The Good Place, BoJack Horseman, and What We Owe To Each Other

What do we owe to each other? A loaded question, to be sure. But two exquisite comedy series tried their darnedest to answer it, each coming up with essentially the same response: Everything. If you haven’t had the chance to watch The Good Place or BoJack Horseman, this is the part of the piece where I ask you to close out of your browser and dive in to either one immediately (both are available on Netflix, with the final season of The Good Place streaming on Hulu), as I’ll be spoiling both series throughout this article.

So, what do we owe to each other? It’s the question that sparks Eleanor Shellstrop to track down Chidi Anagonye halfway across the world at the end of season two of The Good Place, reuniting the separated (and mind-wiped) characters and setting the show on its path for the remaining two seasons of the series. It’s a question that BoJack Horseman, a selfish loner with a penchant for self-sabotage and a refusal to accept that his actions have reverberating consequences, fails to ask himself until the very end of the show’s run. But it’s the question that is always present, floating around, just out of reach of BoJack, but telegraphed to the audience. On both shows, our protagonists aren’t set up as people to emulate. Rather, we’re meant to see ourselves in them (whether we want to or not), and use their journeys to recognize their failings (and their strengths) as a template to how to become better friends, neighbors, and global citizens.

Now, you might have read that last sentence and thought, “Ok, that’s a pretty big leap to make about shows that reveal in jokes about the Jacksonville Jaguars and mistaking three children standing on top of each other in a trench coat as an actual adult man. Can’t we just recognize that these were amazing comedies with some deeply moving emotional beats and be on our way?”

And the answer to that is sure, of course we can. And we absolutely should acknowledge that among the lessons on moral philosophy, the structure of the afterlife, and the difficult nature of addiction and blindness to one’s own faults, these two series were forking hilarious. But it’s their comedic brilliance that allowed for their darker (in the case of BoJack) and more soulful (in the case of The Good Place) sides to flourish. Without the silly jokes, the groan-inducing puns, and the various sight gags, these shows would have become unwatchable. The comedy allowed for the one thing that drove each series until the end: Hope.

Back when I reviewed the first half of season six of BoJack Horseman, I stressed that, as the walls began to close in on BoJack and it became clear he would eventually be forced to reckon with his most egregious failings, I had hope that he would learn from that confrontation with the darkness inside of him rather than continue making the same mistakes that got him to where he was. And, while the series didn’t end with BoJack rehabilitated, it did end with hope that this time, the lessons might stick. That being said, it also ended with a strong hint that he would have to move forward without some of the people closest to him – namely Diane, who recognized her own codependent relationship with BoJack and finally took the step of severing it for good, and Princess Caroline, who made it clear that she couldn’t remain a professional shield for BoJack if he makes the mistake of getting back into show business – a necessary step for both BoJack and those in his life to take if he’s every going to be able to survive in the world on his own. To be a good person and good friend we sometimes have to take a step back from those we love to allow them the space and time to grow into the people they need to become. It’s a hell of a lesson.

Similarly, it’s a lesson Eleanor learned for herself in the finale of The Good Place. Faced with the knowledge that Chidi had reached the end of his time in The Good Place, she selfishly acted out and forbid him to move on through the Door, attempting to manipulate him into staying with her to avoid facing her fear of being alone. But, as it turns out, when one reads a book titled “What Do We Owe to Each Other” the lessons taught within it stick. In this case, as with BoJack, it became clear to Eleanor that sometimes the greatest act of love is to respect the needs of someone else and let them go. Here, it meant allowing Chidi to leave The Good Place, forcing Eleanor to work on herself for a few Jeremy Bearimies without a safety net. Loneliness can be a terrifying prospect, and it can be especially scary for someone who let people behind the walls they spent years building around themselves. But putting the needs of someone else above your own is so essential to growing as a person.

We owe so much to each other, yet spend so much time embroiled in our own shirt – whether it be our own insecurities, our own wants and needs, or our own fears. When we are constantly looking inward, it’s impossible to recognize the impact we are having on those around us and the world at large. What the lovable dummies on The Good Place and the core five characters on BoJack Horseman all took years to realize was that looking outward is an essential part of being human. We’re not called to be altruistic every moment of every day (as we saw with Doug Forcett on The Good Place), but if we take the time to think, even for a brief moment, about other people – if we reach out beyond our own innate selfishness for a moment here or there – it will make the world a better place. We owe that to each other. We owe kindness. We owe empathy. We owe understanding. And we owe it to ourselves to be the kind of friend and neighbor we would like to see. As Michael once told Jason, “Sometimes, when you’re feeling helpless, the secret is to help someone else. Get out of your own head. Trust me. The next time someone asks for help, say yes.” And that’s what we owe to each other.