it best "but isn't the point of art less what people put into it and more what people get out of it?"
This is one of, if not THE best written and performed episodes of TV I have ever seen. A 23 minute masterpiece of emotion, nuance, psychology and philosophy leavened with humor.
Will Arnett killed it and the writers… 💋
That Title Is Deep, Man ✊😔😭
This whole episode is just one gut punch after the other. The ICU twist absolutely wrecked me… What an outstanding piece of television this show is.
pleaaaaase do "horse walks into rehab" next, its genuinely my fav episode and such an amazing change for bojacks character
A horse walks into A rehab. Don’t for the A before rehab
The receptionist says "why the long backstory?"
Definitely on my list!
@@maush. 😂😂😂😂😂
I think the saddest part was that the stranger who gave him a free churro showed him more empathy than his mother ever did
Defnitely my favourite out of the "gimmicky" episodes. I think it's just a testament to how well written Bojack's character is. The whole episode is just him letting his thoughts out freely without much rhyme or reason but that's why it's so interesting because it feels genuine
This episode legitimately broke me, having been raised with a negligant alcoholic mother. This line, specifically, towards the end gets me everytime.
"Suddenly, you realize you’ll never have the good relationship you wanted, and as long as they were alive, even though you’d never admit it, part of you, the stupidest goddamn part of you, was still holding on to that chance. And you didn’t even realize it until that chance went away."
It's like a sharp blow to the gut hearing that because it hits the nail, with pin point accuracy, right on the head. Complicated grief is an absolute bitch.
My mother wasn't alcoholic, but in just about every other way, she was Beatrice Horseman. This episode and that line are among my favorite pieces of all media. Watching Free Churro was *cathartic* in a way nothing else has ever been. People who didn't go through what we went through will never, ever understand. And you know what? That is a truly wonderful thing.
I think out of all the moments (and there are many, I think this episodes has the most haunting sentences) in this episode, the one that stayed with me the most and have never failed to completely break me is when Bojack drops the act for a bit in pure frustration and just yells at the coffin "I'm you're son! All I had was you!". It captures that raw desperation and the frustration of how things turned out perfectly. I relate to it a lot and it gives me headaches from how much it makes my eyebrows furrow and my nose tense up anytime I think about it.
To this day, I’m still pissed off Will Arnett wasn’t nominated for an Emmy for this episode
Ive been waiting for this one!
I am 14 years old and was abused by my mother my whole childhood until a couple years ago and she still effects my life. I feel like i related to this episode and it resinated with me more than almost any other in the series.
I love your videos, i love this show, and i thank you for these.
Yup me too. That’s why I love it so much. I relate and I wonder what I will say at my mom’s funeral
@@quirkyblackenby i wonder the same thing. In any case though, I hope you have a good rest of your day kind sir or madame
Bingo. definitely my favorite episode of the series due to my own unhealthy relationship with my mom and honestly made me wonder what I would say at my own mom’s funeral if I even go
dude, my love, darling, I understand you. and that's why I'm saying to you, learn to know your parents are human and probably doesn't know how to teach you. this is something maybe u wouldn't understand now, but you will, it's difficult, but learn to forget and forgive. that's my advice. have a great life boy, I hope you know how to be better everyday
@@MediumDSpeaks i just meant up to this point in my childhood so far she has been, and is now continuing stuff without even being near me, its a very long story
What if Beatrice did knock once, but Bojack was just in the wrong room
"Everything I learned about being good I learned from TV" This hits way too close to home for me to spend the rest of my day comfortably every time I hear it.
Hearing bojack’s voice break when he said “bojack horseman I see you” really hurts,Will Arnett is such a damn good voice actor
This is one of the best episodes imo, no other show could make me cry at a Will Arnett character's 20 minute monologue about how he and his family hated each other. This show really isn't comfort media though, I know a lot of people who are put off by the show and it "making them depressed" and that's a shame because it has a lot of intelligent things to say. I played this for a friend yesterday (who hadn't seen any of the show outside of a few tiktok audio clips) and their takeaway was that they were bored the whole time, which is unfortunate. But I for one love this show because of the way it makes me feel, and BoJack and his interactions actually helped me work through a lot of the same family trauma detailed in this episode. All time favourite show, great vid as always!
The irony I always found in bojack was that he always complained that no one saw him as a “real actor” but he doesn’t even know he’s as deep as someone who’s disconnected comes. If he had been truthful about his pain and turned it into something real with his acting he would’ve been a really great drama actor. Seriously even the VA for him is seriously underrated like Cranston level in my opinion. Great show as always
I think that's exactly what Kelsey saw in him
One of my favorite episodes, so glad to see your vid on it!
One of my least favorite episodes, so angry to see your vid on it!
Free Churro always hits hard, because I feel the same way about my dad. I hate him for what he’s done to me and my family, but I still search for connection. I fear I always will, even after he dies.
i like ur pfp
Will arnet's performance carries this episode so hard. What a truly fantastic actor
My head cannon is now and forever that Will Arnett is played by Bojcak Horseman
I love this episode because we get to see Bojack unpack all of his trauma with his mother, which is something we were waiting for since season 1. It took her dying for him to be able to voice how he really felt and his deepest desires to have a normal loving relationship with his mother. The saddest part of this episode is when Bojack comes to the realization that he will never really know if his mother loved him or not. Such a great episode. Thanks so much for breaking this down. ✨
i think it’s ironic how in the last episode of horsin around the doctor tells sarah lynn it’s her fault bojack died because she didn’t love him enough, but in reality it’s the other way around :(
This monologue was so cathartic to watch as I was the main person to take care of my abusive parent's funeral as well. It has so many things I wish I could've said myself when it happened. One of my favorite episodes 💚
Thank you so so much for taking a deeper dive into Free Churro! This episode solidified Will Arnett's status as a brilliant actor for me. All of your takes on this show make me connect and love it so much more. Keep up the great work as always, and I'll look forward to your next BoJack video ❤
This was amazing as always Johnny!
I would love to see your opinions on the episode “the Amelia Earhart style story” specifically about Princess Caroline’s past and how it enforced more of who she is today because of her relationship with her mother.
I love that episode and def want to cover it!
@@Johnny2Cellos I would be elated to see you cover Cutie Cutie Cupcake's emotional manipulation of and overreliance on Princess Carolyn. As someone who watched BoJack Horseman to understand Michelle Plumby's character shift in Gwendy & Ghost, a webcomic made by a woman who's familiar with being emotionally manipulated by family members, that episode felt quite cathartic to watch. I often wonder if Gwendy & Ghost's creator has watched the show. I just know it would be one of her favorite cartoons of all time.
13:13 - 13:22
The irony is this perfectly applies to what he tried to do with Herb Kazzaz
I can imagine to Herb it felt mean…like hey, you knew what I wanted, for you to contact me, and you waited till I had cancer to give it to me
Free Churro is one of my favorite episodes. It felt so cathartic to see Bojack give a eulogy about Beatrice and not be dressed up as praising or loving Beatrice because she was his mother (which I could see some sitcoms doing). I was happy to see him work through his grief of his mother not living up to his expectations of a mother who loves unconditionally. Especially as someone who has a complicated relationship with their mother who's emotionally abusive, this ep made me feel seen. Plus the fact everything I learned about love and relationships was through tv too. Also tempted to write a Free Churro monolgue to deal with my mother, but not at her funeral and in front of guests though
this season came out a few weeks before I lost my own mother suddenly at 21. She and I watched it together... I have never had a piece of media put into words exactly how I was feeling as well as this one and it still rings true every time I rewatch. My mom is dead, and everything is worse now.
♥️
The Ipson running theme absolutely blows my MIND. The amount of detail, forethought and planning to drop a single line in the first episode of your show, which will become a indicator for a MASSIVE part of a different character two seasons later???
On your comments about applied meaning: hi, I’m a writer! - I’m a poet published in a couple of magazines through the University of Glasgow. What I’ve always been taught about analysis or using a “stretched” analysis is that when a writer creates a piece of work, they have to accept both “true” and “false” analyses of the content, but neither is more valid than the other. Different and often unseen interpretations of a text or medium do not defy the canon, but instead expand it in possibility. Thanks for your work, loving your videos!
Something else I wanted to talk about with Bojack being in the wrong room. This joke gets increasingly sad when you ask one fair question, who would be at her funeral? Bojack is her only living relative, she had no friends by the time she was in the nursing home, there's no way hollyhocks 8 Dad we're going to let her go anywhere near that woman after what she put her through, so other than Bojack who would have been there?
Damn I never even thought of that.
Yup. My first thought was “Well Beatrice never really left the rich circles, so maybe some acquaintances would have shown up?” But you’re right, after she gets dementia she’s left abandoned at a nursing home and no one visits her. It’s safe to say that only Bojack would’ve attended.
It's better that Bojack went to the wrong funeral. He wouldn't have come to terms with all his feelings about his mom if he was monologing to an empty room
This episode and The View From Halfway Down are my favorite in the series.
In this episode, there is an uncomfortable familiarity I feel when Bojack’s dad goes “Thank youuu?” after his diatribe about Beatrice. Like somehow Bojack should be thankful for the insane amounts of guilt his father throws at him for existing. This show was incredible.
I always felt the ending, while yes, a joke, was also like the last chance he got to tell his mom what he really felt, and he didn't get a chance to.
The Intensive Care Unit Twist to I See You truly broke me on the first watch, to the point where I wanted to cry. Fav episode of the show for sure.
“That's all I have to say about my mother…No point beating a dead horse, right?” Thats clever
I saw this episode a few days ago when my step brother passed away and I found a strange sense of calm, the way Bojack shows mixed feelings resonated with me.
I’ll never forget this episode as being the point in my marathon of the series that I said “I’ll take a break and go to the bathroom after this scene” and sitting there in desperation as it just kept going.
What you pointed out about bojack turning his eulogy into a performance and how that reflects his instilled *dont stop dancing* beliefs is something i never realized!! Thank you for the analysis >:0
No matter how doucey one may find Tarantino, he has one of my favorites philosophies about content: that there's no "intended meaning", the form may be objective, but the meaning is always personal. It doesn't matter what art says, it matters what it says to *you*. And if it says nothing, then you've wasted your time, even if it's the most beautiful piece of art in the world.
I feel like there's such a massive irony that Bojack glosses over his father as much as he can, really not caring about the guy as much compared to the complex over his mother. He doesn't even show up for his near death "party". But the irony is that he really did grow up to be just like his dad, the only difference is that unlike his father he was actually able to make a career out of what he did (and was at least a bit more socially conscious I'll give him that). Hell his behavior with his friends, particularly Princess Carolyn, mimics how his father treated his mother.
Only at the end did I realize the episode was a monologue. I was so encapsulated that I didn’t even notice nothing else was going on in a show that’s full of quick wacky characters, situations, jokes, and quick pacing. Beautiful job to the writers in this one.
BRO YOU ARE KILLING IT THIS WEEK!!!! MY HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK QUOTE IS LITERALLY "go watch bojack horseman s5e6 itll change your life"
I LOVEEE free churro
The episode explains my relationship with myself and my family SOOO WELLL!
Even though I moved out of my parent’s house, even though I cut them off all. I felt like I lost them, even though they aren’t dead.
And I want to go back to them, even though they would hurt me. The monologue helps me sooo well
YEAHHHHH YEAHHHHHHH!!!!! you have no idea how LONG i've been waiting for this!
Great video but I'm surprised you didn't talk about the part where Bojack start talking about his dad. In that moment Bojack reveals how his father died, defending his book in a dual. Also that Bojack has never read his dad's book, because "why would I give him that". As much as I love how the show goes into full detail with Beatrice's character Ann backstory, I always wanted to know more about his dad. We get a little of who he is here and there throughout Bojack and Beatrice's life stories but we never had an episode that talks about him. Why was it so important that he write this book? Why does he resent his wife for coming from money, and why did he stay with her if at some point he could have left her and married his secretary? Did he actually care about Bojack, like what we saw in view from halfway down? I know it's not too important because the idea is it's vague because he was barely in Bojack Life as a father but it would be nice to get a little more info on him.
I argue that unlike Beatrice who was constantly in his life, Butterscotch is that classic emotionally distant father trope who also is not near him a lot of times. Aside from work that kept him away from Bojack, he secluded himself in his study most of his free time thus insulating him from his family. The fact that most of Bojack's most impactful memories of his youth involve Beatrice and in his own words in this very episode Butterscotch acted like Pliny the Elder during Saturnalia (ie lock himself in his study) whenever Beatrice holds a party in the house or whenever he's at home generally exemplifies how distant Bojack is to Butterscotch. To Bojack, Secretariat is more Father to him than Butterscotch in both an emotional and physical level (ie face to the screen close)...
I’d say the reason butterscotch’s background isn’t explored, is because there’s little to explore. He’s simply a product of a patriarchal society, willfully i would add. There’s a diference in beatrice’s backstory as she had no agency on the matter, as illustrated by referencing a doll’s house. Way easier, and understandable to dismiss butterscotch as simply an asshole
i remember seeing someone theorise that his constant cheating (notice he's never able to be HAPPY with any woman when he's not using them for pure pleasure), using 'queer' as an insult against bojack, his misogyny (even moreso than joseph sugarman in some respects!) and strange insistence on how 'pearls are for ladies' pointed to him being severely repressed in some way in his own childhood.
someone taught him to fear and disrespect anything that could be considered feminine, however nonsensical that thing was to even be gendered, and taught him that the abusive, emotionally stunted and resentful man he eventually became was the only way to be a 'real' man. which is not true. you can be the most masculine manly man in the world, and you'd be nothing like butterscotch horseman because being abusive, cruel and bitter is not what it means to be a man.
This entire show took me places emotionally that I have never been to in my life. And I didn’t watch it until I was in my 30s. Now im hooked on these videos.
Losing a parent that was your primary abuser is a very complex experience
Thank you so much for these videos. I have a deep, personal appreciation for Bojack Horseman as someone with a long list of mental illnesses, an abusive mother, and the tendency to use laughter as a coping mechanism. And I’m far from alone in that, so I love people who keep the conversation and analysis about this show going. There’s so much catharsis and comfort in this show and in your videos about it and I (and judging by the comments, many others) really, really appreciate that.
This episode blew me away the first time I watched it. It amazed me how a character could just talk for an entire episode and I was into it the entire time.
Dude you made me want to rewatch Bojack Horseman from the begining again. It is a really clever and insightful series.
Even if your analysis videos dig too deep…they give honest valid looks at various psychology. So even if it doesn’t service analyzing the show… it helps me dissect my own emotions!
Wow, not only this video, but the comments are shedding so much light on the small things that speak at immense volumes makes my brain tingle in all the good ways.
Please never stop making Bojack videos
It's interesting and an incredible testament to the quality of the show, because you can think "wow how did they write a whole episode as a monologue?" but because of the work they put into character development, you can think "wow, must have been hard to get this down to 22min."
I think something that many characters in this show dealt with in one way or another (Diane especially since she goes through this literal thought process on screen), is that they're trying to find meaning in their suffering. And, for the most part, suffering is just that: suffering. Nothing else. It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't make you better, frequently (like with Butterscotch and Beatrice), it makes you worse.
Healing is what makes you better. Healing is what makes you whole. I love the line from Midnight Gospel, when Clancy asks his mom what you do with feelings of grief, and she tells him, "Oh Clancy... you cry."
This show does complex characters so well it’s insane
Surprised there's so little mention in either video and comments about the girl at the Jack in the Box who got the episode its name. I guess it's not substantial enough for much mention, but I thought it was at least notable for something, the strange contrast of this cold, unloving, yet eternal presence in Bojack's life and mind, and this one nobody who he passed by while getting some food and may never see again yet seemed to show more care for his feelings than she ever did. A lot of (deserved) love for the "I'm your son, all I had was you" bit but not enough appreciation for the preceding "This woman at the Jack in the Box didn't even know me". Both for how it ramps up the moment emotionally, but also makes clear that this isn't just a cruel, loveless world - it has good in it, and people who care, but Beatrice decided she would not be one of them. Having that love, even so minor from such an insignificant character, really pulls into focus his parents' lovelessness - you can't cast a shadow without light, after all. Plus, something to be said about just how insignificant and unrecognised that brief act of kindness was, and how our brains so often choose to dwell on negativity while letting positivity pass by. Things like that.
The interesting thing is...the sheer detail of how Bojack behaves, and how he tries to navigate life is so painfully accurate to someone who's emotionally abused and lost it makes me wonder about the writer(s).
The ending to this episode is not cheap, it's not lazy, it's simple. A character that's so damaged just lost his last tie to what he thought was a family. He's very lost, and in his emotions and thoughts. He's gone to the wrong place. It's such a simple thing to do, yet the depth of his impromptu ramblings reflects his desires, and regrets. His recognition of his life, and it's imperfections. Bojack Horseman the show, is so well done I don't have words for it.
The first time I saw this episode, I was watching it on my phone with headphones on during a roadtrip with some people I didn't quite knew. And I felt so vulnerable, like I couldn't espace from the raw emotions. This episode is truly a masterpiece.
Once again, from the bottom of my heart... Thank you Johnny.
I love coming back to this video. Such a beautiful narration of bojacks emotions and grief
Beatrice's story, personality and flaws always reminded me of my grandmother, so similar. The woman had four children and none could give the priest a good memory for his eulogy. What's even scarier though is reading all these comments from so many people who've had a Beatrice in their lives
I really like the line "My mom died and *all i got* was this free churro" because it also says a lot about BoJack's perspective. It seems like he really expected to get something when she dies ("All i got"). This phrase doesn't express being sad about his mother's death - it expresses disappointment. It almost seems like he expected for it to be made up for somehow. Or maybe he expected one of these grand gestures he talked about before. But that didn't happen, all that happened is his mom died, and a stranger felt pity for him and gave him a free churro.
Bojack is a fantastic piece of art, and this is a very well done and thought provoking deconstruction. Thank you
Free Churro is the only episode of Bojack Horseman I actively watch on a regular basis. What an artistic masterclass of an episode in an already amazing show.
"The Free Churro" is another one of my all time favorite episodes! i always hoped you would one day review it Johnny!!!
I remember watching this episode the first time, and it wasn’t till near the very end of the episode that I realized how long Bojack had been talking. I was just so enraptured by his feelings.
I finished Bojack horsemen yesterday in a span of 40 days. I enjoyed the show and watched your review and analysis after every season. It is a beautiful show and ur videos made showed me many things I missed. I just want to say Thanks for enhancing my experience. Really appreciate your work, man.
this episode was fucking brilliant