Bojack Horseman is the best show I have seen since Breaking Bad. This means it is the second-best show I have ever seen. Not for its comedy - for its hard-hitting, no-holds-barred critique on human existence.
(Only two seasons have been released and it is both possible and likely that the show will soon move toward a more redemptive arc. I'm speaking only on what I have seen.)
As I said, Bojack Horseman starts as a fairly straightforward Futurama or Family Guy-style animated comedy with an interesting premise. Bojack, the titular main character, is attempting to regain his glory days of fame by hiring a ghost writer (Diane) to write a book about him. Around halfway through the first season, though, the show begins to turn. it evolves into a deep, deep character study on Bojack himself. We see behind who he is - a character that begins as a selfish, self-absorbed narcissist, the likes of which we have seen portrayed on television hundreds of times, begins to betray what lies behind his exterior. Bojack is chronically unhappy, begging (both implicitly and explicitly) for someone, anyone, to prove to him he is worthwhile - to validate him. Throughout both seasons he is constantly seeking validation from other people. We see him seeking it from his mother as a child in flashbacks, from Diane in spending time with her as she is writing his book, from his agent, the director of a movie he stars in, an old friend he crosses state lines to see after 30 years - the list goes on and on. And herein lies the brilliance of Bojack Horseman.
Other people are incapable of providing that validation. They can't. In one of the final episodes of the first season Bojack literally begs Diane to tell him he is a good person and she can't. This scene is the tip of the iceberg. The first season finale ends with a brilliant scene:
Bojack: "I really wanted you to like me, Diane."
Diane: "I know."
No further discussion. It's the hardest-hitting example at this point on the show that Bojack cannot have the validation he so craves. But perhaps it is because he is such a terrible person, so self-absorbed that he can't. The show provides other examples.
Diane receives validation from her husband, Mr. Peanut Butter (a dog character - I know, bear with me), but she still feels empty because she doesn't seek validation from others for who she is but what she does. She is incapable of living up to her own expectations and no one can validate the person she wants to be.
Bojack's agent, Princess Carolyn (a cat, again, I know, these names are crazy), seeks validation from a number of coworkers and friends, culminating in a brief instant where she feels she has it from a coworker, only to have it snatched away by his own selfishness.
Bojack seems to be aware of his own faults, and pushes the two people who validate him (Mr. Peanut Butter and his roommate, Todd) away continuously. He doesn't like their personalities, but at the end of the day, he really feels they are better than him and thus can't accept their praise. Bojack needs someone to praise him from beneath him, even if he won't admit it. These two characters, by the way, are the only remotely happy ones on the show. It's only coincidental that they are the comic relief, the jokes that take us out of the blinding, gritty truth of the show. Todd and Mr. Peanut Butter, at the core of them, have realized and accepted that people cannot validate them. They see the flaws in people and themselves, but unlike the other characters, they move forward with them, in the belief that life is imperfect and it is what you make of it. A beautiful scene occurs late in the second season when Mr. Peanut Butter has the opportunity to be (absolutely justifiably) angry with Diane. But he forgives her. He has established earlier that he knows her flaws and her seeking validation and he still loves her. He moves on without a second thought. Todd, in a similar fashion, forgives Bojack and constantly sees the good in him.
Bojack Horseman is so, so brilliant because is isn't afraid to tell the truth about being human. We want other people to validate us, to tell us we are good, we've done well, that we are okay. The thing is, they can't. Whether it's because they are too caught up in their own lives to give thought to others (like Bojack) or because they can't speak to you the way you want to be spoken to (like Diane), people can't give other people what they want. Even when praise is received, it's fleeting and never fits the bill like we imagined.
I don't want to spoil too much, but Bojack is a destructive force, especially in the second season. His quest for significance knows no bounds. And this is where I stake my claim that the show is the best show I've seen since Breaking Bad. The two shows are similar in a few ways, but mainly this: the main character in each is desperately seeking something to prove his worth to himself and his seeking of this destroys himself and everyone around him. Bojack might be a little easier to relate to, I think. As much as we might struggle with ego, I don't think many of us can imagine becoming a meth kingpin like Walter White. But we can all related to asking someone to tell us things about ourselves to quiet that voice within us that tells us we aren't good enough. How many of us have complimented a friend or significant other in an attempt to get them to compliment us back? How many of us have pursued a long-lost friendship or relationship beyond the point of logical continuation because of the feelings it once gave us (or we imagined it gave us)?
Watching Bojack Horseman as a Christian, I see it only gives half of the story. It's the razing of the stronghold, the demolition of the old foundation, the breaking apart of the hard, lifeless seed. We can't give each other what we want. The best marriage can't make the people within it feel ok with themselves in the deepest parts of their souls. Even the redeemable characters I mentioned in Bojack Horseman, even the ones that accept the ineptitude of those around them, do it with a tangible, if not overwhelming, sadness, as if they are inwardly asking: "Is this really it?" They do a good job convincing themselves that it is and that's ok, but the question remains for another time. Bojack Horseman lays bare an ugly truth about people and asks openly: "Is this it?"
No. No, not in a million years is this it.
Bojack Horseman points to the need for the Gospel in our lives better than anything I have seen in recent memory. It proves our inadequacies as people in areas only Christ can reach into and speak to. We can't validate ourselves - Christ can. We can't speak to ourselves how we want or need to be spoken to - Christ can. We can't see ourselves as worthy of the love we receive: Christ can. And He does. Every. Single. Day.
See, we're all Bojack Horseman. We're all in this looking for the thing or the person we think will satisfy us, will prove to the world and ourselves that we are good enough. But that thing, that person, does not exist on this earth where we are looking for it. We must turn our gaze upward, break down the strongholds, and realize that God sent His Son into the midst of the ugly truth to provide a beautiful truth.
We can't validate ourselves.
Christ can validate us. He is the only One who can.
"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God." - 1 Corinthians 4:3-5
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