The critically-acclaimed Netflix series BoJack Horseman has come to an end — however, it’s not the ending the show has been hinting at since its very beginning. BoJack Horseman has long foreshadowed that its titular horse protagonist would drown in his pool: the title sequence ends with BoJack floating in his pool, offering audiences his perspective of shocked bystanders looking on in horror; in BoJack’s office hangs a horse version of the iconic David Hockney’s painting, “Pool With Two Figures”; and in season 3, BoJack’s brief girlfriend Ana Spanakopita tells him an ominous story about drowning. The expectation for season 6 was that it would end with BoJack finally fulfilling this prediction.
In many ways, season 6, episode 15 ,“The View From Halfway Down” completed BoJack’s expected character trajectory. The episode sees BoJack at a dinner party surrounded by characters who died during the show’s run. Like the other penultimate BoJack Horseman episodes, “The View From Halfway Down” is the season’s most heart-wrenching, as it forces BoJack to confront some ugly truths about his relationships with friends and family. It’s no coincidence that Sarah Lynn arrives at the dinner party as a child, gradually aging throughout the episode’s events until she makes her exit: this is a harsh reminder that BoJack is responsible for her tragic journey, having brought her into the world of “Hollywoo,” and then dragging her along for a self-destructive bender that ended with Sarah Lynn’s death.
From the first moments of “The View From Halfway Down,” viewers recognize that this episode is some sort of dream sequence; however, the presence of dead characters, the foreboding black dripping only BoJack seems to notice, and the bright light at the end of the hallway, all suggest to viewers that this may be more than just another BoJack drug-induced hallucination.
As the dinner party continues, there are further clues that BoJack has indeed drowned, following his downward spiral in episode 14, “Angela.” In addition to the most obvious clue — that everyone at the party is deceased, including Crackerjack, whom BoJack never met — there are a few more subtle indications. A bird flying into a house is an omen foretelling death, for example. As well, all the characters are seen eating their final meal: Crackerjack, his military rations, and Beatrice, hospital food. BoJack, fittingly, is served a plate full of pills and water that tastes like chlorine.
Eventually, the episode does confirm that BoJack is indeed dying. The dinner party is heavily hinted to be a sort of purgatory. He is presented with a door through which to exit, being told by Herb Kazzaz nothingness awaits him on the other side. BoJack tries to flee from the abyss, but it spills forth from the doorframe as a menacing black goo, eventually overtaking BoJack —and the entire screen. As the credits roll, the sound of a flatlining heart monitor rings out, verifying once and for all that yes, BoJack is dead.
After what feels like an impossibly long time, the flatline turns into a steady beat, signalling to the audience that while BoJack did die, he is back among the living. The final episode BoJack Horseman is not a funeral, but rather a finale fitting the character: he is not forgiven for his misdeeds — at least not yet — but to his credit, he is doing his time and trying to better himself. The finale gives viewers the opportunity to see BoJack Horseman’s various characters get their respective happy endings in a responsible, as well as believable, manner. Thus, BoJack Horseman fulfilled its promise of BoJack drowning, but thankfully, that wasn’t the end of his story.
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