The animated Netflix classic, Bojack Horseman, is a transcendent show about the complexities of the human condition. It's then mixed with the surreal use of having anthropomorphic animals describing these complicated and heavy experiences in profoundly compelling ways. Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and running from 2014 to 2020, Bojack Horseman stars Will Arnett as the eponymous lead who borders the fine line between tragedy and comedy and perfectly delivers some of the show's most intense moments.

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Bojack Horseman is a tremendously damaged individual who is a being deserving of sympathy in his own right. His traumatic upbringing can explain some character traits, but he has still committed irredeemable acts that have made him one of the most complicated anti-heroes in television history. Here are (some of) the worst things Bojack has ever done.

Leaving his Mother to Die Alone in a Nursing Home

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This act is just as complicated as the horse himself. On one hand, his mother, Beatrice Horseman (played by Wendie Malick), was a terrible woman who inflicted heavy amounts of trauma on her son and helped to propel him towards a life of self-destruction, depression, and substance abuse. The show closely examines the negative effects that Bojack's upbringing had on him, and Beatrice remains a key factor in his unhappiness in childhood. Later in her life, she becomes acquainted with Bojack's later revealed sister, Hollyhock (played by Apurna Nancherla), and feeds her amphetamine-filled coffee to make her lose weight which then sends her to the hospital. In short, Beatrice Horseman is not a good person.

All of this aside, however, it's important to remember that Beatrice Horseman was once a victim, and similar to the eponymous protagonist, she also suffered unmeasurable grief in her early life and was raised by an ill-equipped parent who did little to support her. She is also then plagued with dementia as she got older, leaving her mind on a steady path of mental decline and confusion. Bojack's choice to leave her in a cheap nursing home to die and suffer alone is bad, but helps to show the complexities of grief, abuse, and intergenerational trauma.

Gave up $500,000 for Charity Just to Spite Daniel Radcliffe

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The fact that this is not even close to the worst thing the celebrity horse has ever done really does speak volumes about his character. If a real, wealthy actor publicly burnt a substantial amount of money that was headed towards charity he would be on the front page of Twitter for days. They could even potentially reach Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or any other famous rich person levels of well-deserved public scrutiny.

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The caricatured version of Daniel Radcliffe (played by himself) acted disfavourably towards Bojack, who of course then had to have the last word against him and blatantly pretended to not know the difference between Daniel and Elijah Wood, which in turn allowed the $500k donation to be enveloped in flames. In equal parts a classic joke punchline and an irredeemable act, Bojack begins to reveal more about himself through this; he's insecure, jealous, bitter, and self-destructive, which come out even stronger in episodes to come.

His Terrible Advice to Sarah-Lynn

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Bojack's relationships in the show are fraught and complicated, and his connection to his fellow substance-abuser celebrity friend, Sarah-Lynn (played by Kristan Schaal), is one of the most toxic and destructive. Beginning in the 1990s at the height of Bojack's career and the start of Sarah-Lynn's as a child, Bojack tells his young co-star to 'never stop dancing', as performing for other people will give her the love that nobody else will, as long as she keeps giving them what they want. This advice is eerily similar to the same advice Bojack's mother gave to him when he was also a child, which molded him into an insecure, bitter, and unhappy person.

This is pretty haunting in hindsight, as this 'advice' forced Sarah-Lynn into a life of addiction, misery, and a permanent loss of personal autonomy. She was taken advantage of by the people around her for her entire life, due to following Bojack's advice to heart. This moment is a pivotal one in Sarah-Lynn's life and can be traced down as the mark where she began to take a nosedive into a deep, downward spiral.

Betraying Herb

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Another moment in Bojack's life that came back to bite him later in his future is his reluctance to stand by his best friend and man who created the very show that made him famous, Herb Kazzaz, (played by Stanley Tucci) after he is outed as a gay man and subsequently then fired by television executives. Years went by with neither person talking to each other, with only bitterness and resentment becoming the core essence of their once very strong friendship.

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In the middle of the first season Herb, now dying of cancer and still very angry at his former friend, agreed to meet Bojack for a long-overdue catch-up after he came back into contact with him. Herb then refuses to accept the apology that Bojack gave about abandoning him years ago, stating that Bojack doesn't deserve to receive closure about betraying him and that he refuses to make Bojack feel better about the bad decisions that he made. This moment signifies how Bojack struggles to take accountability for his actions and fails to acknowledge that forgiveness is not something that can just be easily handed to him, unlike everything else in his life that he gets by just being a celebrity.

Strangling Gina on Set

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The fifth season of Bojack Horseman was incredibly meta, dark, and introduced the character of Gina (played by Stephanie Beatriz) who quickly became Bojack's girlfriend. Near the end of the season, Bojack suffers through an intense addiction to painkillers which triggered a mental breakdown that blurred the lines between fiction and reality. During a severe drug-induced psychosis, Bojack violently strangled Gina during the filming of his ill-fated show, Philbert, in front of the many crew members and staff.

Gina is visibly traumatized by this, and she shows the lasting impact this violent act has on her when she reacts in fear and hostility towards a future co-star for touching her neck in an improvised acting rehearsal. She later tells Bojack never to tell anyone that he did that to her, as although he is well-deserving of a public cancellation and punishment, Gina refuses to be forever labeled as 'the girl who got strangled by Bojack Horseman' for the rest of her career.

His Relationship with Penny

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One of Bojack's most irredeemable moments lies within his relationship and interactions with the underage Penny, (played by Ilana Glazer) who is the daughter of his friend and crush from the '90s, Charlotte (played by Olivia Wilde). In the second season, he runs away to New Mexico during the filming of Secretariat, a project he has wanted to star in since his childhood, to reconnect with Charlotte in hopes of finally starting a romantic relationship. After a night of hanging around teenagers at their prom and giving them all alcohol (another terrible thing he has done), he is rejected by the family's matriarch who then catches him in bed and almost kissing her 17-year-old daughter.

Bojack's relationship with Charlotte is permanently severed, leaving another friendship destroyed by Bojack's own recklessness. This event also leaves Penny shaken and traumatized, shown when Bojack accidentally runs into her at her university years later, and the event comes up again in full force during the show's final season. Whether Bojack would have gone through with sleeping with Penny if Charlotte never caught him remains unanswered, but the fact that he would have at least done something is pretty hard to sit with.

Ending Sarah-Lynn's Sobriety

A still from BoJack Horseman episode That's Too Much, Man!
Image via Netflix

As mentioned earlier, Bojack's relationship with Sarah-Lynn is one of the most toxic and tragic in the entire series. Bojack persuades Sarah-Lynn to quit her short-lived, life-saving period of sobriety in order to go on a rash, drug-fueled bender to soothe his weak and damaged emotional state. This is another instance of Bojack (and many others) exploiting the troubled and former teen pop star to take part in a selfish escapade, as this binge leads the two into a dangerous situation that has fatal consequences.

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During her final moments, Sarah-Lynn reveals intense unhappiness with her life and a deep dislike of herself similar to Bojack, and that she wishes she could've been an architect instead of a celebrity. It is ultimately the last time the audience sees Sarah-Lynn alive, as she then tragically dies from a drug overdose. Bojack's self-centered and inconsiderate actions ultimately ended the life of a young girl, who saw him as a much-needed but ultimately incapable father figure.

Waited 17 Minutes

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Image via Netflix

Arguably the most damning thing Bojack has ever done, the choice to wait 17 minutes before calling the emergency services that could have potentially saved the life of Sarah-Lynn is especially heinous. As mentioned above, the binge of alcohol, pills, cocaine, drywall, and, the thing that ended her life, heroin, was catastrophic to the recently sober young woman and she died in the arms of the horse that gave her the drugs in the first place. After finally bringing her to the one place she has begged to go to the entirety of their bender, the planetarium, Sarah-Lynn falls asleep and doesn't wake up.

Once again refusing to take accountability for his own actions, Bojack panics and leaves her alone for 17 minutes, trying to cover up his involvement, then walks into the building and 'discovers' her and calls 911 even though she now had little chance of survival. Bojack's inability to be responsible and protect the people in his life from his terrible actions comes out in full force during this moment, leading to the death of one of his oldest friends who deserved so much better.

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