That’s not a joke, this episode is all just Will Arnett, talking to an audience we don’t really see till the end, because we’re the ones listening. Upon watching this episode the first time I joked about how season three had a near silent episode, so it was fitting we’d get an episode with nothing but dialogue this time. Funnier still, this nothing but talk episode is also a highlight of the season, as well as the show. It’s something that sounds easy, but is nearly impossible to pull off, I mean someone rambling on for a half hour about things that aren’t relevant to the reality, it’s not a very fun idea. Despite the obvious hurdles, we see BoJack open up plenty, allowing us to understand the connection he had with his mother, the imperfect connection that somehow still hurts.
This episode is really just one long eulogy, or short, to be honest I’m not sure if there’s a standard length of a eulogy. Too often shows, movies whatever, gloss over eulogies, showing us the highlights, or the most important pieces of dialogue in them for a story purpose. Eulogies are often just meant to inspire the hero, honor a good character, or to make the audience cry, but for this show, the eulogy is just BoJack reflecting how bad his mother was, yet how much he still wanted some positivity from that relationship he can now only reflect on and regret. This isn’t an inspiring speech, it’s real, it’s relatable because life often hurts, those close to us disappoint us at many points, some will even hurt us, yet we’ll still miss them when they’re gone, leaving us wondering why. BoJack in typical fashion finds humor in this, but he also questions why it even matters, his mother was terrible, as was his father, yet he cannot help but feel like they will still leave a hole in his life.
I found myself constantly looking at the runtime of the episode, doubting this was it. Shows gloss over the eulogy, keep it short, because no one likes sitting through the pain of knowing someone is gone, we all just want to escape our pain with TV. About midway through, I accepted, nope, there isn’t a plot we’ll see get played out, this is our episode, Will Arnett,talking to us for a half hour. It’s painful, funny, awkward and powerful, I cried as the episode close, knowing someday that I’ll be the one stumbling through a speech like his.
There’s really not much more I can think to say about the episode without going into the detail of what is said. This episode is truly among the greats for the show, it’s gut-wrenching to see this show make a eulogy carry the episode, making me wonder if one day, I can deliver something as interesting as that. I felt hurt, knowing I’ll be experiencing the pains of losing someone I knew, yet barely liked or related to. I wish I could say more, after all if Arnett could say so much with a half-hour, I probably could too, but I think the dialogue here is best experienced by yourself, even if you’ve yet to see a single episode of the show before this.
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