One thing i’ve always been confused about, is Bojack said repeatedly no to Penny when she tried to come onto him. And in the room, it didn’t look like they were doing anything when the mother walked in. but he’s repeatedly said he tried to have sex with her. Idk it’s just confusing. maybe i just don’t want to believe bojack would do that, even though he is an asshole. what does everyone else think?
You are correct that bojack never TRIED to have sex with Penny. However, when she tried to have sex with him, he didn’t do anything to stop it. Both actions are equally bad, but they’re two separate actions. He is not a pedophile since he doesn’t actively seek out children (him liking 20-30 year old women while he’s 50+ is a bit racy, but it still isn’t pedophilia). However, Penny was TOO young; the only reason he went along with it was because he was just got his heart broken and was probably suffering the brunt of his many mental illnesses at that time, which made his sense of judgement even more useless than usual. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, children repulse him. So in his mind, he knows he was powerless in the situation and would likely never have stopped if Charlotte hadn’t arrived. The guilt of this warped his view of what happened, so he blames himself for every part of it, even Penny coming onto him, and even though nothing happened. Part of his illnesses cause him to self-sabotage, so instead of seeking help or trying to understand what happened, he just labels himself as an evil person that cant be fixed because it’s easier to process, hence him always saying he tried to have sex with her, which isn’t actually what happened. By extension, in the eyes of the law, “I almost let a teenager have sex with me” is exactly the same as “I tried to have sex with a teenager”; regardless of who came on to who, he is at fault both legally and morally
100% agree