‘BoJack Horseman’ Didn’t Want To Be ‘The Voice Of Depression’

In Season 3, which premiered Friday on Netflix, Bob-Waksberg centers the storyline around the idea of BoJack’s legacy, both among the people who know him personally and the people who know him through “Horsin’ Around.” The season starts with BoJack at a press junket, equal parts hideously bored and hideously drunk. But his starring role in “Secretariat,” a movie based on BoJack’s childhood hero, is garnering Oscar buzz, and BoJack is ecstatic, even though he was digitally replaced midway through shooting. Asked why he cares so much about the award, BoJack replies, “… I’ll be remembered.”

When BoJack (spoiler!) eventually receives the nomination in a later episode, however, his reaction surprises him. “I feel … I feel … I feel… the same?” he says.

To Bob-Waksberg, this idea of BoJack finally receiving the praise he so desperately covets is central to the third season. “He’s gotten everything he thought he wanted, and he’s still not happy,” Bob-Waksberg said. “What does that say about him? And what does that say about the world?”

These are the sort of moments when “BoJack” is at its best: Through BoJack, we can question our own vanity. We all have something we want ? an award or job or recognition we believe would transform us into the person we would like to be. But, in truth, it’s not going to change us. Sad or not, we are who we are already. With that, Season 3 forces us to consider another question, too: If the professional recognition BoJack desires doesn’t fulfill him, what will?

It’s frustrating to watch as BoJack realizes the answer over and over only to quickly forget and spiral downward once more. The answer, we realize, is the relationships he has formed throughout his life. And he does occasionally show that he is capable of prioritizing them. In a rare moment of selflessness in Episode 4, for example, BoJack desperately tries to swims as fast as he can to get a note to Kelsey Jannings, a director he wronged during the making of “Secretariat.”

“In this terrifying world, all we have are the connections that we make,” it reads. “I’m sorry I got you fired. I’m sorry I never called you after.”