Escape from L.A. (BoJack Horseman)

Did You Know?

• The episode's title sequence is replaced with a special one set to 'Kyle and the Kids', a parody of the Full House opening credits theme 'Everywhere You Look'.
• Caroline Framke of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A' grade, describing it as a series standout and an unequivocal condemnation of its main character.
• In Paste, Julie Kliegman gave the episode a 9.3 rating, stating that 'BoJack's lovable loser status is gone, probably for good.'

Plot

BoJack arrives in Tesuque, New Mexico, to surprise Charlotte Moore, a woman from his early acting days with whom he hopes to start a relationship. He finds she is happily married with two teenage children. BoJack buys a yacht, christens it Escape from L.A., and stays for two months, integrating into the family while abandoning his commitment to film Secretariat. Charlotte's 17-year-old daughter Penny is upset after her crush rejects her prom invitation.

BoJack offers to be her surrogate date, and they attend prom with Penny's friends Maddy and Pete. BoJack supplies bourbon, and at prom Maddy becomes drunk and Penny is saddened by seeing her crush with another date. After BoJack is booed off the dance floor, the group leaves for the desert, where he slow dances with Penny. Maddy passes out, and the group takes her to the hospital fearing alcohol poisoning.

BoJack abandons Maddy and Pete at the hospital, manipulates Pete to lie about his involvement, and drives home with Penny.

Analysis and significance

Like every penultimate episode of a BoJack Horseman season, this episode leaves the title character in a difficult place. BoJack ends the episode at a low point, and his time in New Mexico becomes a major source of remorse that haunts him for the rest of the series. In a later episode, he partly confesses what happened to a journalist, and the recording leads to the deterioration of his friendship with Diane. BoJack later travels to Oberlin, Ohio with Sarah Lynn to try to make amends to Penny, but fails and reopens her wounds. He gives Penny's full name at an AA meeting, which eventually leads journalists to her while investigating Sarah Lynn's death. In another episode, BoJack's half-sister Hollyhock meets Pete at a party, and his recollection of prom night causes a major setback in her relationship with BoJack, leading her to cut him out of her life.