The best BoJack Horseman episodes offer a lot more than fans of adult animation might be used to. When people talk about adult animation, they usually mean shows with vulgar jokes, excessive violence, or non-stop bad language. That is not the case with BoJack Horseman. Instead, this Netflix series is one that was about adult situations, including honest looks at depression, addiction, and even suicidal thoughts. The show also wasn't afraid to show tragedies that the main characters couldn't avoid, and it took time to show them dealing with the fallout.

BoJack Horseman wasn't afraid to explore the depths of the human condition and examine the worst parts of life. The show does this through the eyes of a main character who knows he might be irredeemable. It combines the effects of a surreal comedy with a brutal tragedy that delivers some of the most profound messages any TV show offers today, much less one told through animation and anthropomorphic animal characters.

10 "The Showstopper"

Season 5, Episode 11

By the show’s fifth season, BoJack Horseman’s addiction issues were starting to become concerning. In this BoJack Horseman episode, his addiction to painkillers started to cause him to break down and lose control of himself. It also caused him to ruin yet another relationship when he attacked Gina after spending so much time this season trying to protect her. This was becoming very overwhelming for his sense of guilt and overall well-being, making it even harder for him to finally get over this addiction.

The entire episode goes a long way to show the allegory of being addicted to painkillers and being addicted to fame. His actions when he lashed out came when he started to confuse real life with his on-screen roles, and by the time he realized what he was doing, he had already gone too far. BoJack's attack on Gina left her scarred for life, showing that BoJack hurt those close to him even more than he hurt himself in the series.

9 "Time's Arrow"

Season 4, Episode 11

In season 4, “Time’s Arrow” showed BoJack Horseman as a child, and it went into some detail about his childhood and how it influenced the man that he grew into. The entire fourth season showed a lot about these moments, from the death of his uncle to his grandmother’s lobotomy. It showed how his mom became the terrible mother that audiences saw her as, and did it in a way to make people feel bad for Beatrice when she began to fall to dementia.

In ”Time’s Arrow,” the focus centered on the dementia diagnosis and how it affected Beatrice while also showing the effects of childhood and generational trauma. This is the main episode that showed how poorly Beatrice and Butterscotch raised BoJack, while never excusing it. This episode shows her life from three different fractured memories, all broken due to the effects of her terrible disease. It is a well done look at how dementia can play out in a deteriorated mind.

8 "Stupid Piece Of Sh*t"

Season 4, Episode 6

This BoJack Horseman season 4 episode gets a lot of credit for not only telling the story uniquely but also for using a stylistic animated style to make it stand out from every other episode. In this episode, the story mostly plays out in BoJack's mind. When the story goes into his head, the animation changes to a more abstract, sketched-out style of artwork that is both simplistic and dynamic in its presentation.

The twist at the end is that Hollyhock has the same negative voice.

This episode shows how similar BoJack is to Hollyhock, and the title of the episode reveals the inner voice that drives BoJack to depression every day, as it is how he sees himself. This inner voice also influences how and why he responds to certain stressful situations in his life and why he is often so self-destructive. The twist at the end is that Hollyhock has the same negative voice, and it is a perfect example of how BoJack Horseman deals with mental health issues in a smart and honest manner.

7 "The Dog Days Are Over"

Season 5, Episode 2

This season 5 episode has almost nothing to do with BoJack himself and instead focuses on Diane heading to Vietnam for a trip to get over the stress of her divorce. While in Vietnam, she works on a new article ("10 Reasons to go to Vietnam") and soon finds herself using writing to understand how to get through this hard time in her life. Diane is easily one of the best BoJack Horseman characters and this episode allows the show to delve deep into her psyche and show what makes her tick through her pain.

It does an amazing job of showing how she had developed since her introduction in the first season and how she was one of the rare characters to make positive progress in her own inner being. It also did a great job of showing how the show subverts the expectations of what viewers thought was going to happen. It proves that the best BoJack Horseman episodes show emotional tales of self-discovery, even if it doesn't involve the titular horse.

6 "Nice While It Lasted"

Season 6, Episode 16

The final episode of BoJack Horseman was one that had many fans worried. How could the show end its run after such honest and devastating moments and do so honestly? Many viewers believed that BoJack needed to die at the end of the series to finally give him the punishment he deserved, but that was never the plan even though there were red herrings that it might be the direction is planned to take. Instead, the finale was a melancholy look at BoJack realizing his story just had to go on.

BoJack was in jail, but he was allowed one night of freedom outside so he could attend Princess Carolyn’s wedding. The audience was then able to watch BoJack as he interacted with all the characters that he had associated with over the years. It showed how much all the characters had come since the first season, and seeing them finally make their peace with BoJack. This allowed fans to say goodbye to BoJack, Peanutbutter, Princess Carolyn, Todd, and Diane, with the latter giving BoJack one last piece of advice before saying goodbye.

5 "Fish Out Of Water"

Season 3, Episode 4

“Fish Out of Water” is another uniquely animated BoJack Horseman episode. As the title indicates, this takes the main character out of his comfort zone and has him heading into strange surroundings on another journey. BoJack heads to an undersea film festival to promote his new movie, Secretariat. However, he ironically can’t promote anything since he can’t communicate or talk to anyone thanks to him wearing his underwater fishbowl helmet.

This episode mostly plays out without any dialogue.

This allows the episode to tell the story without using hardly any dialogue at all, which was an interesting tactic and one that helped the season 3 episode stand out from others. The main plot sees BoJack trying to return a baby seahorse to its father, and it offers some stunning underwater scenery and some great marine-life jokes. It also features one of the show’s best jokes and never loses its heart as BoJack attempts to apologize, which is a huge moment for the character.

4 "Escape From L.A."

Season 2, Episode 11

Season 2 showed not only how terrible BoJack Horseman could be, but also how his actions could make everyone around him miserable as well. He reconnects with an old friend in this episode named Charlotte, someone he had a crush on back in the 90s. He then stays with her family and grows close with her teenage daughter, Penny. However, when he s Penny and her friends on prom night, he makes a mistake he lives to regret.

There are several BoJack Horseman episodes that show him doing awful things and never living them down, but this was an earlier one that really set the trajectory of his life throughout the remainder of the series. He had made mistakes in earlier episodes of the series, but this was the first one that actually made an impact on his life and the overarching story, and it was one that set the Netflix series on another level.

3 "That's Too Much, Man!"

Season 3, Episode 11

This season 3 installment is easily the most depressing and shocking BoJack Horseman episode of the entire run. In this, he learned he was not getting an Oscar for his role in Secretariat, so he descends to his addictions again. There was only one real problem with this. He convinced the recently sober Sarah-Lynn to him on the drug-induced bender just because he wanted to hurt himself and drown his pain with drugs. However, this ended up with tragic consequences.

As BoJack and Sarah-Lynn sit and watch the stars, she rests her head on him and dies of a heroin overdose.

When BoJack and Sarah-Lynn make their way to the planetarium, since that was the one place she really wanted to go, the show takes a turn that most viewers have never forgotten. As BoJack and Sarah-Lynn sit and watch the stars, she rests her head on him and dies of a heroin overdose. The episode’s ending with BoJack repeating her name with no response told the tale in one of the most heartbreaking moments of the series.

2 "The View From Halfway Down"

Season 6, Episode 15

Easily one of the most haunting BoJack Horseman episodes in the show’s run, “The View from Halfway Down” was the penultimate entry of the series and shockingly ended the overarching storyline of whether BoJack would live or die with one episode remaining. This allowed the final episode to help work things out and send all the characters off with a satisfying ending, while this episode was the one that really wrapped up BoJack’s story once and for all.

It is a haunting look at death through the eyes of someone who doesn’t believe they deserve to live.

The episode features one of the more memorable sequences in BoJack Horseman history with a dinner party he attends with all the characters who died throughout the show’s run. He sits at the table with Sarah-Lynn, Beatrice, Jackson-Jackson, Corduroy, Herb, and Crackerjack, and none of them let him off the hook for his actions over their lives. His father even shows up and reads a poem about jumping into the black abyss of nothingness, which is what BoJack believes he deserves. It is a haunting look at death through the eyes of someone who doesn’t believe they deserve to live.

1 "Free Churro"

Season 5, Episode 6

“Free Churro” is not only one of the best BoJack Horseman episodes in the show’s run but also one of the best-animated television episodes, regardless of series. The installment has its opening, and then when the main story begins, it is mostly just one long monologue given by BoJack. What makes this work so well is that his monologue is something the viewer can’t turn away from, showing how perfectly written dialogue can move a story just as well as any action or drama scene.

BoJack Horseman is at his mother’s funeral and is asked to give a speech about her. As the series revealed, BoJack was the way he was because of his mother and the lack of love and she showed him throughout his life. His monologue showed how much he loved his mother while also honestly revealing how she failed him. It remains one of the most heartbreaking, yet at times hilarious, discussions of grief ever shown and proves that BoJack Horseman was always one of the best shows on television.