BoJack Horseman (TV Series) What Time Is It Right Now (2017) User Reviews

Season 4 is different and that's a good thing

[jbencker · 10/10 · 11 September 2017]

Seasons 1-3 of BoJack Horsemen had a similar pattern: BoJack unsuccessfully tries to fill the void within him with relationships and/or his career, sabotages himself and ends up hurting people. But now BoJack has finally broken the cycle.

In this season the fallout of the last season and BoJack's subsequent isolation can clearly still be felt: BoJack ruined his relationship with both Todd and Princess Carolyn and ignored the many calls of Diane while he was away. Subsequently he spends very little time with his friends in this season. While I did miss more interactions between BoJack and his old friends their solo story lines worked very well. Diane struggles with her job and - more significantly - Mr. Peanutbutter running for Governor but the couple fails to talk about their issues, though at the end they have to accept their marriage is in a very precarious state. Princess Carolyn - who is as workaholic as ever - tries to get pregnant and ends up pushing her boyfriend away when she has a miscarriage. Never has it been more obvious that Diane and Princess Carolyn don't need BoJack in their lives to make a mess of things. Meanwhile Todd comes to terms with being asexual. The show manages a good balance between Todd figuring things out and his usual wacky hijinks.

BoJacks lack of interaction with his friends also leaves room for his supposed daughter Hollyhock. BoJack evidently seeks the connection to Hollyhock but is also terrified of screwing up which is shown in particular in the heartbreaking sixth episode. Hollyhock also makes BoJack confront his mother Beatrice. Beatrice is almost a main character this season as her character is considerably fleshed out by use of flashbacks. The show brilliantly manages to intertwine present and past, Beatrice's and Holloyhock's story lines, resulting in an unexpected twist regarding Hollyhock's parents.

This season shows that BoJack can change. His failure regarding Hollyhock is mostly just as result of carelessness and he does anything he can to make up for it. He even shows kindness to his mother. This doesn't mean he is perfect: he is still self-centered, contemptuous, narcissistic and always willing to take advantage of his fame. But he has become a better person and for the first time a season of the show ends with BoJack (sort of) being at peace with himself.

Just as BoJack evolves so does the format. Flashbacks take a complete new form this season, with past and present artfully mirroring each other in the second episode, Beatrice's dementia episode and Princess Carolyn's dream of her great-great-great- granddaughter.

As always the show does quite a bit social commentary. Apart from the ever present matter of sexism the show deals with the issue of gun violence/gun control and Mr. Peanutbutter's storyline brilliantly satirizes the state of contemporary politics.

As the previous seasons season 4 has great guest stars and two actors stand out in particular: Jessica Biel again plays herself and takes parodying herself to new levels and Andre Braugher shines as the poised Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz.

Bojack Season 4

[esw-85760 · 9/10 · 15 September 2017]

Bojack Horseman is back in a 4th season as profoundly affecting as its previous iterations. This season has many of the elements that we've come to love and expect from the show: off-the-wall strings of alliterative, rhyming wordplay (think Bob Loblaw's Law Blog on steroids), copious puns and hilarious imaginations of how humanoid animals might retain some of their basic animal behaviors, razor-sharp social satire (which takes on an apropos political tone in the story line involving Mr. Peanutbutter's run for governor), thought-provoking commentary on social rights issues, a star-studded voice cast (it's always fun to look through the cast credits after watching to see who you may have missed), obscure pop-culture references, inventive animation, and perhaps most importantly, the notes of tragedy and emotional insight that differentiate this show from your run-of-the-mill adult comedy.

Despite the familiarity of its component parts, this season leaves quite a different aftertaste than those before it. Where previous seasons were unrelentingly, uncompromisingly dark, this season ends with an optimistic tone and sees Bojack take the nascent steps toward mending some of his broken relationships. To be sure, the show still features thoughtful explorations of human (animal?) suffering, especially in the masterpiece penultimate episode that takes us through the life of Bojack's mother, Beatrice. Perhaps it feels different because the show has shifted away from the model of "just when you think Bojack can't screw things up any more, he does," instead focusing more on the tribulations of tangential characters (Beatrice's dementia and backstory, Hollyhock's struggle to find her biological parents, the dissolution of Mr. Peanutbutter's and Diane's marriage, Princess Caroline's heartbreaking miscarriage and breakup with Ralph Stilton, etc.). As a result, there perhaps aren't any episodes that pack the jaw- dropping shock value of "Escape from LA" or "That's Too Much, Man!", though "Time's Arrow" certainly ranks among the best episodes of the show to date.

All that said, Bojack remains unlike any other show out there, by turns touching, hilarious, dark, silly, profound, depressing, biting, and above all, empathetic. It is ambitious television that demands a lot of its audience and packs quite a bit of emotional punch. I really hope that it will return for a fifth season, and that it will continue to evolve and defy expectations.

S4 Review

[IPyaarCinema · 8/10 · 27 November 2020]

Review By Kamal K

Absolutely phenomenal. If you thought season 3 was great, wait until you watch this season. If you thought season 3 was devastating, wait until you watch this season. The penultimate episode is at this point probably the best episode in the entire show and that is saying something. It's not going to be an easy watch at all.

Every season just gets better!

[and_mikkelsen · 10/10 · 21 February 2024]

Every time i finish a season, i think to my self.. there is no way they can top this the next season, cause it felt to perfect! Now season 4 just proved me wrong!

This season was great from beginning to end with mostly good to great episodes! The development of the characters were great as they mostly spended time alone, away from the other characters. This was mostly apparent in the case of BoJack who barely had any interactions with the other characters!

This episode sees all the development coming together in a meaningfull way! BoJack spend most of the season drowning himself in guilt and self-loathing, so it was nice to see him smile at the end!

Diane came to a realization about her relationship with mr. Peanutbutter, and Princess Carolyn almost ruiner her life, BoJack style!

Now I cant wait to see if season 5 tops this!

S4 Review

[iamanoob0 · 17 February 2021]

I'm not rating the whole season because it would be kinda unfair to choose an exact number and I am not rating this episode in general which was a great episode and the best BoJack Horseman finale so far.

Okay so s4 had its strengths and its weaknesses based on certain episodes. Episodes like Time's Arrow, The Old Sugarman Place, and Ruthie were amazing episodes each with value for the rest of the show and with the hard emotional gut punches. Time's Arrow has also been in my opinion the best episode of BoJack yet. But there are also the weaker episodes like See Mr. Peanutbutter Run, Commence Fracking, and Underground. These episodes were in no way shape or form bad, they're just great and don't add much value to the rest of the story.

S4 in my opinion has been the best BoJack season so far though not as consistent as season 3 was, it gave the strong parts stronger. In the end of this season we finally get to see BoJack maybe takes a turn for a better. Hopefully the next season is as good as this or even better.

8

[Edvis-1997 · 8/10 · 2 February 2020]

Pretty good last episode of season with kind of happy ending.

S4: Has some great moments, but also plenty of disjointed ones - still very good though

[bob the moo · 5 June 2018]

The fourth season had a lot to deliver considering it followed the very strong third season. It doesn't hit that standard in a way that is consistent, but here and there we have elements of the show that really stand out and are very impressive. In terms of plotting, the fourth season doesn't really have a nice neat thread running through it; and I think this does sort of limit it in terms of its overall impact. The characters feel fragmented across their various stories, and the season doesn't find a way to pull them together in a satisfying way.

Although this does have an impact, it doesn't all mean a negative. All parts of the show work in their own way, although for some of them it is just that they are funny and odd. On this level it is fine, works well, and is generally done with creativity. In terms of character development, there are threads and episodes that do this well - Princess Caroline for one, but BoJack's mother is the focus of the strongest episode. This one came out of a thread that seemed to be going nowhere but then suddenly produced such a clever and 'human' episode that really does stand with the best of this show.

Animation and voicework continue to be of a high standard, but it is the writing that makes it so good. This fourth season may have weaknesses in cohesion and consistency, but it is funny and engaging throughout, and throws up some very strong episodes/threads along the way.