By Kien-Ling Liem, Editor, Trinity College Student
Fish out of water, season 3, episode 4
*warning: this article contains spoilers.
BoJack Horseman is a Netflix original comedy that aired in 2014. It features a total of 6 seasons and 77 episodes. Drugged up, self-loathing and an overall tortured soul, the show features BoJack Horseman who was a 90s star on a children’s show. The stardom and fame transformed him into a monster, who hates himself yet can’t care enough to fix it. His troubled childhood and trauma contributes to his self-destruction and his tendency to cause havoc with others.
This article will feature ‘Fish out of water’, season 3, episode 4.
This episode is quite literally the pressure of the ocean weighing on BoJack’s guilt. After his hit film Secretariat, he attends an underwater film festival. During his time there, he sees his former colleague Kelsey, who he accidentally fired. In a desperate act to make things right with her, he encounters a long and revealing journey.
In his past, he never fixed the mistakes and relationships with old friends, such as Herb and Charlotte. BoJack getting Kelsey fired was partially his responsibility, yet he never apologised, called or contacted Kelsey. The fact that BoJack is seemingly not able to speak, because of the lack of oxygen underwater, allows him to truthfully show his intentions through purposeful actions, which show that he is actually trying but to no avail. BoJack must adjust to a different culture here but shows no respect to it. He makes several efforts to apologise and contact Kelsey but fails every time.
During his journey, he bears witness to a seahorse giving birth, and accidentally left one of its babies behind, and BoJack is now left to care for it. The baby that was left behind has notable features – it has a similar structure to Harper, the make-believe child of BoJack and Charlotte, the woman he was in love with, but never made a move on. The seahorse symbolises what could’ve been if BoJack had just said something, which is a recurring theme of the episode. Throughout it, BoJack and the seahorse form a connection, all while trying to return it home. The act of returning it home symbolises that the baby was never his and never will be – just an inkling of what could’ve been. At the end of it all, when BoJack returns the baby home, he is even reluctant to. At his house, the door is wide open for BoJack to come in, but he feels as though he doesn’t deserve it. He even refuses money. The seahorse gives up on rewarding him, and BoJack just stands there at an open door. He is welcome, but never goes in – this represents his past relationships. He is always welcome to console, contact, or converse with them, but never does. It's not about what he did do; it’s about what he didn’t.
Image via IMdB
At the end, BoJack closes the door to the house himself, giving a melancholy wave to the baby who doesn’t wave back. This is another representation: he sabotages these relationships himself because he leaves them dormant for so long, and once he sees that they’ve moved on without him, he closes the door to it himself. BoJack writes a final note to Kelsey, apologising for his behaviour, but when he gives it to her, it’s smudged.
At the end of the episode, BoJack finds that he could have in fact spoken the whole time. This is honestly a pretty good metaphor for his repetitive behaviour with closed off relationships: all this time, he could have said something, but either chose not to or didn’t have the awareness to. But even if he could've said something to her, would he have done it? Was the fact that he seemingly could not speak make it easier to apologise to Kelsey?