BoJack Horseman

So far in my life, I have failed to give anyone a decent description of the concept behind BoJack Horseman; everyone claims it doesn't make any sense.  And now that the fourth series has snuck into Netflix, I will be repeating that failure in this blog.

Imagine a world where some people are animals.  Most things about this world are the same as ours.  There are humans and they have lives.  But in their lives are other people who are dogs or cats or horses.  BoJack is one of these horses.  And, because some animals behave in certain ways (fish live in water, dogs bark at vacuum cleaners, flies fly) so too do these characters.

If you're not thinking "Wait, what?!" by this point, in the appropriate southern Californian accent of course, then read on.  Our hero is a washed-up actor whose 90s sitcom projected him into the big time, only for his ego and insecurities to drive him into has-been status.  Yet we root for BoJack, as he embodies our own fragile sense of value, and laziness about most things.

The stellar voice cast alone should be an indicator of the show's quality.  Unlike adult cartoons where everything must end as it began, the characters' stories intertwine and move on.  And adult this is, with drug binges and overdoses featuring, not to mention the strange need throughout to imagine how all these different animals have sex in a world where interspecies dating is perfectly acceptable (but that might just be me).

While the animation takes a while to get used to, as it's not that pretty, and the pace of the script can seem relentless, as gags are packed in at a mile a minute, it's the subtle and not-so-subtle touches to the flashbacks that I always remember.  Sure, the 90s heyday of Horsin' Around (the cheesy sitcom where BoJack plays a horse that takes in three orphans) is lampooned.  But even 2007 is exposed for the load of old tosh it really was.  The most cunning stroke every time is the sarcastic soundtrack especially produced for each period.  Listen out for it and ask yourself if this is the first time you’ve ever noticed the lyrics to songs used in TV and that they have secretly been trolling you all along.

I've read this back, then, and it still makes no sense.  Rest assured I have done the programme no justice.  But trust me, it's worth watching.