'BoJack Horseman' season four soars, scores and does not bore

Hidden behind a cartoon world where animals live among people is a funny, yet often depressing, look at the life of a former sitcom actor. 

Don’t get me wrong, the number of hilarious moments in "BoJack Horseman" greatly outnumber those that make me sad or bring me down - but when those moments do show up, they hit hard.

In episode 10 of season four, an exchange between Todd Chavez (Aaron Paul) and a clown-dentist perfectly sums up the show:

“You call that funny?! That’s not funny, that’s sad.”

“Well, some argue that sad and funny are two sides of the same coin.”

“Uh, no, Abraham Lincoln and some weird flat house are two sides of the same coin.”

Season four of Netflix’s most critically acclaimed animated series holds to the quality of its past seasons. With the past two seasons both sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes’ “Tomatometer,” there isn’t much room for improvement, but somehow "BoJack Horseman" has improved on an already near-perfect formula.

Nearly every scene is filled with a hysterical visual gag that emphasizes the idea that animals are living side-by-side with humans. For example, in the very first episode of the season, we see an anthropomorphic hummingbird in the background staking a campaign sign into the ground with its beak. 

This season keeps up the running gag of many characters speaking in rhyme or alliteration. These lines of dialogue are nearly impossible to read without getting your tongue in a twist, but they always kept me on the edge of my seat while attempting to decipher what was being discussed. 

For example, this exchange in episode three between Todd and Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) left me in stitches:

“You know the actress Courtney Portnoy?”

“I think so. She portrayed the formerly portly consort in the seaport resort.”

“Courtly roles like the formerly portly consort are Courtney Portnoy’s forte.”

In addition to its sharp humor, "BoJack Horseman" has consistently done an excellent job when handling the “real” moments. Prior seasons of the show have left me with butterflies in my stomach, and season four is no exception.  

Perhaps no episode is a better example of the show's careful and masterful balance of plot, emotion and humor than this season’s second episode, “The Old Sugarman Place.”  

In an attempt to escape from his "Hollywoo" (the show’s version of Hollywood) lifestyle, BoJack spends time at his mother’s old house in Michigan. In a style in which I’ve never seen before, this episode contains ghostly flashback sequences to his mother’s childhood — simultaneous with the events occurring in modern times.

This portrayal of the past is probably my favorite way any show has ever handled a flashback, and it makes for a wonderful, yet soul-crushing, episode.  

Overall, season four of "BoJack Horseman" is my favorite season of the show thus far. It didn’t knock me down as hard as some of the previous seasons may have, but its writing and storytelling is by far the best the show has ever had. 

I would highly recommend not just season four, but the entirety of "BoJack Horseman" to any fan of television.

@jvanglish

arts@dailytarheel.com