Bojack Ending Pattern

I've been re-watching Bojack Horseman this past week (which has only reaffirmed its position as one of my all-time favourite TV shows) and I've noticed a pattern in how each season's ending plays out. While most shows rely solely on the big “season finale” episode, or sometimes a two-parter, Bojack takes full advantage of its nature as a streaming-based show, and delivers an ending spread across the last three episodes of any given series, in what I have come to call the Bojack Ending Pattern (BEP).

Here is how the pattern is played out across the four seasons we have so far. Obvious spoilers ahead.

The first step in the BEP comes in episode ten, when the surface plot-line(s) of the season is resolved, often quite hastily and messily. Bojack and Diane's working relationship is terminated when she finishes her book and he fires her. Bojack breaks up with Wanda and ditches filming on Secretariat. Bojack's Oscar dreams are dashed, and Princess Carolyn calls time on her new business. Hollyhock is taken from Bojack's care, he kicks his mother out of his house, and Diane and Peanutbutter's political battles are won.

Wrapping up these scenarios prior to the true finale is important to the feel of Bojack, as removes a lot of the excess baggage from the story, and gives the upcoming emotional episodes room to breathe. It also give the writers more freedom in terms of characters, settings and style as they move into stage two, The Spectacle.

Episode eleven is always a radical departure from what we've seen so far, and brings a lot of the underlying character drama to the forefront. In season one, we see the tension that has been building between Bojack and Todd finally boil over, and get a lengthy visualisation of Bojack's inner turmoil in a crazy drug trip. Season two features Bojack free of the other main characters, exploring the possibility of a new life with a new family. Season three features Bojack, once again free of interactions with the main cast, going on a drug-fuelled rampage with Sarah Lynn, and trying to confront his past mistakes. Finally, season four gives us an episode focused on Bojack's parents, specifically his mother and her emotional relationships.

All of these episodes also conclude with an emotional gut punch; Bojack pleading for validation from Diane, Bojack irreparably destroying his relationship with Charlotte, the death of Sarah Lynn, and Bojack letting go of his rage towards his mother and leaving her at peace. All of these episodes and endings could easily serve as a season finale in a lesser show, but as Bojack is always quick to remind everyone, real life can't be wrapped up in half an hour, and we are lead into the final part of the BEP, The Closer.

The final episode always features Bojack back in his life after the brief escapism that was The Spectacle, and trying to emotionally grapple with the events of it to varying degrees of success. We see set-ups being made for the next season's story-lines, but nothing heavy enough to constitute a cliffhanger. The final thing we see each season is moment of self-reflection and an insight into Bojack's emotional state. Through out the seasons, we've seen Bojack display a sense of melancholy, determination, spirituality, and now, finally, a glimmer of optimism and contentment.

It's this final moment that really stick in the mind, and gives Bojack a unique structural feel, and it's one that wouldn't land as well without the first two steps in the process backing it up. With season five on its way later this year, it will be interesting to see if the writers continue to employ this clearly-solid strategy, or if they try and play with the formula. I can't wait to find out.

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