BoJack Horseman, the most fantastic adult cartoon, is coming to an end. We live in a time with so many awesome adult cartoons. South Park is often credited for being one of the most intelligent adult cartoons there is. I have to agree. South Park has tackled some major issues over the years. Through their hit show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have covered topics like poverty, religious freedom, women’s rights, immigration rights, and most recently, marijuana legalization. As much as I love South Park, the show falls flat in comparison to Bojack Horseman. For creative purposes, BoJack Horseman will be posed against South Park as a foil for this essay.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have covered social issues through the use of one-dimensional characters. For example, the weed legalization episodes include Randy, whose entire motivation throughout show history has been to take whatever job comes his way. Despite being a geologist on paper and living comfortably, he’s taken many positions in customer service, once replacing Chef at the school’s cafeteria. Most recently, Randy has packed up his entire family and moved out of South Park to grow and sell marijuana. Of course, Colorado, where the show is set, was the first state to legalize marijuana.

Probably the most popular character on South Park is Eric Cartman he, of course, has its own foil, Butters. Cartman’s whole identity is a boy bent on destroying the other children as well as his own mother for his selfish, juvenile needs. Butters, on the other hand, is always willing to help other people, see the best in them, and has a childlike charm that makes him my favorite character in the entire show. Examples of Cartman’s evil can be seen in the chili cook-off episode. Cartman literally murders the parents of his bully and tricks the school bully into eating the remains of his parents by grinding up their carcasses putting them in chili. Butters, on the other hand, sees the bullies as potential friends. He simply invites them over to play or participates in the boys’ outlandish games in hopes of gaining their approval. Throughout the twenty-plus years it’s been on television, the characters have never developed past shallow stereotypes. Understand that this is by design. Showing stereotypes is a way to show society the error of its ways. But, in my opinion, there’s a lot more that these characters; they have so much more to offer.

BoJack Horseman has dealt with many hard-hitting issues like alcoholism, child abuse, social struggles surrounding gender stereotypes, and sexuality. In my mind, BoJack Horseman is the most well-developed adult cartoon I’ve ever seen. BoJack Horseman plays out like a soap opera with some comical elements, and of course, everyone in the show is an animated character. Most of them are anthropomorphize animals living amongst humans. We see the characters grow and change. We see backstories, that explain the characters. Complex motivation is something that real human beings deal with every day.

My favorite character in the entire show has been Princess Carolyn, the pink cat. On the surface, Princess Carolyn seems to be a strong, independent woman who moved to LA to get away from her complicated home life. She has carved out a career as a Hollywood agent, but her character is so much deeper. After leaving her abusive mother, Princess Carolyn moves to Hollywood and falls in love with BoJack Horseman who can never return her affections because his own mother was abusive and neglectful. He doesn’t know how to develop complex, healthy relationships. Princess Carolyn eventually leaves her roller-coaster relationship with Bojack and settles down with a sweet mouse, Ralph. But, due to cultural differences, they can’t stay together. It’s insinuated that princess Carolyn’s love interest is worried about his family being ashamed of him for dating a cat. After struggling with infertility throughout the season, Princess Carolyn eventually adopts a daughter.

Season five closes with Princess Carolyn holding her new baby in her arms and Bojack going to rehab with Diane’s help. I loved this ending so much that I cried. It has been speculated by YouTuber Shady Durags that the character of Diane is actually the adult version of Daria Morgendorffer. This would make some sense because, like Daria, Diane is characterized as bookish, shy, and wants to fix social injustices every chance she gets. This doesn’t make sense because the background stories of these two characters don’t add up. They grow up in completely different places and had completely different family dynamics.

Diane becomes Mr. Peanutbutter’s love interest very quickly. Mr. Peanutbutter is the foil for BoJack Horseman. Much like Butters and Cartman, they need each other to balance each other out. Mr. Peanutbutter is a yellow lab, and it’s essential to know that. Even in character design, Mr. Peanutbutter and BoJack Horseman act as a foil to one another. Bojack is a literal horse with a long face, and we see him walk into a bar almost every episode. Whereas Mr. Peanutbutter is the lovable, cuddly dog who’s always wagging his tail and never wants to see anyone hurting. He still wants to be a source of joy. Mr. Peanutbutter tries to live in the moment, and Bojack always lives in the past.

South Park has never shown us the characters growing or changing. In season twenty-two, Cartman gets a girlfriend, Heidi, who seems genuinely friendly. She’s also concerned with the rights of women and how to make other people feel better. Her hobbies are too mundane, Hiedi likes to play outside. In one episode, she drags Cartman to the pumpkin farm. This new interaction almost gives the viewer a glimmer of hope that Cartman will eventually become a normal person. Hopes are dashed when Heidi becomes a bully who hates everyone.

Bojack does grow throughout season five. He tries to rectify the loss of Sarah Lynn by taking in his estranged half-sister. Yes, Bojack and Sarah Lynn were doing drugs together. This was a significant factor in her death; however, it’s important to note that he took the loss of his TV daughter as a chance to grow. Bojack also becomes involved with his on-screen love interest Gina, and even though it starts off as a casual fling, the two of them eventually have a relationship. This relationship ends in tragedy when Bojack attacks his girlfriend on set. But it’s important to note that he did try to better himself.

In my opinion, Mr. Peanutbutter is still stagnant; he divorces Diane after a series of pitfalls and then winds up in the arms of another character who is literally young enough to be his daughter. Mr. Peanutbutter’s constant need for love speaks to his canine immaturity. But, if we look through the human lens which we are encouraged to do with shows like this, suspend reality and sound in terms of how this as everyday human experience. Always needing romantic companionship and seeking it out in a way that almost seems to keep Mr. Peanutbutter frozen in time is why he consistently dates women. Especially young girls who are barely legal and are more than likely newcomers to the entertainment industry. Mr. Peanutbutter is afraid of change and growth, and that is why this pattern continues. BoJack changes and grows. At the end of season five, he goes to rehab to confront his demons.

Princess Carolyn fights her demons as well when she decides to take on the role of motherhood in a non-traditional way because that’s what the character desires at her most profound level. Seeing in the characters growing and changing throughout the series tells me that this is the superior show. We don’t get much of that from shows like South Park or Bob’s Burgers.

I will be so sad to see the series end with season six, which according to the Netflix trailer, will come out on October 25th. As sad as I am to see the series come to an end, it isn’t episodic in nature. Because the characters are so incredibly developed, it’s going to have to end. Bojack goes to rehab, Princess Carolyn finally gets to be a mother, and Diane is moving on from Mr. Peanutbutter. The only possible way to keep the series going, in my opinion, is to make it about Mr. Peanutbutter. He’s my only concern. I genuinely believe he’s going to go down a darker path because Bojack is finally coming to terms with his past. The last moments Bojack spends with his mother Beatrice are oddly sweet and compassionate and leave you with a kind of sad yet warm feeling.

Bojack is trying to move on. This leads me to believe that Mr. Peanutbutter will slip further into depression because he has always been the polar opposite character to amplify Bojack’s character traits. I have speculated that now that Diane has finally put an end to their hookups, she will move on and become the person she wants to be. I consider Diane going to Vietnam after her divorce from Mr. Peanutbutter to possibly be foreshadowing. Maybe she will find happiness in Vietnam where she feels more at home. I, personally, think this will take a very dark turn for Mr. Peanutbutter. He’s a womanizer and addict, just like Bojack. Bojack has been addicted to prostitutes and alcohol and pills. Society sees this as a bigger problem, and an addiction like Mr. Peanutbutter’s is more dangerous because he will never be able to get away from the need for human interaction. I do not see this series ending well for Mr. Peanutbutter even though I believe it will end very well for Bojack, Princess Carolyn, and Diane, who are all the major players in the show.

What are your predictions for season six?