We weren't the biggest fans of the first season of BoJack Horseman here at Female First. The laughs were there in places but something just felt like it was missing. We enjoyed the fact that there was a quiet undertone of an experimentation of embedding depression within a satirical look at Hollywood and celebrity culture - it was very clever - but season one just fell short. Luckily with season two, the show has managed to mature and develop into an animated comedy that could easily compete against the Family Guys and South Parks of the world.
Will Arnett returns to add his voice to the titular character BoJack, who's now finally rediscovering his talents and bringing his face back to mainstream with the snagging of a lead role in a new biopic, but he's not without his problems, still haunted with the events that happened in the first season and continuing to struggle with his depression.
Attempting to start a new chapter with new girlfriend Wanda Pierce (Lisa Kudrow), any doubts you had about connecting to the main character should be washed away with this new batch of episodes - you're willing him to go on and succeed despite this simply being pegged as a comedy show. You want the best for BoJack whilst also begging for the laughs along the way.
Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie) is a character facing her own problems, with the cracks in her marriage to Paul F. Tompkin's Mr. Peanutbutter causing their relationship to crumble, whilst BoJack's agent and ex Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) continues her search for hot new talent.
Aaron Paul also returns as the brilliant Todd - BoJack's lazy roommate - going out on mini-adventures to bring some new life to the series.
It's worth pointing out that the second season does extremely well for allowing other characters aside from BoJack to really shine in the spotlight. We can leave him behind and explore what everybody else has to offer without the danger of the audience losing interest.
Avid fans may also want to rewatch season two episodes for puns they may have missed. The level of joke-telling has increased exponentially and almost every gag will land, with many different types of comedy being utilised.
Some jokes of course are used way too often, as is the case for almost every comedy series out there (Phil tripping up the stairs on Modern Family, Family Guy's Evil Monkey in Chris' closet etc.), but most of the time this is a unique series with brilliant writing that not only allows the audience to laugh, but come away from the episode thinking about some of the topics they've just seen discussed and explored on-screen.
Tragic at times, hilarious at others, BoJack Horseman season two is very almost perfect. Bring on the new episodes and next season.
BoJack Horseman seasons one and two are available now in their entirety on Netflix in all territories where the streaming service is available.