It’s incredible how many of her comments can apply to both Henrietta and Bojack, and how many of her comments foreshadow the Henrietta/Butterscotch/Hollyhock reveal.

It’s a pleasure to catch them all on rewatches :)

“You stupid waste of my husband’s jizz” is one of my favorites.

Overall, yes! I was just talking about the brief “good” feeling you get after drinking that little Bojack was probably chasing, and that adult Bojack was always chasing.

This would be my easy 4th

It was pink ribbon!

I agree, although that take might be slightly simplified given the consequences of Cracker Jack’s death (Honey’s lobotomy) and knowing the history behind Bojack’s family.

My heart. I noticed he didn’t make a face but didn’t know what to do with it.

I’ve never noticed this! Thank you for sharing :)

There are so many good ones.

I think both Gina and Sarah Lynn’s “Don’t Stop Dancing” performances stick with me because of how layered it is: what Bojack told Sarah Lynn when she was little, Gina’s philosophy towards the show business, and Bojack’s intense desire for positive attention and fame.

From earlier seasons, the entirety of Downer Ending, PC and Ralph’s initial date, the entirety of Best Thing That Ever Happened.

I find it so fascinating that we’re introduced to Penny in a theme song where she’s 1) explicitly labelled a kid and 2) paralleled directly to Sarah Lynn/the other Horsin’ Around kids.

I know it’s also a reflection of Bojack’s mind, and how he sees and processes everything through a TV lens (thinking here of Free Churro), but knowing what happens next… and thinking about how Bojack’s character parallels Kyle…

My main argument:

This is the comment I was looking for. This whole thing is about power and power dynamics, and what happens when you try to expose people in power even if it’s not your “role.”

Mr. PB is looking at the concretes – the death threats, his career, the fact that Diane could have just not.

Diane is looking at the abstracts – power dynamics in Hollywoo, the fact that Hank is a symptom and not a disease, her own womanhood.

I believe the conversation between Mr. PB and Diane could have gone very differently, and I’m thinking here about Sextina Aquafina’s abortion. Diane is pissed the whole episode about Sextina making what she believes to be a joke out of abortion. However, when the young woman in the waiting room explains the power of Sextina, Diane realizes she’s in the wrong, and steps down from her crusade.

Instead, in the convo, Mr. PB immediately went to his career and his idolization of Hank rather than take a page out of Diane’s book and acknowledge the shitty shitty things that he’s actively complicit in.

People have been antagonizing Diane ever since the book tour, and no one is on her side. Bojack takes a lot of convincing and only begrudgingly supports her and PC is only involved for the publicity and shock factor of this piece. When that falls apart, PC ditches.

The media instantly gave her astounding coverage and an immense platform (which is very enticing to Diane, who does seek external validation and sees herself as a moral crusader) without actually giving her a platform. People are arguing that she could have just stepped away, but I think even the editing in the episode (like quick cuts to news clips) shows this thing had an unstoppable momentum, because people love to hate, and that Diane believes herself to be caught up in important moral work.

To say that Mr. PB needed more support than Diane in this instance when he’s already a beloved and privileged show host who can and will bounce back in the industry is to invalidate the complexity of Diane’s moral stance, which is fundamental to who she is.

In response to some other arguments I’ve read:

A lot of the comments I’m reading are like “Well she never needed to be involved in the first place,” but the thing is, that’s not how Diane thinks and her not being involved would be antithetical to her character, which PB fails to see. She saw an opportunity to gain a platform about an important issue, give a voice to Hank’s victims, and yes, perhaps selfishly, prove that she’s a moral warrior.

Another comment mentioned her co-opting another SA survivor’s story, but I don’t think that’s the case. It’s heavily implied that each former assistant was strong-armed into signing an NDA, hence them remaining anonymous, and regardless of whether that’s true, Diane understands the complexity of being a woman and trying to get justice for your SA, even when the man isn’t a beloved, well-established celebrity.

The Me Too movement and Gina’s strangling showed us that Hollywoo encourages women to choose their careers (and, subsequently, silence) over putting themselves on the line, which is, again, an issue with power, how they leverage their influence in the industry (Gina being easy-to-work with and not complaining about gratuitous nudity in Philbert), and the industry’s perspective on women who speak up and on women in general.

Another comment mentioned that “gotcha” journalism does not work. I have two things to say to this:

1. This season came out in 2015, and we’ve had a significant cultural shift since then when it comes to understanding the role of the media cycle when it comes to “exposing” shitty men.

2. The show grapples with this exact topic in Season 5, indicating that Diane had to grow and learn about the failings of gotcha journalism. She tells Bojack that no one will hold him accountable for his actions, and that he has to do that himself. But she didn’t know this season 2, and to condemn her for not knowing that her actions wouldn’t make a difference is to blame her for the plot/growth that hadn’t happened yet.

TL;DR: Diane and Mr. PB fail to communicate, because they are looking at the issue at different levels and Mr. PB’s privilege blinds him to the overarching problems Diane is trying to tackle. Both are flawed and this entire episode is deeply complex, but, as flawed as Diane’s approach was, at least she was trying to do something.

The Bojack scribble would make a great tattoo!

The only thing I’d add is his diamond.

I do feel like it shows some growth and change in Diane because she’s confidently disrupting the party and obviously attempting to leave. Before with Mr. PB, she’d try to blend in and enjoy the party, all the while hating herself for not enjoying the party like everyone else.

I feel like it also shows how tired she is of the shenanigans and people in her life in LA, including Bojack and Mr. PB, but also people like Pickles and Joey Pogo, and the partiers in general.

The overlapping Eddie/Honey song… I get chills every time. It’s so perfectly layered. I love when BJ and Eddie drive past the old gas station, and it’s still broken in the place that Beatrice drove the car into. Ahhhh!

Also, Beatrice became pregnant with Butterscotch’s child and chose Butterscotch over expanding her father’s sugar empire through a marriage to Corbin Creamerman.

I can imagine Joseph seeing BoJack as a bastard/illegitimate child and holding a grudge over Beatrice’s choices, and choosing to stay out of their lives.

100%. I know in the past people have talked about BJ as having borderline personality disorder and ptsd from his childhood, and codependency is common among people with those traits.

He’s also very afraid of being alone.

i have autism and this show has helped me so much as a comfort item.

whenever i start getting stressed or when i’m dealing with a really uncomfortable emotion or situation, i “play” the theme song in my head start to finish and it alleviates some of my anxiety. i like this because i can do it just about anywhere.

i also watch it for comfort, usually when my anxiety is high, because it makes me feel like i can handle my uncomfortable, scary, and intense emotions without running away from them.

idk ab the opinions, but i like how many characters you included in the list!