When Hollyhock says “I love you” to Bojack in the 9th Episode of Season 5, called ‘Ancient History,’ why doesn’t he say it back? It’s the first time someone has said it to him and truly, truly meant it! and he does love her back (not by idealistic brother-sister standards, but by Bojack standards) Just something that occurred to me as this is my first watch. What do y’all think?
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Love you.
!
No I don’t.
The answer is in your very post. Bojack was never sincerely told “I love you” during his formative years. On the contrary, Butterscotch and specially Beatrice basically taught him to hate himself.
Add that to all of Bojack’s friendships and romances either falling apart or being dysfunctional, and the result is that Bojack doesn’t know how to properly “love” someone, and neither does he know how to allow others to love him.
Deep down he doesn’t think he is worthy of love thanks to his parents, and subconsciously self sabotages in order to fulfill that idea on a self fulfilling prophecy kind of way.
He never says ‘I love you’ really to anyone (except Wanda).
Bojack cannot express himself to family and I think it is a tall order to get him to admit he loves Hollyhock because of his upbringing. He comes by his dysfunction honestly.
That little “hm” sound he made and the way he awkwardly looked to the side is the equivalent of saying “I love you more than you’ll ever know and you make everything better just by existing,” he just literally cannot make himself say it.
Because he’s afraid of saying it.
He is possibly afraid he will hurt her if he gets close
last person he said “i love you” to was sarah lynn. he never said it again after that
Oof never thought of that, good call if true.
He feels too uncomfortable expressing his feelings, he wants to say it but can’t, it’s too uncomfortable. Source: it’s a thing if you didn’t say it growing up
Yeah, we never said “I love you” growing up, and it’s so hard for me to say it now to family and friends. It just does not come naturally, so it feels weird.
This. Depending on how you’re raised, it can be nearly impossible. And we know what a trainwreck BJ’s childhood was. It’s so difficult for so many reasons, from worthiness to feeling silly to just lack of practice. It’s awful, and one of the many realistic things about his character.
Since too many people in this sub can relate to BJ, and I have a minute to kill, I’ll threadjack for anyone struggling similar:
It’s hard, but it is possible to overcome - ya just gotta start practicing. “It gets easier, but you gotta do it every day,” you might say.
I had similar hesitations / reluctance / self-doubt / “yeah, but do I love them?” dumb mental arithmetic / damage, then a random friend of a friend at a party casually said it to me as they were leaving. That shock (and it was a shock) started a years-long journey down a path towards a lot of changes for the better. I STRONGLY encourage telling your friends you love them. It’s true. Just because you didn’t grow up feeling and/or hearing it, that doesn’t mean you can’t start expressing it now. The more you practice, the easier and better it feels… it’s scary, but worth it.
And the fun thing is, it really does get easier and easier and helps people in your circle, too. You never know when someone REALLY needs to hear it, so why not remind them? I owe that friend of a friend a lot. Try it. It really does help.
Tell your friends you love them. Believe them when they say the same. For some of us, both of those are easier said than done, but it’s worth working on.
Hell, that would make a pretty awesome reboot standalone season catching up a few years down the line, come to think of it. Call me, BJ writers!
Cause he dont.
Oh snap.
I love you, no I don’t!
Princess Carolyn doesn’t say it back to Judah when he says it to her, which caught me more off guard tbh
In that case it felt less like she was hesitating and more like she was still processing it, maybe even drinking it in. After all that was an outright love confession.
BoJack is going to say I love you back? Good one! You should write for shouts and murmurs
As someone whom has trouble expressing their feelings, I find it very very difficult to say ‘I love you’ to my friends, my parents, even my sister. It’s something that I’ve always felt and wherever it stems from, it has a powerful hold on me. I think it’s the same for Bojack.
He’s emotionally constipated.