When Mr. Peanutbutter throws Diane a party that goes horribly wrong, three parallel stories about relationships flower from the seeds planted that night.
First, Princess Caroline spies a kid on the street that looks a lot like her boyfriend, Vincent Adultman (Who is, if you’ve been watching, three kids in a trenchcoat), and causes her to confront him about their relationship as Todd’s telephone falls in love with Princess Caroline’s phone.
Meanwhile, Bojack and Wendy have some relationship issues of their own to work out, but have to wait on that when Bojack hits a deer with his car.
Finally, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter fight and try to understand each other.
Personally, I’m glad that they are apparently brining the Vincent Adultman joke to an end. It had its moments, it was funny, but it was starting to get stale and, yes, we totally got the underlying meaning that depression is sometimes the result of feeling like a child in adult clothing. The problem is, even though this is a fantasy cartoon world, it is emotionally honest and, although it was funny, Princess Caroline ignorantly having a boyfriend that she didn’t know was three kids in a trenchcoat is not emotionally honest.
The resolution of the relationship was appropriate to the story even though it annoyingly forced Princess Caroline to be stupid, but it has been taken as far as it should be taken.
Bojack and Wendy’s story was more interesting from the joke that takes time to understand to the analogy that Bojack is the deer that’s been hurt and is scared and untrusting. There were layers and layers on this short inconsequential story and Bojack’s longing glance at Charlotte’s business card only communicates just how doomed his relationship with Wendy is.
Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane had a pretty good story as well. Personally, I think that Diane needs to more appreciative of her treasure of a husband, but at least her longing for fulfillment was handled realistically and honestly and that’s what this show is good at. Yeah, Diane may look like an jerk at the end of the day, but at least we understand why she’s acting like a jerk.
Doomed to be unhappy.
Todd’s story was just dumb. It’s almost like they’re giving him stuff to do just to remind us he’s on the show.
I loved this episode, though. There were layers upon layers and everything that means something could mean something else too. The gags were top notch — the running gag with the misprinted signs this season are hysterical — and the voice cast was on top of everything.
Good stuff all around.
Jason Gaston 