10 Times BoJack Horseman Assaulted Our Feelings
5. Princess Carolyn’s beautiful delusion
(“Ruthie” – Season 4, Episode 9)
This WGA nominated episode is told from the perspective of Princess Carolyn’s descendant, Ruthie, as she presents a slideshow for “Ancestry day”.
Instating the story of Princess Carolyn and their shared lineage the titular Ruthie decides to narrate the story of Princess Carolyn’s worst day ever. But always reinstating the misleading fact that it all ends happily for her via the existence of Ruthie herself.
This all boils down to a seemingly anti-climactic sequence which sees the focal character winding down with a glass of wine after an existentially dull day. Receiving a phone call from BoJack, spouting his substantially frequent dismay and being anything but his usual self-centred self. Until the conversation diverts as she relinquishes some information about the narrator onto both her horsey counterpart and the viewers now basking in a collective disbelief;
“I imagine my great, great, great granddaughter in the future talking to her class about me, she’s poised and funny and tells people about me and how everything’s worked out in the end, and when I think about that I think about how everything’s going to work because how else could she tell people?”