By James Mellen 

American cartoon “Bojack Horseman” came to an end recently, for many viewers this came with a variety of emotions, but for this viewer, it only came along with opinions and editorials. Bojack Horseman is kind of like a documentary about Bob Saget 20 years after Full House, if Bob Saget was an alcoholic horse who abused women. This article is kind of like me ranting about the ending of the show, and it will include a variety of spoilers. 

As the ending of the show approached I figured there could only be two good endings. The first of these endings would be a tragic ending for Bojack. After six seasons of watching Bojack destroy the lives of people around him, there seemed to be no better ending than an ending where his life is absolutely destroyed. The show could have ended with Bojack wallowing the consequences of his own actions, an even darker shadow of a man (horse?) that he once was.  

This seemed like an ideal ending to me, on one hand if the show ended without Bojack facing any consequences for his actions, then it would end up being about an abusive horse who faces no consequences for his actions can just go through life without facing any hardships just because he is rich and famous. On the other hand, if Bojack had any type of resolve and grew from his actions, then the show becomes a show about second chances, and how even a monster like Bojack can learn to be a better horse. I also deeply dislike this because it gives the show far too of an optimistic look on abusers like Bojack. I do not care if Bojack Horseman has the capability to change, I care that he stops doing things like choking women out on live TV. 

To some extent, I got the ending I wanted, Bojack loses nearly all of his money, and ends up drowning in what used to be his pool. He is then brought back to life and put in prison for trespassing for 14 months. However, in the end of the show Bojack is sitting on the roof with Diane about his future in Holywood. 

The thing about this ending, is that it doesn’t have any level of resolve. The closest thing to resolve we get is Princess Caroline telling Bojack she won’t represent him as an agent. After all of the absolutely terrible things Bojack has done, after Herb, and Sarah Lynn and Penny, all we really know is that he isn’t going to do those things to Princess Caroline anymore. Mind you, this is after Bojack says that he “wasted all of the best years of your [Princess Caroline] life”.  

There isn’t any reason for the audience of Bojack to believe that anything is going to change in the life of Bojack Horseman. Since episode two we have seen Bojack undergo controversy after controversy and come out the other end with a better acting role than the role he had the week before. There is no reason for us to believe that Bojack is going to be forced to change because of the Sarah Lynn controversy, there is only reason for us to believe that Bojack is going to get away with letting Sarah Lynn die after giving her heroin. 

I don’t know if this ending is sad per say, but I do think it is the most cynical and downright sad ending you could possibly give to the end of Bojack Horseman. Especially at a time when so many celebrities have been under pressure for their reprehensible actions. The meaning of Bojack Horseman is that they will get away with it because they are rich and famous.