Sorry if this is a stupid question but I genuinely want to find out.
Why does Bojack keep doing bad stuff when he seems (in most cases at least) to not actively want to cause any harm?
Like is it because he never thinks anything through? I had a friend very similar to Bojack, and they kept saying mean shit, but to them it was just “being sincere” and to them it felt like having to filter or think through every single thing they say in order to not be an asshole would take a lot of effort. So maybe it’s like that for Bojack, just automatically doing bad things because he acts on impulses and it’s basically natural to him?
I’d really like to hear what you guys think
A lot of the time is impulsivity but also there’s times where he wanted to do good but ended up backfiring awfully like when they tried to record that Nixon scene or when he tried to get Ed to fly again for example. Or it ends up in a misunderstanding like when he attempted to apologize to Kelsey
Id like to point out that most of the things Bojack does “right” make assumptions about other characters that Bojack has no right to assume.
The Nixon scene he was so sure he could convince whoever he needed to convince (I forget, Turtletaub?) that he ignored being told no and did it anyways, crossing a clear boundary.
Eddie’s flying was a clear trauma issue that Bojack is not qualified to handle (even if he had Eddie’s consent to do so) and was told very clearly that Eddie didn’t fly. It was maybe less invasive because he didn’t directly push Eddie but he put him in a scenario where he would fly, a direct crossing of Eddie’s boundaries
To add to that, Bojack and Sarah Lynn went to see Penny because Bojack wanted to see how she was handling things, not because he wanted to offer any sort of apology or closure to Penny. Same deal with Sarah Lynn going on the bender in the first place, letting Todd stay at his place, etc etc. Bojack has shown a clear pattern of assuming he knows best for everyone else and making the decisions in contradiction to their boundaries