Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!
I don’t cringe. There is nothing that makes me Fremdschämen. I have BoJack Horseman for that. He is the disgraced hero (or anti-hero) of his own story, a too rich, but mostly jobless actor in Hollywoo (yes, the d is missing for a reason). His behavior is a disgrace, he is a bumbling idiot, a bad friend and a hapless womanizer. His ex is a pink cat. Yes, you will see them having sex in the pilot. A horse and a cat. If you don’t cringe while watching that series, you never will. It’s a test.
Having said that, the series is chock-full of jokes, puns and asides, not to mention the visual humor. Blink and you’ll miss one of those. (Example: the magazine is called Manatee Fair. I love Christine Baranski, really, I do.) I like that the series goes all out: if it is sad, it wallows in its sadness. There is no holding back for BoJack when he insults Todd – and he insults him more than once in every episode. And the series is clear on its take on guest cameos: if the actor in question declines to voice his or her own character, that character will die in the series. Yes, I am looking at you, Daniel Radcliffe. And you, Andrew Garfield. On the other hand, kudos to you, character actress Margo Martindale.
The irony of the series is that I want BoJack to be happy, whether that is in a loving relationship with Diane or not. I want him to be right – he often is, but nobody will ever listen to him when he speaks the truth. Did Carolyn ever listen when BoJack told her her new boyfriend was three kids in a raincoat? See?
Did you cringe yet?
I don’t want to despise Mr Peanutbutter, but he is so goddamn chirpy all the time, the direct counterpart of BoJack, although their biographies are frighteningly similar – acting, earning, courting Diane. Of course, Diane is too good and too sexy for either of them. That is part of the series’ point. It is more interested in failures and mismatches than in actual progress or even contentment. There is no guessing where the series is going in the next five minutes because it is so determinedly whacky that it doesn’t know itself where it is going.
And BoJack’s self-finding trips are mostly short-lived – if they go on for a little bit longer, his ruined childhood will catch up with him and bring him back to his egocentric, destructive ways. Let’s be frank: BoJack is a cliché, a walking amassment of “I can’t help it, I was made that way”, but hell, is it interesting to watch him possibly ruin his relationships, his career, his friendships, maybe his whole life. If your main issue with the series is that horses can’t puke, then this gem is not for you.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 
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