I finished bojack a few nights ago and while it did crush me it’s a lot more satisfying of a ending then people would give it credit for, I think people are wrong to assume it’s subversive because it doesn’t give closure, because for the first time in his life bojack looks at peace truly. And I’ll never understand people who think he should of died, what message would the show be sending if bojack took the easy way out and got to kill himself, he’s gotta live with the consequences with his actions and for the first time he fully accepts responsibility, I don’t think people understand that if he was going to die it was on HIS terms, he was going to kill himself and be martyred for it, have it hang around every single person who ever cared about him on their head, but the show said “no he needs to take responsibility and change”. Literally the last convo in the show is about horrible Diane felt after she listened to that voice-mail, and it harkens back to bojack talking about his near death experience at his moms funeral, “won’t they be sorry” was his first thought. Him dying is the worst possible ending for the show. But thats just how I feel
He shouldn’t of died. He also shouldn’t have died.
It’s an ending that condemns suicide as “taking the easy way out” rather than face the consequences of one’s actions. Some people could understand why he’d take that option though, he’s done so much that has hurt so many that he may feel irredeemable except through suicide. But the show is saying that suicide does not redeem a person. Staying alive, letting their dirty laundry air publicly, and facing everyone knowing everything about them, while staying committed to living honestly going forward, is real redemption.
Perhaps the writers were sick of seeing bad characters be “redeemed” or suddenly become sympathetic after dying.
As someone who dealt (and still does, to a lesser extent) with suicidal ideation, I honestly would have found an ending with Bojack commiting suicide waaaay too hopeless and dark.
The message in that case would have been: It doesn’t matter how much you try to change, sometimes it’s not enough, sometimes all you’ll ever be is an useless piece of shit, so you should just kill yourself and be done with it. The world is better without you.
I was sooo fuckin relieved when I saw the last episode and Bojack had not only survived, but managed to re construct his progress in his year on prison, and the show ending on a bittersweet but cautiously optimistic note.
Of all the crazy takes of some people about the show. The “should have ended with look from halfway down” is by far one of the most bizarre for me. That would have ruined the entire show. Most defenses of this are within the realm of “well it’s realistic because it happens in real life” which is a terrible argument because you can use it to defend any bad writing. If a finale is “like real life” just because it’s random, non cathartic, disappointing, and more a sudden stop out of nowhere instead of an actual conclusion then it’s not a good finale.
Honestly I think BoJack is a reflection of life. In real life he would have died. BoJack is never really about what should or should not happen.
I know the argument is that BoJack has to live with consequences of actions. But look at Mathew Perry. For the most part, you ultimately just die and it’s all irrelevant and the world keeps turning.
Should have, or “should’ve” for short, never “should of.”
Have all have the grammar errors I of seen, mixing up “have” and “of” is one have the most annoying.
I love the message is that you can always change and try again, but the consequences of your actions will be there.
In Bojack’s case: years of his refusal to change caused a lot of pain and burden to not only himself, but also the people around him. In the end we see that he lost the close friendship of Todd, PC, and most importantly, Diane. Unfortunately it is true that people are resistant to change until they’ve hit rock bottom enough: I think losing and hurting Diane was the biggest rock bottom for him. I love how the final scene was their last conversation, but it was peaceful and calm.
We don’t know what Bojack will do after the end scene, but we see that life will be different because he won’t have the people that once cared about him that he had hurt along the way to getting here.
I feel the same about the ending of Mad Men. The audience is left with the hope that change is possible, not probable.
Bojack doesn’t deserve the release of death… Death would have left him without having to face any of the consequences of his actions. Life’s a bitch and then you keep living.