Time's Arrow (BoJack Horseman)

"Time's Arrow" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series BoJack Horseman. It was written by Kate Purdy and directed by Aaron Long.^[1][2] The episode was released in the United States, along with the rest of season four, via Netflix on September 8, 2017. Matthew Broderick, Majandra Delfino, and Wendie Malick provide voices in guest appearances in the episode.

The episode follows a non-linear structure, looking at the life of BoJack Horseman's mother, Beatrice, and her battle with dementia and deteriorating health.^[3][4]

In February 2018, "Time's Arrow" won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation at the 70th WGA Awards.^[5]

Plot[edit]

Through Beatrice's fuzzy memories, it is revealed how her father (Matthew Broderick) pushes her toward a potential suitor, whom she spurns in favor of the dashing aspiring writer, Butterscotch Horseman. She becomes pregnant by Butterscotch, marries him, and they move to San Francisco. Their marriage falters as their dreams fail to pan out; she becomes unhappy and bitter. Both drink heavily and take out their frustrations on BoJack. Butterscotch later has an affair with a maid named Henrietta, an aspiring nurse. Beatrice convinces Henrietta to give up the baby for adoption so that she can continue in nursing school.

Analysis[edit]

Times arrow is dedicated to the background and upbringing of Beatrice Horseman, explored through her own dementia riddled mind. This episode showcases all of the most important and affecting events of Beatrice's life and pulls off the most effective twist in the entire series. Beyond making one of the series most antagonistic characters somewhat empathetic, Times Arrow is a heartbreaking look at the ways trauma can echo across generations.

The events of Beatrice's life occur out of order and scenes cut back and forth through time. One moment Beatrice is at her debutante ball, the next, she's back at home getting ready. Sometimes the reality of the present with her son BoJack sneak into these memories, others being Beatrice's battle with Scarlet fever as a child. The important pieces of these memories come through clearly while the less important details are not present at all. Although the scenes are altered due to her dementia and feelings, it is an important depiction of how Beatrice is as a person and how she sees the world.

Times Arrow is an indirect sequel to season fours "The Old Sugarman Place" and in order to fully understand Beatrice's trajectory, the look into her childhood had long lasting effects on her development and her relationships. In her late teen's it is shown within the episode that Beatrice's father and her relationship became more antagonistic. Although she abided by her fathers wishes she did not agree on his political and moral views. In abiding her fathers wishes, she attended her debutant ball, where she met Butterscotch horseman who had snuck in for "free booze". This was a man that represented a lifestyle completely opposite her fathers. Butterscotch was attractive to Beatrice as a person but also appealed to Beatrice's desires to defy her father. Which led to the two of them spending the night together. Beatrice's disappearance from her debutant, angered her father, he demanded Beatrice to give her suitor, Corbin Creamerman another chance. Previously, Corbin represented her fathers lifestyle and therefore falsely expected anyone Joseph (her father) wanted her to be with, to be and extension of his own beliefs. However, when she got to know Corbin a bit, she realized he had experienced a lot of the same insecurities that she did. However, it was too late.

After getting pregnant by Butterscotch, the two eloped with big dreams of success on the West coast. However, nothing goes as planned. Butterscotch was ill-equipped to follow his writing dreams and his failures slowly led Beatrice to fall back on some tendencies instilled in her by her father. She eventually shamed Butterscotch into taking a job at Sugarman west, giving them the more lavish lifestyle Beatrice was accustomed to. This led to Butterscotch resenting Beatrice and he formed a relationship with their young maid, Henrietta, who eventually became pregnant with his child. This leads to another heartbreaking event, Butterscotch begs Beatrice to help him, she manipulates Henrietta into giving up the baby for adoption. This initially comes across as Beatrice's way of helping Butterscotch but it ultimately ends up being portrayed as Beatrice feeling as though she is actually helping Henrietta. Beatrice's blames her unhappiness on butterscotch and BoJack, and she truly believes she is saving Henrietta from a lifetime of unhappiness. The final sequence of flashbacks is beautifully haunting. Beatrice's baby doll is taken and burned in front of her, this trauma leads to Beatrice feeling the need to keep BoJack, which in turn leads to her overwhelming resentment of her life with her husband and son and then forcing Henrietta into rejecting the life Beatrice herself had, thus giving up Henrietta's baby for adoption. Which shows how generational trauma from Joseph had trickled down to her life. People are shaped by the events in their lives, the traumatic events in Beatrice's life were not her fault, but they shaped who she would become.

In the end, there is truth to the repeated phrase said by Beatrice and Joseph:

"times arrow neither stands still nor reverses it simply marches forward"

Time doesn't stop for anyone. No matter the trauma or adversity that has occurred in ones life. Despite the justified anger that BoJack directs at Beatrice as he leaves her in the nursing home, he decided to help her reverse times arrow one final time, a confused Beatrice's asks BoJack where she was, in a moment of awareness, and BoJack states they are in Michigan at the lake house eating ice cream. This is the last time we see Beatrice Horseman alive in the series. This episode makes the audience understand and empathize with the most detestable of characters.

Reception[edit]

"Time's Arrow" received universal acclaim from critics, many of whom described it as one of the best episodes of the season and of the series. Les Chappell of The A.V. Club, who gave the episode an "A", wrote that there was "no episode of television to simultaneously anticipate and dread more in the year than ["Time's Arrow"].^[1] Julia Alexander, writing for Polygon, described "Time's Arrow" as "TV's best episode of 2017".^[6] In The Atlantic, Lenika Cruz noted the episode's effectiveness at its portrayal of female characters.^[7]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• "Time's Arrow" on Netflix
• "Time's Arrow" at IMDb