Few shows in recent memory have boasted the hidden depths of Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s BoJack Horseman. Conceived and marketed as a surreal stoner comedy about the madcap adventures of a delusional washed-up half-human, half-horse former sitcom star, BoJack quickly burned off its premise and unfurled into something quite wonderful.
Little by little, the jokes started to disappear. The central character stopped being a punchbag and became a case study of depression and loneliness. At times, the focus on trauma was overwhelming – witness The View From Halfway Down episode, in which BoJack is haunted by figures from his past while his brain starves of oxygen as he drowns in a pool – but the series was ambitious enough to single out Bob-Waksberg as a generational talent.
