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.
"If only they had a kiss cam
for Catcher in the Rye."
- J.D. Salinger (Alan Arkin)
BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett) becomes the first person on Mr. Peanutbutter's (Paul F. Tompkins) new game show that makes no sense. He is also playing against Daniel Radcliffe, who doesn't recognize him. Wendy Pierce (Lisa Kudrow) is obsessed with the two screen feature. Todd (Aaron Paul) is obsessed with hair and make-up and isn't allowed in the control room, controlled by J.D. Salinger (Alan Arkin). While there are revelations regarding BoJack's past with Diane Nguyen, the game show goes off without a hitch. Todd steals Salinger's pen when he believes that there's something special about it. The episode ends with BoJack burning the prize money just to spite Radcliffe.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Secondary Character MVP:
J.D. Salinger (Alan Arkin)
I think that this is one that literary fans will go nuts for. While I don't love "Catcher in the Rye," I am interested in how reclusive he came in his later years. To have BoJack Horseman not only bring him back, but turn him into maniacal TV director is inspired. While I don't know how to true to the real Salinger it is, I do come away finding his angst-ridden take on having control to be endlessly funny. I hope that they keep bringing him back in moderation, because the whole NBN story has had a lot of inspired commentaries on modern TV culture.
Best Joke
When Todd seems like he cannot get any more obnoxious to the staff, he is seen reenacting the story of how he came to possess J.D. Salinger's pen. While the story itself is amusing, the riff that follows in which he tells the story to wigs is particularly funny. Todd's lack of importance in this episode is humorous and provides a lot of memorable moments. Still, when he defies all odds by telling Salinger that he can't do anything is probably the highlight to his antics, thus breaking the symbolism of the pen.
Overall Thoughts
I will be honest that this may be one of the few episodes that I felt suffered because of its length. I found the general idea behind the game show to be inspired, but it dragged towards the middle. I love J.D. Salinger controlling every last detail as some maniacal leader. I found the breakdown where they talk about Diane to be kind of pointless. I don't even really like the Daniel Radcliffe cameo. It's a mixed bag of an episode that had potential to be great, but just had too much wackiness for me to really get on board with. It was a good commentary on how TV works condensed into a half hour, but there was also a lot of extra nonsense thrown on I felt to make it an appropriate length. Not the weakest BoJack Horseman episode, but one of the few that feels longer than it is.
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