BoJack Horsemanwas a unique show with anthropomorphic animals, but it was as profound and real with its characters as any prestigious TV series. It started as a joke machine, but little by little, episode by episode, the series started focusing on deeper themes, like addiction, depression, mental health, or being a good person while still being funnier than most comedies.
In its six seasons,BoJackHorsemanhad some incredible episodes. Despite ending in 2020, the series still maintains a passionate fanbase, and in the sea of Netflix shows,BoJack Horsemantends to rise to the top and find new viewers long after it has aired. Here are its best episodes, ranked.
Update August 24, 2025: This article has been updated with even more great episodes ofBoJack Horseman.
14Our A-Story is a “D” Story (S1 E6)
This episode is only the sixth in the show ever, and as such, it was still teaching audiences how to watch it. After seeing Diane (Alison Brie) dating Bojack’s (Will Arnett) arch-nemesis Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins), the horse actor gets black-out drunk and steals the letter “D” from the Hollywood sign for her. In a panic, BoJack tries to say it’s his nemesis who did it, and the press interprets it as the most romantic gesture ever from Mr. Peanutbutter to Diane.
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Even worse, trying to get in the press’s good graces, BoJack throws money from a roof and injures Beyoncé, one of the worst crimes he committed in the whole TV series. The funniest consequence of the episode is the fact that for the rest of the show, the L.A. industry it’s always called “Hollywoo”.
13That Went Well (S3 E12)
The end of the third season has one of the most poignant, sad, and beautiful endings the TV series ever made. After Sarah Lynn’s (Kristen Schaal) overdose, BoJack gets a new show where a child actor tells him they want to be like him when they grow up. That hits BoJack hard as he feels guilty. So he flees L.A. and, while driving fast, he lets go of the wheel, willing to die. That’s until he sees a pack of wild horses running, and being so free, and enjoying life.
That changes his way of thinking at that moment and everything he’ll do in season 4. Even with a dark, if hopeful ending, the episode also has time for some fun hijinks for Character Actress Margo, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Todd (Aaron Paul).
12The Old Sugarman Place (S4 E2)
Coming from the revelations at the end of season 3, BoJack goes to his grandparents’ old, damaged house to try to fix it (and gives audiences an easy metaphor about the actor trying to fix the house and his life, but doing it in the worst way possible). What makes this episode worth it is the story in the past, where we see BoJack’s mother, Beatrice (Wendy Malick) childhood, and understand why she’s the way she is both with his son but also all the mental problems the family carries, proving that his grandparents did a bad job both with nature, and nurture, and proving how the feelings demons keep reproducing generation after generation, as BoJack is hiding there.
11The Face of Depression (S6 E7)
This episode shows how much BoJack has grown since the start of the show. For once, the horse actor is a good friend that tries to make everybody’s life around him better and succeeds. He visits Diane in Chicago when she’s having a hard time, and for once, he’s the voice of reason and makes her understand that there’s nothing wrong with taking anti-depressants. How he cleans her apartment for her is a beautiful gesture that shows all that growing.
This is a happy episode for most characters as Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) finally gets the balance between work and home life right, and Mr. Peanutbutter gets what he’s wished for before the start of the TV series, a crossover episode with BoJack.
10Stupid Piece of Sh*t (S4 E6)
WhenBoJack Horsemanstarted, nobody thought this animated show about a has-been horse sitcom actor would be one of the best TV series in showing mental illness and depression, but episodes like this prove why it’s what it does best. For once, and in a different kind of animation than usual, audiences see BoJack’s internal monologue, how negative it is all the time, how he feels bad even in the good moments, and how the voice inside his head takes the fun out of everything, justifying some of his worst tendencies.
The episode also shows that her half-sister Hollyhock (Aparna Nancheria) has the same problem, as it’s something that runs in the family. The half-siblings share a beautiful moment when she asks if it gets better with age, and he promises it does, lying to her to help her feel better.
9Nice While It Lasted (S6 E16)
The show’s last episode is sad but hopeful, with BoJack and Diane alone on the roof, andit had to end this way. After being sent to prison, this is the first time BoJack has seen all his friends in a long time. We see how each has been doing, and what the future might look like for them. There are jokes, a party, and only the five main characters speak in the whole episode (it can’t be a coincidence). It ends with a conversation between the biggest friendship on the show, BoJack, and Diane. They say a lot without saying much, as many people with shared pasts can do while thinking about everything they have done together; everything we’ve seen them do together. It’s a beautiful ending for a beautiful series.
8Ruthie (S4 E9)
Princess Carolyn’s great-great-great-grandaughter in the future, Ruthie, tells the story of a very bad day for her ancestor. As we follow that horrible day Princess Carolyn is having, at least we know the future will look good for her. That’s when the episode pulls the rug from under us, as we discover Ruthie is a fantasy that Princess Carolyn thinks about on her worst days. Today, she has broken up with her boyfriend, Ralphie, but especially, she discovers she has a miscarriage, the fifth, and her dreams of being a mother are further away every day. Sedaris gives an incredible voice performance, as we feel the devastating ending for the character. Someone who didn’t always get the spotlight as much as she deserved.
7The Dog Days Are Over (S5 E2)
This episode is all about Diane. She’s been on a downward trajectory for a while, and after her divorce from Mr. Peanutbutter, she decides now is the moment to go to Vietnam and reconnect with her heritage. Diane is usually the voice of reason on the show, so seeing her spiral out of control and feel lost is new for both her and us as viewers. The episode is a tour-de-force by Brie, who can transmit the character’s many emotions just with her voice, especially the contrast between what she’s really feeling and how she writes it, in list form, for the website she’s working at, as an “x reasons to travel” article.
6Escape From L.A. (S2 E11)
BoJack leaves the set of his movieSecretariatto go to New Mexico to find an old friend, Charlotte (Olivia Wilde), who he believes might be the love of his life. There, he finds out she has a family, but decides to stay anyway, getting closer and closer to her teenage daughter. When Charlotte discovers her daughter on BoJack’s boat after a night of underage drinking, everything goes to hell.
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About the episode, creatorRaphael Bob-Waksberg told Variety: “There’s this thing in writers' rooms where you’re always pitching the darkest story you’re never going to do… like, “can youimagineif the protagonist of our show tried to sleep with a 17-year-old girl? What kind of show would do that? That would just be crazy, right? We would never — right?” But then it became, “What if wearethat show? What would that look like?” And once the idea was out there, it felt kind of cowardly not to go down that road.”
5The View from Halfway Down (S6 E15)
The penultimate episode of the whole show made us wonder if BoJack was going to make it out alive. This episode is both experimental and profound, as we find BoJack with some of the people important in his life who have died in the past (and also Zach Braff). It shows all the revelations one can have on the brink of death and the possible “nothingness” that maybe comes after as we finally discover that BoJack is drowning in his pool.
About the episode,Bob-Waksberg told Vulture: “I wanted things to feel not quite real. It’s not like BoJack is in purgatory with these people. We wanted it to be loose and dream-logic-y. BoJack’s father would be Secretariat, but he wouldn’t really comment on it. BoJack’s not like, “Wait, you’re not my dad.”
