TV Recap: BoJack Horseman - "Hank After Dark"

Hello and welcome to a TV Recap series about our favorite half man/half horse 90's celebrity BoJack Horseman. Please join as I delve into the second season of the Netflix cartoon that takes on Hollywoo and discover what it takes to be famous while dealing with your deadbeat friends and traumatic past. While there's guaranteed to be hilarity, will there be as much brilliance as the first season? Let's quit Horsin' Around and just get on with it. Come for the recaps, stay for the jokes and dissections of each episode's best moments. It's the right thing to do. So join me every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the latest and greatest.

"We don't torture in America, Todd.
That's called one of the amendments."
- Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins)

Upon going on a book tour, Diane Nguyen (Allison Brie) relays some information regarding Hank Hippopopolous (Philip Baker Hall) and many affairs. This becomes news and Diane fights to get him in trouble. Meanwhile, BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett) tries to make everything about him. Hank denies any allegation and Diane is left a pariah for speaking out. Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) gets his own game show and is excited about it, even with the help of a Cordovia man posing as Todd (Aaron Paul). It is discovered that Todd got involved in some Cordovia politics and has been kidnapped. When BoJack and Diane find him, he is distraught. Hank never falls for his charges, though Mr. Peanutbutter is worried about his wife's safety. Diane decides to go to Cordovia.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Flashback

Following an awards show, BoJack meets Mr. Peanutbutter for the first time. Things go well, even if he is seeing a woman who is not Diane. Things been to get intense when Mr. Peanutbutter meets his hero, who is Hank. He idolizes him and wants nothing but to be more like him. However, the superiority is already in play and Hank admits that there's nobody who can possibly be better than him.

Secondary Character MVP:
Diane Nguyen (Allison Brie)

Poor Diane. After having to deal in the past few weeks with her aging, she has to come to terms with a society that looks down on people who speak out. She wants to put Hank in his place, but all she can do is complain as BoJack is only kind of on her side. She wants to be a hero, but has no outlet, save for a Manatee Fair story that went horribly wrong. With death threats to her name, she is moving out of the country to Cordovia, thus leaving the question on what will happen next totally up for debate. Is this the end of Hank's story? Is there going to be some rapid change for Diane in the episodes ahead? I cannot wait to find out.

Best Joke

In an episode packed with a lot of great biting commentary on news, it is hard to pick just one great moment. However, it is likely going to be the moment where the show takes its sharpest jab. As Diane and BoJack fight over her death threats, Todd appears after being kidnapped only to claim that he may have gotten mixed up with some very dangerous people. While the threat of the world is at hand, everyone is too obsessed with one man's affairs that they don't seem to pay Todd any mind.

Overall Thoughts

Following an episode that featured an awful lot of dark humor, this episode is pretty ambitious and timely. With Hank being a not-so-secret version of Bill Cosby, the story evolves into an interesting story about celebrity worship and just how the news handles these events. It is rich with humor and even goes so far as to explain how celebrity news trumps more important stories through humor. Even if this may not be the most deep episode, it does have some of the best writing in the show's run. With Diane becoming a pariah and Hanks till on the lam, I have trouble seeing this as nothing but a set up for more stories to come. Here's hoping that I'm right.

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