issue 31 // volume 41

arts // no. 9

The horseman with a heart of copper returns to Netflix

» ‘BoJack Horseman’ season two review

Alex Stanton
Staff Writer

OOOO

ost of what makes Bofack

Horseman such a brilliant
show comes from its strict
adherence to continuity. It goes
without saying that watching the
episodes out of order will make
for a messy viewing experience.
Anyone who hasn’t watched the
debut season shouldn't even
attempt season two.

Slight spoilers may follow!

From start to finish, the
show itself—its second season in
particular—earns itself a place in
the pantheon of animation. It can
be considered the first animated
comedy-drama, a skewering satire
of Hollywood show business as it
is in the 2010s so hilariously dark
that no light can escape it.

Simultaneously hilarious and
heartbreaking, BoJack Horseman
represents a serious upgrade in
the realm of adult animation,
comparable to the creation of
the genre in the 1970s with Ralph
Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat and the late-
"gos pop culture supernova South
Park.

Back in the ’gos, BoJack
Horseman (flawlessly voiced by
Will Arnett) was on a famous
TV show called Horsin’ Around,

a sitcom starring BoJack as the
titular horse who ends up the sole
caregiver to three little orphans.
As is the fate of most television
programs though, eventually
Horsin’ Around was cancelled.

BoJack Horseman picks
up 20 years later and follows a
depressed, over-the-hill BoJack.

: He putters along, reluctantly

: surrounded by roommate and

: de facto human best friend

: Todd Chavez (Breaking Bad

: co-star Aaron Paul in his voice

: acting debut), feline talent agent
: Princess Caroline (Amy Sedaris), :
: ghostwriter Diane Nguyen (Alison :
: Brie), and BoJack’s frenemy/fellow :
: ’gos sitcom star Mr. Peanutbutter :
: (Paul F. Tompkins)—a yellow lab
: who's high-energy to the point

: of annoyance, but downright

: impossible to dislike.

BoJack Horseman derives

: agood chunk of its humour

: from the pun-like, stereotypical :
: behaviour of the anthropomorphic :
: animals that co-exist with humans :
: in BoJack’s world. Considering

: they’re merely short puns, they

: surprisingly always manage to at
: least make me crack a smile.

That’s not to say the show

: is only cheap gags. The wit and

: overall sophistication of the

: humour makes the output of Seth
: MacFarlane seem more like Max

: & Ruby in comparison. Very rarely :
: do jokes miss the mark in this

: show, bringing you the brightest
: and darkest moments of BoJack’s
: life in the same two-minute

: period.

Like the first season, Bofack

: Horseman is incredibly topical.

: One episode explores the Bill

: Cosby allegations through an

: aged comedian, idolized by both

: BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter,

: who is accused of a serious crime
: by multiple women. In what I

: consider to be an incredibly smart
: move, the nature of the crimes is

: left entirely ambiguous.

It’s a good thing the humour

: hits the mark because when
: the show gets dark, it gets really

 

: dark. BoJack starts the second

: season ina slightly better place

: than where he was at the end

: of the first season, with filming

: on his comeback vehicle—a

: biopic of famous racehorse

: Secretariat—well underway,

: his dream seemingly achieved.

: But BoJack, self-centred as he

: is, ends up wrecking perfectly

: normal situations and perfectly

: good relationships with the kind
: of people he needs in his life,

: consistently burning the kind of
: bridges that can lead him out of
: his fog of depression and the self-
: loathing that comes with it.

This deep exploration of

: poor, unsympathetic BoJack and

: his flawed character make for

: some heart-wrenching drama.

: The season one episodes “Downer
: Ending” and “The Telescope,” two
: of the most tear-jerking episodes

: two above its predecessor is the
: huge number of guest stars who
: contribute their voices. Stanley
: Tucci, J.K. Simmons, and Olivia
: Wilde all return in recurring

: roles, voicing characters crucial
: to the plot of season two. Ed

: Helms, Ricky Gervais, and Amy
: Schumer have one-episode

: roles, and many celebrities

: suchas Daniel Radcliffe, Paul

: McCartney, and character-actress
: Margo Martindale guest star as

: themselves.

guest actors, among the most

: unexpected of them being

: Breaking Bad/Star Wars director
: Rian Johnson, put in their

: A-game. The most notable and

ever animated, pale in comparison

: to certain moments in the last half :
: of season two.

Something that puts season

Even the more obscure

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praiseworthy guest star by far is
Lisa Kudrow. The Friends alum

: does fantastic work as an owl
: named Wanda, BoJack’s equally
: flawed love interest for season two.

You'll laugh, you'll cry,

: and you'll stare at your screen

: transfixed, watching the slow-

: motion train wreck— punctuated
: by the occasional redeeming

: moment—that is the Kafkaesque
: life of BoJack Horseman. An

: incredibly realistic portrait of

: depression and Hollywood

: absurdity. No other cartoon has

: gone so far out of its way to make
: you care about these incredibly

: flawed, realistic characters.

At this time, Netflix has

: renewed BoJack Horseman for a

: third season that is set to air in

: 2016. The people have spoken and
: BoJack Horseman is animation at
: its absolute finest.

 

Comic Corner: Fan fiction gets emotional

» ‘Daredevil Legends Vol 1. Daredevil: Yellow’ review

   

Brittney MacDonald
me Life & Style Editor

mB Mlifeandstyle
@theotherpress.ca

00000

D aredevil has seen a boost

in popularity as of late,
thanks to the overall positive
response to the Netflix original
series. Whereas the online
series is successful in portraying
the duality of Daredevil—the
angsty vigilante versus the good-
natured lawyer—this graphic
novel adaptation by Jeph Loeb

Yellow is Loeb’s retelling
of Daredevil’s origin story,
told through a framing device
of Matthew Murdock writing

: a letter to his first love Karen

: Page. This is typical for the

: Loeb/Sale Colour series, which
: includes Hulk: Gray and Spider-
: Man: Blue. The story recounts

Matthew’s childhood accident
which leads to his blindness,
his father’s murder, and his rise
to vigilantism, but its focus is

: on Matthew’s relationship with
: Karen.

Where this graphic novel

: falls apart is in the narrative. In

: Yellow, so much focus is placed

: on developing the emotional

: story that the action is treated

: as an afterthought. It felt as if

: Loeb was attempting to re-create

: Daredevil as the Marvel version
and Tim Sale is a little lacklustre. :

of Batman, which just doesn’t

: work. Though the two characters
: parallel each other in a lot of
: ways, their moral cores (the most

: fundamental part of developing
: asuperhero character) are
: radically different.

I’m also not a huge fan of

: the art. The first single issue for
: this series was published in 2001,
: yet the art looks as if it’s from

: the igsos. I think it’s a missed

: opportunity on Sale’s part. The
: bright, clean pages seem to be

: in complete opposition to the

: darker, more emotional tone

: Loeb is attempting to achieve.

: It makes the series come off as

: disjointed.

Due to the issues with both

: the narrative and the art, I can’t

: recommend this series. But if

: you're looking for good Daredevil
: fiction, I suggest picking up

: Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
: by Frank Miller and John Romita

Jr.

  

Art by Tim Sale