Republi Traitors

It's a cartoon, but it's not for kids. It makes you laugh, but it's not a comedy. Categorizing Bojack Horseman is like trying to catch your shadow, except for one category that it does fall into. Brilliant! There's too much to go into in one review & much has been said already. Yes the first series was more towards the comedy side, the 2nd series was darker, series 4 was very imaginative. However, what I do not agree with is the claims made about Bojack's bad behavior. Whilst he is undoubtedly everything people say that he is, often he is the victim that ends up saying sorry. A case in point is Tod's girlfriend, Emily, where Bojack ends up apologizing to Tod for having sex with her, yet Tod rejected Emily & Emily made her situation very clear to Bojack. This was AFTER Bojack went out of his way to make it easy for Tod to get together with Emily! Another example is Bojack's "daughter" Hollyhock. Her string of fathers blame Bojack for her overdose & he apologizes, despite the fact that the overdose was nothing to do with him & was the product of his mother's addled thinking. The fact is the series often tolerates a-hole behavior from others & glosses over it, but Bojack never gets a pass, either in the story or from the judgement of the audience. You could argue that this reflects real life, but for Bojack to not only be so passive about some of these situations, but seems to be the one to initiate the self inflicted humiliation necessary to apologize for things either partially, or even fully not under his control, seems sadistic. Even the Sarah Lynn arc ended up with her getting clean ONLY so she could reduce the tolerance she'd built up to drink & drugs which would make their effects more intense when she started using them again, which she clearly intended to do. Bojack may have played his part, but Sarah Lynn was merely using him as an excuse. Since I've not finished the series yet I'm not sure if there's a point to all this, but so far I find this an annoynace that he is presented in this way.

It'd better improve soon. While I loved the movie & was immediately involved in the story (despite not knowing about the original comic book) I've found this TV adaptation is somehow souless & I've no idea why. Worst of all I can see no connection to the original Watchmen. It's like someone had a story but couldn't get it made until they had the idea to graft on a thin veneer of The Watchmen & managed to get the Green Light from HBO. So far this could easily be a follow on Spiderman, Superman or even Bat Man show! Regina King as Angelina Abraham seems to me to be lacking gravitas, but then I can't single her out because everyone else comes across that way too. About the best so far has been Jeremy Irons but even he seems to struggle making an impact. As a result i cant criticize the cast, but when what we are expecting to be a central character of the story (King's Agelina Abraham) comes across as so weak & shallow it reveals a major flaw in the production. Others can be vapid & 2 dimensional but if Angelina Abraham is whom the audience is expected to follow IMO I can't say that I'll be watching the show for much longer unless there's some rapid improvement. I can only surmise that the script, IMO lacking in substance & subtlety, plus a clumsy plot (so far) & so-so direction are to blame. Nothing grabbed me, it all just seemed to wash over me & didn't leave me wondering about what MIGHT be going on, unlike the movie. While the Watchmen movie was a Roller Coaster ride Watchmen the HBO series so far has been like going through a car wash & no matter how fancy & Roller Coaster-ish it may look once you're inside it is still a car wash. This is the first episode so I hope things get better, but I'm already left with the feeling that some movies are best left to stand out on their own. Blade Runner is the best example of this, about which i must say that i thought any attempt at a sequel was doomed to fail by comparison to the original & should never have even been attempted. I'm beginning to think that Watchmen might be in the same category.