At first, Netflix’s BoJack Horseman, gives the impression it will be the sitcom version of silly string. It’s a pastel-tinted animated show about a half-horse, half-man named BoJack Horseman, who is an actor with a cat agent, a dog nemesis, a girl crush, and a man-child best friend named Todd.
But don’t let the pastel softness of the BoJack look fool you; BoJack Horseman is a sneak-attack show, with a sharp wit and a twisted heart. The series begins with the titular character as a washed-up actor, famous-ish for playing a dad on an ’80s sitcom, trying for a comeback. When this season starts, he’s starred in a high-profile movie and is trying to win an Oscar.
The show’s themes, alphabetically, include: addiction, alienation, ambition, failure, loneliness, redemption, and regret.
These are all made palatable for the fun-loving viewer because, again, it’s about a cartoon horse who wears sweaters. “It lets you deal with a lot of issues,” says Will Arnett, who voices the…