Stupid Piece of Sh*t

Plot

The episode opens with BoJack in bed as his internal monologue calls him a "stupid piece of shit." Hollyhock asks him to get milk, but he spends the day at the bar. The next day, BoJack avoids breakfast with Hollyhock and his mother Beatrice, sitting in his car on Mulholland Drive while his self-berating inner voice continues, sometimes accompanied by cartoon drawings. Meanwhile, Courtney Portnoy tells Princess Carolyn she has replaced her agent with Carolyn's ex, Rutabaga Rabitowitz.

Rutabaga wants Portnoy to have a high-profile wedding to her fake fiancé Todd Chavez, who is coming to terms with his asexuality. When BoJack returns home, he finds Hollyhock has given Beatrice a baby horse doll to aid her dementia. Angry that the doll receives better treatment than he ever did, BoJack throws it over the side of his house. Beatrice becomes upset, and at Hollyhock's urging, BoJack agrees to retrieve it.

He enlists Mr. Peanutbutter, who uses his sense of smell to find the doll at Felicity Huffman's house. Huffman calls BoJack a "stupid piece of shit." After getting the doll back, BoJack admits to Mr. Peanutbutter his discomfort with Hollyhock's attachment, fearing his worst tendencies will show. Mr. Peanutbutter tells BoJack he deserves to be loved despite past mistakes.

Rutabaga and Carolyn devise a plan to prevent Meryl Streep from retiring the same day as Portnoy's wedding. The wedding falls through at Todd's behest, but Rutabaga and Carolyn are happy with their teamwork. Rutabaga returns to his family, and Princess Carolyn removes a positive pregnancy test from her purse. BoJack returns home and talks with Hollyhock, who confronts him about his absence.

He insists he is glad to have met her and that his behavior is not her fault. Hollyhock reveals she sometimes experiences self-loathing and asks if it will go away. BoJack tells her it will.

Production

Alison Tafel wrote the episode after joining the writing staff in season four. Anne Walker Farrell, who began working on the show in season one as a storyboard artist, directed it. The episode was originally planned from the perspective of Princess Carolyn's assistant, Judah Mannowdog, but series creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg decided that "the most interesting brain to be in is BoJack's." Bob-Waksberg said the season's main themes are family and "the stories we tell, particularly the internal story."

He described BoJack's internal monologue as resembling a DVD commentary and the loose animation as "the way BoJack sees himself, which is very messy and unformed." The crude animations representing BoJack's depression were designed by Farrell, assistant director Otto Murga, and production designer Lisa Hanawalt. Hanawalt told Vanity Fair the cartoons were inspired by animation from the 1960s and her own comics, and she considers the episode "the gold standard of how to capture a mood with an art style."

Reception

The episode received largely positive reviews. Les Chappell of The A.V. Club gave it an "A" grade, calling it "brutally honest" and "completely accurate in [its] portrayal" of depression. Julia Alexander of Polygon praised how the show leans into the "true horrors of depression," particularly when BoJack throws the baby doll. Chris Packham of the Miami New Times said BoJack's internal monologue was depicted with "unsparing realism.