YES omg Hollyhock deserves the WORLD. I hope she and Pete stayed in contact after that ik I’d have questions

She absolutely needs to get away from him, she’s so right to cut off contact w him. I think we don’t talk enough abt the fact that he called her, drunk and high, and told her that if she didn’t call him back, he would kill himself. She went through absolute hell thinking her best friend had died and that it was her fault.

Not to mention he did this right after she put some “healthy distance” between them – she moved to Chicago, and he leverages that against her when he calls. There’s no way for them to have any sort of healthy relationship, bc Bojack has an unhealthy dependency on her, and he’ll always drag her back in if she gives him even the slightest opening.

None of this is saying what I’d do personally, but honestly I’m not a paragon of healthy relationships lol. I’ve had some problems in the past, so now whenever I get even the slightest hint that someone might be dangerous, I cut them off without question. Ik it’s not a good way to be but it’s what makes me feel safe. I think I would’ve cut him off after just a few days of knowing him, while interviewing him for the book. But if I didn’t get there before, I definitely would have cut him off after the end of The Telescope. And if I somehow made it all the way to the end of the show w him, I would IMMEDIATELY stop talking to him after the suicide call.

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

TL;DR: Narratively, it totally makes sense to root for Bojack, bc he’s the protagonist, and we’re led to want things to go well for him, regardless of his actions or what we actually think of him. But if you mean you genuinely root against Paige, I think you’re underestimating the immense role she plays in Bojack’s s6 development and the way she brings out his most significant flaws as a person.

If you mean narratively, sure. It’s pretty natural to automatically root for the protagonist of the work – Bojack expertly wields that against its viewers in all six seasons. I think that’s the point of Paige Sinclair and the way Bojack’s “redemption” plotline plays out.

If the show were called Penny Carson, for instance, Bojack “redeeming” himself and never facing the consequences of his actions would feel terrible before, during, and after the episode. But bc we’ve been w Bojack for five and a half seasons by the time we even meet the reporters, so we’re primed to root for him and against them, even though we know he’s done some awful, unforgivable things. I think we all collectively went “oh NO” during the second interview, even though we know Bojack deserves to be exposed, bc Bojack is the protagonist, and being a protagonist is more important to us than being a hero.

However, if you mean you root against her genuinely – bc she’s “annoying” or whatever (I’ve never gotten this, she’s my absolute favorite character) – then no, that’s not normal. Paige Sinclair is definitely a lot of things, and you can even make some extremely solid arguments against her as a person. For instance, her complete lack of empathy for Bojack’s victims, as evidenced by her willingness to hound Penny abt the most traumatic event of her young life, all in service of her “scoop.” Paige overall is clearly more interested in the excitement of chasing a story than she is in what the story actually is – a somber tale of a man repeatedly taking advantage of younger women and even girls and getting away w it bc he’s a celebrity.

But she is, still, the person who brings Bojack’s abuses to light. And even though she and Bojack never meet face to face, she still breaks his delusions more thoroughly than any other person in the series, except Diane and Hollyhock. She teaches him that the world doesn’t revolve around him, that even if he becomes a better person, he still hasn’t redeemed himself, bc the ppl he’s hurt are still hurt, and always will be. Sarah Lynn is dead, and Penny and Gina will carry the memory of what he did to them for the rest of their lives. He doesn’t get to escape that and live out this cool, hip theater professor fantasy just bc he went to rehab.

And he proves that his change is conditional the moment things get hard again. Princess Carolyn says herself, (paraphrased) “this works, but it’s so precarious.” And in the same episode, Todd rebuts Bojack’s claims that he shouldn’t be held responsible for his actions bc he’s changed: “Are you sure? Because this sounds like Old Bojack.” (Said while Bojack is, once again, yelling abt how persecuted he is when ppl want to hold him accountable for his actions.)

In (I believe) s6e3, Bojack describes rehab as being like “summer camp.” It’s easy, and it feels good, but eventually he’ll have to return to the real world, and it’s much harder to be a good person and stay sober out there. Once Bojack leaves rehab, he actually gets to stay in summer camp for a bit – he lives out this fantasy of turning into a new person, with new clothes, who cares abt and does nice things for the ppl around him, and even puts effort into his relationships. But he can’t keep pretending, forever, that he’s really changed without seeing consequences for his actions, and Paige is the one who really makes him see that.

Wait WHAT I could’ve sworn she was in like. Half the show

B positive!

I had that scene spoiled for me before I saw it, but I showed BJH to my dad after I finished the whole series, so I asked him. This is what he said:

“I hoped Herb would forgive Bojack. Not for Bojack’s sake; for Herb’s. And because I’m somewhat optimistic, I expected Herb to forgive Bojack. After seeing the entire show, I understand why Herb did not. My heart aches for Herb”

I really liked that answer!