(This review contains spoilers not only of the episode being reviewed, but of subsequent episodes and seasons as well.)
BoJack Horseman is one of my favourite TV shows of all-time. One of the unforeseen downsides to embarking on this project to review every episode, starting at the beginning, is that I've spent a lot of time denigrating one of my favourite TV shows of all-time - it's a truth self-evident that the early episodes do not do the series justice. That denigration ends here (well, temporarily): "Zoës and Zeldas" is the best episode of season 1's first half, and the first episode that can stand among the better ones of later seasons (though not among the best ones).
There are so many things to love about this episode. Most importantly, the character development ramps up a couple of notches from earlier episodes. We learn a bit about the BoJack-Herb relationship of the past (and about BoJack's reluctance to mention it in the present). We learn a lot about the BoJack-Todd relationship (and exactly which of them is more dependent on the other - which is driven home at the end of season 3 and the beginning of season 4, when it's Todd who manages to break the co-dependency). We see the beginnings of real intimacy between BoJack and Diane. We see Diane continue to become one of the series' most interesting characters, at once its wisest and its least secure in her sense of self - and the weaknesses in her relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter, but also of the strengths (and the episode, comfortable in its ambiguity, does not take a side as to which outweigh the other).
For the first time, we see BoJack's demons battle his better angels and, not for the last time, we see his demons win. For the first time in the series, he takes genuine initiative - both in helping Todd with his rock opera, and then in sabotaging it. BoJack is, objectively speaking, not a good person, and the series doesn't gloss over that fact, but he's human(/horseman) enough for us to still relate to, and cheer for, him.
On the lighter side, this episode would be a success if all it did was introduce Character Actress Margo Martindale. And, to top it all off, it's the funniest episode so far - some of my favourite jokes:
* I had to look up who David Chase and Steven Bochco - the creators of the insipid Mr. Peanutbutter's House - were, but once I did I found that joke pretty funny; I hope Mssrs. Chase and Bochco felt similarly.
* Mr. Peanutbutter guessing "...no?" in response to Wayne's obviously rhetorical "Now, was (Mr. Peanutbutter's House)'s acting ham-fisted and the writing moronic?"
* "You say tom-a-to/tom-ah-to, I say tom-a-to/tom-a-to."
* "Loam? A planet rich with loam?" "Yeah, it's a kind of soil. These people are simple, agricultural types." "On a spaceship?"
* The reveal that Decapathon VII is a Tetris-like puzzler, rather than the gore-fest we were built up to expect.
* "Come on, like you're not going to tear BoJack apart in your book." "I'm not tearing him apart - I'm writing a nuanced portrait of a complicated man!" "Well, then, we might be doing different things."
* And, of course - and perhaps most of all - Mr. Peanutbutter's "I like that guy!" after it's revealed that he was present for Wayne's entire speech about why Diane's relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter is doomed.
Even a joke that falls flat - the flashback to the baby bird getting pushed out of the nest too soon - is a positive sign, precisely because it falls flat. "BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter 1" relies heavily on that sort of Family Guy knock-off, but now, it feels out-of-place, because the series has established a much more impressive identity of its own.
So why, given my effusive praise, doesn't this episode rank as among the series' best? Because the series' best episodes leave us disturbed and heart-broken - at once wanting to re-watch them immediately, and to never re-watch them at all - and this one doesn't. Even so, it's the first episode that feels like the series knows where it wants to go and how it wants to get there: BoJack Horseman has arrived.
*********************
Best animal-based visual gags: a tie between the moths congregating in the spotlight outside the Gloria Steinem roast, and the goat eating a plate inside.
Best running joke: Mr. Peanutbutter, Virgil, and Todd each giving their own version of the "Fool me once..." adage. Honourable mention to BoJack's failure to satisfy Princess Carolyn.
Best cameo by a character from another episode: the flashback at the beginning of the episode includes the crickets who will heckle BoJack in "Let's Find Out", the pelican bartender from Belican's (at least, I assume it's the same one - is it racist that I think that all pelicans look kind of the same?), and the foraging raccoons, but the obvious winner here is Todd's ex-girlfriend Emily. Honourable mention to what might just be Governor Woodchuck Coodchuk-Berkowitz on the cover of a magazine in the 8-Twelve.
Joke that I find it most frustrating that I don't get: Mr. Peanutbutter's concluding a story with "...and that's the last time I worked with David O. Russell." I've done some googling, but I still don't get it.
Best theory that I feel compelled to advance but that doesn't fit neatly into the review: the Beast Buy hippopotamus clerk is named "Henry". The only other hippopotamus character in the series is Hank Hippopopalous. "Hank" is, of course, short for "Henry". We know that Hank Hippopopalous has been wildly popular for many years - one would think that he'd be an icon among hippopotamuses. Conclusion: the Beast Buy clerk was probably named after Hank Hippopopalous.
BoJack Horseman is one of my favourite TV shows of all-time. One of the unforeseen downsides to embarking on this project to review every episode, starting at the beginning, is that I've spent a lot of time denigrating one of my favourite TV shows of all-time - it's a truth self-evident that the early episodes do not do the series justice. That denigration ends here (well, temporarily): "Zoës and Zeldas" is the best episode of season 1's first half, and the first episode that can stand among the better ones of later seasons (though not among the best ones).
There are so many things to love about this episode. Most importantly, the character development ramps up a couple of notches from earlier episodes. We learn a bit about the BoJack-Herb relationship of the past (and about BoJack's reluctance to mention it in the present). We learn a lot about the BoJack-Todd relationship (and exactly which of them is more dependent on the other - which is driven home at the end of season 3 and the beginning of season 4, when it's Todd who manages to break the co-dependency). We see the beginnings of real intimacy between BoJack and Diane. We see Diane continue to become one of the series' most interesting characters, at once its wisest and its least secure in her sense of self - and the weaknesses in her relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter, but also of the strengths (and the episode, comfortable in its ambiguity, does not take a side as to which outweigh the other).
For the first time, we see BoJack's demons battle his better angels and, not for the last time, we see his demons win. For the first time in the series, he takes genuine initiative - both in helping Todd with his rock opera, and then in sabotaging it. BoJack is, objectively speaking, not a good person, and the series doesn't gloss over that fact, but he's human(/horseman) enough for us to still relate to, and cheer for, him.
On the lighter side, this episode would be a success if all it did was introduce Character Actress Margo Martindale. And, to top it all off, it's the funniest episode so far - some of my favourite jokes:
* I had to look up who David Chase and Steven Bochco - the creators of the insipid Mr. Peanutbutter's House - were, but once I did I found that joke pretty funny; I hope Mssrs. Chase and Bochco felt similarly.
* Mr. Peanutbutter guessing "...no?" in response to Wayne's obviously rhetorical "Now, was (Mr. Peanutbutter's House)'s acting ham-fisted and the writing moronic?"
* "You say tom-a-to/tom-ah-to, I say tom-a-to/tom-a-to."
* "Loam? A planet rich with loam?" "Yeah, it's a kind of soil. These people are simple, agricultural types." "On a spaceship?"
* The reveal that Decapathon VII is a Tetris-like puzzler, rather than the gore-fest we were built up to expect.
* "Come on, like you're not going to tear BoJack apart in your book." "I'm not tearing him apart - I'm writing a nuanced portrait of a complicated man!" "Well, then, we might be doing different things."
* And, of course - and perhaps most of all - Mr. Peanutbutter's "I like that guy!" after it's revealed that he was present for Wayne's entire speech about why Diane's relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter is doomed.
Even a joke that falls flat - the flashback to the baby bird getting pushed out of the nest too soon - is a positive sign, precisely because it falls flat. "BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter 1" relies heavily on that sort of Family Guy knock-off, but now, it feels out-of-place, because the series has established a much more impressive identity of its own.
So why, given my effusive praise, doesn't this episode rank as among the series' best? Because the series' best episodes leave us disturbed and heart-broken - at once wanting to re-watch them immediately, and to never re-watch them at all - and this one doesn't. Even so, it's the first episode that feels like the series knows where it wants to go and how it wants to get there: BoJack Horseman has arrived.
*********************
Best animal-based visual gags: a tie between the moths congregating in the spotlight outside the Gloria Steinem roast, and the goat eating a plate inside.
Best running joke: Mr. Peanutbutter, Virgil, and Todd each giving their own version of the "Fool me once..." adage. Honourable mention to BoJack's failure to satisfy Princess Carolyn.
Best cameo by a character from another episode: the flashback at the beginning of the episode includes the crickets who will heckle BoJack in "Let's Find Out", the pelican bartender from Belican's (at least, I assume it's the same one - is it racist that I think that all pelicans look kind of the same?), and the foraging raccoons, but the obvious winner here is Todd's ex-girlfriend Emily. Honourable mention to what might just be Governor Woodchuck Coodchuk-Berkowitz on the cover of a magazine in the 8-Twelve.
Joke that I find it most frustrating that I don't get: Mr. Peanutbutter's concluding a story with "...and that's the last time I worked with David O. Russell." I've done some googling, but I still don't get it.
Best theory that I feel compelled to advance but that doesn't fit neatly into the review: the Beast Buy hippopotamus clerk is named "Henry". The only other hippopotamus character in the series is Hank Hippopopalous. "Hank" is, of course, short for "Henry". We know that Hank Hippopopalous has been wildly popular for many years - one would think that he'd be an icon among hippopotamuses. Conclusion: the Beast Buy clerk was probably named after Hank Hippopopalous.