This review contains spoilers for previous seasons of “BoJack Horseman” as well as for the current season.

The first half of the final season of “BoJack Horseman” dropped on October 25th on Netflix. 

Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg in 2014, “BoJack Horseman” follows the title character, a bipedal horse, as he navigates his dysfunctional life and attempts to come to terms with the consequences of his past.

With only eight out of the total sixteen episodes of season six having been released, it is hard to give a definitive rating on the quality of this season.

“BoJack” has always managed to present a well-mixed combination of silly comedy and serious story lines. Season six is no exception.

Episode one starts off right where season five ended with BoJack checking himself into rehabilitation care for his drug and alcohol addictions. The season starts off strong with genuinely funny lines in just the first few minutes. 

The funny streak is kept up until one of the first serious flashbacks occurs. BoJack finds himself hung up on his involvement in the overdose of his co-star Sarah Lynn. This is expressed when it is revealed that BoJack lied to the police about his involvement in the drug-bender that led to Sarah Lynn’s death. This is a motif that is kept up throughout this first half of the season. 

Keeping on the serious theme of alcohol abuse, one episode early on focuses on a series of flashbacks that BoJack has when he tries to remember the very first time he consumed alcohol. Starting when he was in the highlight of his career in the 1990s and going all the way back to early childhood. 

That being said, this season has made sure to not be too serious so far. Episode 4, titled “Surprise!”, focuses on the main cast of characters as they throw an ill-timed surprise-wedding for engaged couple Pickles and Mr. Peanutbutter right as he is telling Pickles that he cheated on her. The entire episode centers around the couples’ friends avoiding them as they sneak around the couple’s house, trying not to be discovered and eavesdropping on their very private marital issues. This episode, overall, is a filler but it does a good job at breaking up the seriousness of the previous episodes.

The highlight episode of this season is episode six, “The Kidney Stays in the Picture”. This episode has the perfect amount of seriousness mixed with comedic relief, mostly provided by the character Todd, played by Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad” and “El Camino” fame.

This episode revolves around BoJack helping his rehab supervisor, Dr. Champ, overcome a alcoholic-relapse that was directly caused by BoJack. At the same time, Todd is having a misadventure with his step-dad wherein they have to track down Todd’s kidney that he sold so he could buy sock puppets.

The final episode of the first half of this season stands out from the rest. None of the main cast members are in it, but instead, side characters from previous seasons take the spotlight.

Hollyhock, Kelsey Jennings, and Gina Cazador all take center-stage in this episode. Due to this, episode seven of this season is what really feels like the mid-season finale. Episode eight doesn’t leave a bad taste in the mouth, but it comes way out of left field. 

Overall, season six of “BoJack Horseman” seems promising. It has continued its streak of bringing both laughter and tears, and it appears to be setting the characters’ storylines up for satisfying conclusions. The second half of the final season will be brought to Netflix on January 31st, 2020.