BoJack Horseman

In a valedictory review it’s remiss not to mention the voice performances, each of which has grown with its character. It’s a career-defining role for Arnett, but all the leads have found sensitivity and nuance amid the gags. ... For all its virtuosic experimentation, in its final moments BoJack Horseman reveals a conservative, even Christian, heart in which the world’s hardships are best met with old virtues: kindness, moderation, hope. In 2020, it is a radical thought.

How do you end a series like BoJack Horseman? ... You find a middle ground, a milestone that ties off the story and acts as a pause before it carries itself forward on its own momentum somewhere off the screen. That is the only way BoJack Horseman–perhaps the greatest animated drama series ever created–could have ended, and that’s exactly the way it does.

Episode 15 feels like “BoJack Horseman: The Drama” while the start of Episode 16 feels like “BoJack Horseman: The Sitcom,” and (for once) the blend doesn’t come together as part of the series’ potent and inventive new genre. But it still sticks the landing. ... Balancing its tones, ambitions, and deep respect for its characters, the series emerges an unparalleled original. No more horse than a man, no more man than a horse. It’s both.

This final batch of episodes delivers on all of the surreal contradictions that have made BoJack Horseman great. Despite some rushed pacing, each character’s ending feels earned—and more importantly, the same can be said for the relationships they each choose to have with BoJack going forward.

This series was never just about a single (horse)man. If Mad Men felt like the end of a specific chapter in anti-heroic TV, BoJack Horseman, which debuted less than a year before Mad Men’s finale, serves as the epilogue that officially closes the book. ... BoJack Horseman handles the developments in its long-running Me Too–style story line with the show’s signature mix of thoughtfulness, earned snark, and occasional outright silliness.

We can all find jewels in unexpected places. If you’re open to having a pink talking cat struggle with the grief of miscarriage, or can find emotional depth in a horse with dementia being consoled by her errant son, then you bring to BoJack Horseman what it needs to be appreciated. And it’s worth it.