Jackson Ball reviews the sixth episode of Netflix’s BoJack Horseman season 2…
Episode 6 of takes a classic narrative thread, found previously in many a sitcom, and mixes it up with all the craziness we’ve come to expect from the show. Never before has an episode revolving around autoerotic asphyxiation been so light-hearted!
Spoiler Ahead – You Have Been Warned!
One of the show’s main strengths in season 1 was that it was totally unlike anything that had come before it. As we know from pretty much every TV series ever, it’s a lot harder to keep up that freshness in the sophomore season. With that being said however, ‘Higher Love’ really delivers on that uniqueness.
For starters it features yet another fantastic cameo, this time from Alan Arkin, who bizarrely is providing the voice for J.D Salinger (author of Catcher in the Rye). Salinger, having faked his own death has to escape the limelight, now owns a shop that exclusively sells tandem bicycles… Yes, this show is still bonkers.
Elsewhere, this episode treads some well-worn sitcom ground, as BoJack (Will Arnett) prematurely says ‘I love you’ to his girlfriend Wanda (Lisa Kudrow). It’s a tried and tested storyline, but the BoJack writers seem to take it down a very, very different path.
Filled with all the insecurity and self-loathing that comes with a confession of love, BoJack decides to take the edge of his words by ‘tricking’ Wanda into reciprocating his words. Seems like a simple, yet ill-thought out plan right? Well the intention may be simple but BoJack’s method is a little flawed; he attempts to coax an ‘I love you’ out of Wanda by pretending to partake in autoerotic asphyxiation.
This is another solid episode, full of humour and light-hearted randomness, once again proving the theory that season 2 is simply getting stronger and stronger with every episode.
Best ‘Animal-Based Gag’ of the Episode: A disgruntled Wanda confronts BoJack, asking to ‘address the elephant in the room’, massively offending an actual Elephant in the room.
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https://youtu.be/IWWtOQOZSTI?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published August 3, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
