The season 6 penultimate episode of BoJack Horseman brought back several characters who met their demise during the show’s run. Season 6, episode 15, “The View From Halfway Down” did not disappoint longtime viewers, as it both continued the show’s tradition of saving the season’s most heart-wrenching episode for the penultimate slot, and also found a way to bring back meaningful figures from BoJack Horseman who had died. The near-death-experience or dream sequence (however one chooses to interpret the episode’s events) did leave one question unanswered, however: who is the bird?
“The View From Halfway Down” follows BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett) as he navigates a dinner party at his mother’s house.The episode heavily implies that BoJack is actually experiencing purgatory, and that the events he witnesses are his way of leaving this mortal realm to enter the great unknown. His late mother, Beatrice Horseman (Wendie Malick) is there, appearing in her youth — the first clue that this episode may involve BoJack’s death.
The other characters at the party are all characters who died during BoJack Horseman’s run, including Zach Braff (voiced by himself), who died in the season 4 episode “Underground” — with the exception of a mysterious bird. BoJack arrives with a young Sarah Lynn, who ages throughout the episode. Herb Kazzaz, BoJack’s mentor and friend — who BoJack betrayed — is also present. More unexpected are Crackerjack Sugarman, Beatrice’s older brother who died in the war, and Corduroy Jackson Jackson, a young actor whose death BoJack inadvertently caused. The bird is the only unfamiliar guest at the party.
After entering the house, Beatrice tells BoJack “You got here just in time, BoJack. A bird flew in through the window and we’re having trouble getting her out of the house.” The scene that follows is a classic BoJack Horseman bit in which the anthropomorphic characters act out a scenario that happens in real-life with animals: chasing a bird out of the house. The guests try the typical strategies: throwing blankets, waving cushions around, guiding the bird toward an open window, and even trying to scare her away with a poker. This is no wild bird unable to find a means of egress, however: the highly-intelligent bird is simply playing a game with guests, stopping to giggle and pose. As BoJack chases her around the room, knocking over furniture, the music from Horsin’ Around plays. The comical antics of the two become a bonding moment for the guests, much like a plot from a sitcom. Later in the episode, the bird’s eyes ominously turn white.
The bird’s inclusion in “The View From Halfway Down” has additional symbolic significance in the show as well. There’s an old superstition that a bird flying into one’s home, especially through an open window, foretells death. The superstition has Hollywood connections, which makes the scene perfect for BoJack Horseman: Lucille Ball famously would not allow images of birds in her home or hotel room, claiming that a bird flew into her childhood home on the day her father died (via Snopes). The bird in BoJack Horseman thus serves two purposes: she’s a plot device echoing BoJack’s sitcom days, as well as a sign that his end is near.
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