Netflix recently released the final episodes of BoJack Horseman, one of its flagship original series, and, as expected, Raphael Bob-Waksberg and his brilliant team of voice actors, writers, and animators managed to stick the landing and give fans of the series closure on all their favorite characters. For six glorious seasons, BoJack Horseman skirted the line between gleefully absurdist comedy and hard-hitting existential drama.
The series finale, “Nice While It Lasted,” brought the concurrent stories of BoJack, Todd, Diane, Princess Carolyn, and Mr. Peanutbutter to a heartwarming, emotionally charged conclusion. Here are some ways that the episode brought fans closure.
BoJack Survived The Events Of “The View From Halfway Down”
The beauty of binge-watching shows on Netflix is that you only have to wait about ten seconds between the shocking ending of one episode and the beginning of the next one. In BoJack Horseman’s penultimate episode, “The View From Halfway Down,” BoJack faces his own mortality as he drowns in the pool at his old house and realizes he’s going to die.
The end of the episode insinuated that he went through the doorway and died. So, it was a relief when the finale opened with a news montage explaining that he narrowly survived the drowning.
BoJack Is Out Of Diane’s Life For Good
Ever since she took the job of ghostwriting his memoirs, Diane has been BoJack’s lifeline, and it’s proven to be more trouble for her than it’s worth, despite the fact that she clearly cares about BoJack. In the series finale, as the two converse on the roof over a cigarette, Diane poignantly explains, “I think there are people that help you become the person that you end up being, and you can be grateful for them, even if they were never meant to be in your life forever.”
BoJack jokes, “Wouldn’t it be funny if this night was the last time we ever talked to each other?” which is left to hang in the air. The show doesn’t make it explicit, but it seems like this will actually be the case, and, after Princess Carolyn’s wedding, BoJack will be gone from Diane’s life for good, both of them having been changed by the relationship.
Todd Has Rebuilt His Relationship With His Mom
Todd’s character arc didn’t need a definitive ending, because he spent the whole series as an unstoppable force of good. While BoJack was a nihilistic narcissist who took people for granted and couldn’t figure out how to be a good person, Todd was consistently sweet-natured and confident, and he was always there for his friends, so he didn’t need to grow as a person.
But he did have a beautiful scene in “Nice While It Lasted” in which he went down to the beach with BoJack to watch the fireworks and told him that he’d rekindled his relationship with his mom, which he never expected to happen.
Princess Carolyn Finally Found Love
The narrative backbone of “Nice While It Lasted,” the event that brings all the characters together, is Princess Carolyn’s wedding.
After years of relationships ruined by her commitment to work and loneliness as a byproduct of focusing on her career, Princess Carolyn finally found love. She realized that her true love was her colleague Judah all along, and they got married.
Diane’s Return To L.A. Is Nostalgic
Diane went through a lot of terrible stuff over the course of BoJack Horseman’s six seasons, and most of it happened in Los Angeles. She explains that she was worried that returning to L.A. would bring back all the anxiety and depression and insecurities that weighed her down while she was living in the city. However, she’s delightfully surprised to find that her return to L.A. is more nostalgic than anything.
The Public Embraces The New BoJack
Throughout the sixth season of BoJack Horseman, the titular celebrity was vilified in the media for various past mistakes, particularly how he handled Sarah Lynn’s death. We’ve seen BoJack deal with the guilt that came from these mistakes, and his attempts to become a better person.
After BoJack has served his time in prison for breaking and entering, the public has moved on from his past indiscretions and is just excited to see his comeback in Horny Unicorn. As Princess Carolyn explains, “People have short memories. It’s the best and worst thing about people.”
BoJack Is More Optimistic
After six seasons of seeing BoJack’s incessant pessimism, there was a cathartic bliss in seeing him finally embrace optimism in the series finale. In the past, BoJack has treated everything that goes wrong as a crushing defeat. But, in “Nice While It Lasted,” even after losing all contact with his daughter and being sentenced to 14 months in prison, BoJack is keeping his head held high and looking forward to the future.
Mr. Peanutbutter (Almost) Fixes The Hollywoo Scandal
In the first season of BoJack Horseman, BoJack drunkenly stole the “D” from the Hollywood sign as a romantic gesture to Diane, who was Mr. Peanutbutter’s girlfriend at the time. Mr. Peanutbutter took the fall for the incident and was praised as a local hero as Hollywood was officially renamed “Hollywoo” for the whole rest of the series.
In the finale, Mr. Peanutbutter tries to rectify this mistake by returning the “D” to the sign. However, there’s a mix-up with the sign people, and they put in a “B” instead, making it “Hollywoob.”
Diane Learned To Trust Her Own Happiness
While she sits on the roof at the wedding reception with BoJack, we learn that Diane has moved to Houston with Guy, who is now her husband. Diane has always grappled with depression and also shares some of BoJack’s self-destructive tendencies.
At one point in the final stretch of episodes, she stopped taking her antidepressants in order to get to a dark enough place to write her memoirs. In “Nice While It Lasted,” she explains that she’s learned to trust her own happiness. It was heartwarming to see Diane in a good place.
BoJack Became Emotionally Balanced
The two most obvious endings for BoJack Horseman would be: a) BoJack’s self-destructive behavior finally kills him, or b) his attempts to become a good person are finally successful and he finds lasting happiness. But, true to form, the series remained unpredictable, while still delivering a satisfying ending.
“Nice While It Lasted” wasn’t necessarily about BoJack finally finding happiness. It was about BoJack becoming more emotionally balanced, which is more important and realistic than simply trying to feel good all the time.