I think one of the worst things Diane ever did, that she never got called out for, was using Penny’s story as a plot point in Philbert, just to rip Bojack a new one. I do understand he needed to be called out since he hadn’t really faced any real consequences for it yet, but making it into a plot point in a show that aired publicly was a shitty thing to do. Yes, the circumstances in that story were slightly different, but on the off-chance Penny or her mother happened to see that, it’s her trauma being aired without her permission. That wasn’t Diane’s story to tell and if she really was that angry about it and so determined to go after Bojack, she should have done it differently. I also hated the reporters who pried so hard into Penny’s story without any regard to how it would affect her, but they were already established as shitty people who didn’t care at all. Diane knew better and still did what she did.
I just got so angry about this and had to vent. I get why it happened, but I still hate that it happened and that no one called her out for it once they all learned about what Bojack did. Not that I can think of a way they would all find out it was her that made that plot point in the script, aside from maybe PC or Bojack connecting the dots since they were there for it.
Vikkiislost Srant
Yeah if she was bothered by it then talk to BoJack himself, also Anna still holding on to that tape was hella shady
I thought of it as unethical, but she’d consider it a breach of more than just ethics, but core friendship/trust, that he didn’t tell her about what happened in New Mexico. The fact that it was something involving an underage girl but he didn’t tell her about it, made it seem like he was covering up more than what actually happened. If I thought my friend had molested a girl, I’d be tripping like she was, you know? I get why she wasn’t thinking clearly or making the most “professional” of decisions.
I also notice that anger is the main motivator for Diane to write. She gets writer’s block unless something or someone pisses her off, then she gets manic about “exposing the truth”. Then depression comes after when the truth gets exposed and nothing changes, especially not drastically or overnight. Suddenly all that “consciousness raising” you thought was powerful was just blowing hot air…
She learns how to write when she’s happy, about happy subjects, and that’s part of her breaking free of her addiction to negativity.
I disagree with the first part, it’s not a betrayal of trust to not tell someone every detail of your life. It was undoubtedly a horrible moment in Bojack’s life, if he didn’t want to talk about it it’s his right not to. It’s not like he made a promise to tell Diane every single thing that happens to him.
I mean, it was a horrible moment in BoJack’s life because he tried to do a horrible thing. Let’s not “oh poor baby” him here when his horrible moment was the consequence of his actions. No, you are not obligated to tell your friends every moment of your life, but your motivations for doing so absolutely say a lot about you. He didn’t want to tell her, or anyone else, because he felt guilty and knew it would change the way people saw him. Not just because it was a traumatic moment.
I think people don’t understand nuance here. Saying BoJack was wrong doesn’t mean I think Diane handled the situation right. All I’m saying is, I would absolutely drop a friendship with a person who’d attempted to have sex with a minor in their fifties. And them choosing not to tell me would cement to me that they knew it was wrong.
I’d argue there’s a difference between my friend not telling me they tried to sleep with a 17 y/o as someone in their 40s and a friend not telling me they had toast for breakfast.
Also regret from doing something bad and trauma from being the victim of something bad are entirely different things. Regret is still painful but it doesn’t absolve you of your actions.
She didn’t tell Penny’s story, though. She told Bojack’s story. It was his words and his perspective. Diane had no idea who Penny even was, so I don’t think it’s accurate to say she “used her story.” It’s a lot easier to judge her actions when you have the full context and see first-hand what happened but that’s something she lacked. All she knew was that it sounded scummy, and that it illuminated negative aspects of his character.
Diane gets so much hate from dumbasses just for being a woman that a sizeable part of the fandom simply convinced itself that she never did anything wrong because they agree with her stance in most issues and/or they identify with her. All the main cast are flawed individuals and did a fair amount of questionable things throughout the show regardless of how much one might like them individually.
Yeah I do wish she had some sort of consequence to that. Like imagine penny contacting the show and linking it to her. Would’ve been a great confrontation. Diane would’ve realized how bojack sometimes makes her react without care for what happens to others. But I agree that’s as such an asshole thing to not even feel bad about after
I kept hoping, during the episode where Bojack tells them about every bad thing he did, that when he spoke about Penny that Diane would have at least a brief moment of “oh shit…” but it just never happened.
Christ almighty can y’all STOPPPPP
I find it weird that they don’t call her out at some point (or show her feeling bad about irtexplicitly). Also the book thing was kinda shitty, to not tell Bojack beforehand that it wasn’t gonna be his POV. I still love Diane and these things only make her more real but I think they should have adressed it.
feels like everyone watched that one bojack yt analysis n r js rephrasin his observations
While I do agree that it was shitty to use someone else’s trauma for her purpose, but she also did it in the heat of the moment while she was angry with him. You can’t really say she should have done it differently if she did it in the heat of the moment. Diane did a lot of things she regrets in the of the moment and wouldn’t be surprised if this was one too.
Also, the argument that it could bring up past trauma for that family doesn’t really ring true. Would that family be watching a TV show with Bojack Horseman in it? Just seeing him on screen would bring up that trauma, no stories necessary. It’s not like they’d be watching the show, forgetting about all that until that scene came up.
OMG YES I was wondering if anyone else had been bothered by this! Penny deserves so much better I want a sequel show where Penny gets everything in the world ever
Diane is a pit of contractions
The pattern of Diane is interesting.
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she publishes “the full truth” about Bojack (Bojack is celebrated and it validates it’s ok to be a careless asshole to him & others)
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has a full rage tantrum about her family in Boston!
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rages about her surprise party
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she gets caught up in the Hank Hippopotamus drama because of the need to expose the truth (She gets shit on publically/called out by Bojack and Mr. Peanutbutter & nothing changes.)
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she goes to Cordovia, learns that dude is a narcissist, kids are dying, she has no power to change it. She DOESN’T CALL IT OUT but goes deeply into a depression. (Repressed anger can do that)
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Abortion thing with Sextina disturbs her, she tries to be quiet, go along with it… Eats her anger about the music video & does the job …
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gets a job blogging at Croosh about things in LA that make her angry
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5 fights with Mr. PB
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Trys to find the truth about the dead whale
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writes that piece on Philbert out of ‘anger and exposing the truth’
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actually gets mad at Bojack to his face at the Premiere
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started video blogging at Croosh with Guy (who listens and believes her!!!)
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Guy actually listens to her, believes her, treats her opinions with respect… This changes things for her…
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Attempts to expose White Whale - learns murder is legal…
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She fully walks away from Bojack when she learns the truth about Sara-Lynn
Diane’s Anger is almost entirely about not being heard/People in power taking advantage of people with less power/ people lying and covering up terrible and shitty things and her powerlessness to change any of it. She goes between rage/depression, trying to be actively changing things and understanding she can’t change things.
It’s actually a very good intention, but she has no idea how to deal with it.
Getting away from fucked up people who don’t listen/care/think lying is ok was the answer. She is powerless to change those people. They won’t hear her. Putting the focus on people who will listen was a good resolution to her anger issues with that.
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Diane makes everything about herself. She is totally self-absorbed, and never really gives consideration to anyone else’s feelings or experiences. That’s established from the very beginning, when she’s hired to ghost write someone’s autobiography, but instead writes a book all about her experiences with that person and puts her own name on it. And then leaks part of the book to spite him for calling her out on not doing what she was hired to do.
So of course, when she hears about what Bojack did to Penny her reaction was not “how could you do that to her?!” it was “how could you do that to me?!” And she proceeds to yet again use the access provided by her position as a writer for spiteful purposes. What happened to Penny meant nothing to Diane beyond how she wound up looking like a hypocrite for supporting someone who would do what Bojack did, after all her self-righteous and judgmental posturing. That’s why she felt “betrayed” by him.
It never even occurred to her, when she sat down to write that scene to lash out at Bojack, that she was exploiting a vulnerable young woman’s trauma for spite. That is a truly repugnant and disturbing display of main-character syndrome. And she hasn’t changed much by the end of the series.
A lot of people wanna say that bojack didnt face any consequences for what he did to penny (aside from what the reporters and diane did) but as a victim of something similar, i feel like its better left dead and not talked about…penny was flipping out thinking people knew, and its understandable because who wouldnt want to just forget it and pretend nothing happened. I personally like that option, not doing anything about it because i really just want that moment to disappear. What would be accomplished in “justice” for that story to be made public of all things?? Penny gets justice in what way?? He gets shamed and now everyone can look at her as the poor victim? Of course she’s having anxiety attacks!
Honestly, I don’t think there was any kind of good justice he could’ve faced because he didn’t break the law with her meaning it’s not like they could have had him arrested or pressed charges for it (though he definitely should have gotten his ass thrown in jail for giving her friend booze). It’s a shitty situation where the best that could happen is that he gets publicly outed and shamed, but it comes at the cost of her story also getting spread. If that’s something she wanted, then that’s fine. But since it was all rapidly happening without her consent, that’s awful. I can’t even begin to imagine having reporters show up at both my workplace and my home to dig into a past trauma so callously. At the very least, she should have had control over whether or not people got to know about it.
IMO this sounds parallel to a Gina situation. She was put in a vulnerable position with BoJack and ended up hurt/straight up assaulted.
Gina tells no one the truth bc she doesn’t want to just be known as the woman who was attacked by BoJack. She wants to be famous and be known, but for her acting.
Penny doesn’t want anyone to know about her experience with BoJack either (at least initially). Both their privacies should be respected. Diane didn’t just violate Penny’s privacy, she spat on it and ran over it.
But imo it’s really, really SHADY that Diane’s wrongdoings are brushed off by fans. Diane can do no wrong in the eyes of the fans, and when there’s a legitimate argument to call her out on her BS, fans sum it up as “misogynistic”. It gets tiring.