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"The Old Sugerman Place" is the 2nd episode of Season 4 of Netflix original series BoJack Horseman.
Synopsis
BoJack goes off the grid and winds up at his grandparents' dilapidated home in Michigan where he reflects on his family legacy and befriends another soul haunted by the past.
Plot
Continuing from the last scene of "That Went Well", BoJack is about to join the horse runners only to be interrupted by a call from Diane. He hesitates to reply, and it goes to his voicemail. BoJack then drives across the country to Harper's Landing, Michigan and arrives at his old grandparents' summer home which looks that it hasn't been used in a long time.
It then cuts to 1944 where a young Beatrice is helping her mother, Honey Sugarman, serve breakfast to her father Joseph Sugarman. Her older brother Crackerjack is a soldier in the U.S. Army and prepares to take a family portrait with his family. Honey offers to giver Crackerjack his old blanket, but Crackerjack decides to give it to Beatrice for safe keeping.
Cutting back to the present, BoJack finds that the plumbing has gone bad, and goes to a local hardware store to get the proper parts while trying to keep a low profile. Two hardware store workers ask him if he's BoJack and the fact that he brought a dead Sarah Lynn to the hospital, but Bojack tries to deny it. BoJack tries to fix up the place, but it's shoddy at best. Another flashback shows the Sugerman family leaving the summer home for the year. BoJack's neighbor Eddie tries to get him to fix the door before summer, but BoJack stubbornly refuses.
Indeed during the winter, BoJack starts freezing to death, while watching a mini-series about Sarah Lynn. Another flashback shows the Sugarman family coming back to the summer home during the winter as a frantic Honey tries to look for Crackerjack's blanket, with the reveal that he was shot and killed in the war. The next morning, BoJack finds that Eddie fixed the door for him, and BoJack reluctantly allows him to help out with the repairs. While fixing up the house, BoJack asks Eddie how come he doesn't go away during the winter, with Eddie simply stating "I don't fly".
Eventually, they finally finish fixing, although BoJack notices that the weather vane on the roof is missing. Eddie remembers that he saw it on top of a local barn and the two head out there. Another flashback shows the Sugerman family coming to the summer home, although Honey is still heartbroken over Crackerjack's death. On the night of the end of the war, Honey and Beatrice go out to the barn for a celebration party. As Eddie plays the piano as a distraction while BoJack gets the weather vane, the superimposed flashback shows Honey singing the same song and eventually has a public meltdown, getting drunk and kissing one of Crackerjack's war friends. Honey is asked to leave, and she tells Beatrice to drive them home, as BoJack and Eddie run off with the weather vane. BoJack and Eddie drive alongside Honey and Beatrice, while the latter end up crashing into a gas station shed due to Honey telling Beatrice to go faster because she wants to feel alive.
The weather vane is fixed, and BoJack, trying to thank Eddie, gets him to fly again. Eddie, however, is furious over it and reveals the reason he didn't want to fly anymore is that he caused his wife's death by flying too high and she got sucked into a jet engine. Eddie decides to do the same to BoJack, but Bojack's weight causes them to fall into the lake. BoJack pulls an unconscious Eddie out of the lake, and after he wakes up he starts crying and says he doesn't want to live. We then see another flashback to Honey and Beatrice, who are now bloody and broken from the car crash. Joseph is furious over Honey's actions, and Honey says she doesn't know how to feel better, she can't stop thinking about Crackerjack. She tearfully begs her husband to fix her. The flashback ends as BoJack enters the house and decides to call Diane and apologies to her about everything. Diane tries to convince BoJack to come home, but BoJack believes that there is nothing for him there anymore though he does admit he misses her.
There is another flashback to Beatrice out on the back porch, and her father comes out and tells her her mother is ok, she just let her womanly emotions get the better of her. He says a broken heart cannot be fixed but the brain can, Honey is a brand new woman and she'll like to meet her. Beatrice goes to her mother, who is sitting at the piano, but it seems she cannot remember how to play. It is revealed Honey was lobotomized, and it is shown she is now a dazed and empty shell of her former self (along with having a large scar on her forehead), much to the horror of Beatrice, who begins crying in her mother's lap. The now dazed Honey says she's better now, and asks Beatrice to never love someone the same way she loved Crackerjack, as love does terrible things to a person, and a tearful Beatrice promises. In the present, BoJack calls in a demolition crew to tear down the house. When Eddie asks what's going on, BoJack tells him that he has decided to stop wallowing in the past and move forward in life. As the house his torn down, BoJack drives back to Hollywoo.
Cast
Main
- BoJack Horseman (voiced by Will Arnett)
- Princess Carolyn (voiced by Amy Sedaris) (absent)
- Diane Nguyen (voiced by Alison Brie)
- Mr. Peanutbutter (voiced by Paul F. Tompkins) (absent)
- Todd Chavez (voiced by Aaron Paul) (absent)
Guest
- Eddie (voiced by Colman Domingo)
- Joseph Sugarman (voiced by Matthew Broderick)
- Honey Sugarman (voiced by Jane Krakowski)
- Young Beatrice (voiced by Wendie Malick)
- Crackerjack Sugarman (voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda)
- TV BoJack (voiced by Paul Giamatti)
- Tamara (voiced by Grace Parra)
- Tamaara (voiced by Gabourey Sidibe)
Memorable Quotes
Young Beatrice: Aw I want a freezy pop!
Honey Sugarman: Oh Beatrice, you know iced cream is for boys. You can sprinkle some sugar on a lemon, that's a good healthy girls snack!
Joseph Sugarman: Alright, believe it or not, time's arrow neither stays still nor reverses. It merely marches foreword.
Honey Sugarman: Oh really? Time's arrow marches? I didn't know arrows had legs! (In a funny voice)Look at me! I'm a marching arrow!
Joseph Sugarman: Honey Sugarman, how did such a sweet face end up with such a smart mouth?
Honey Sugarman: I don't know, but I've got half a mind to kiss you with that smart mouth!
Joseph Sugarman: Well, that half you can keep!
Photographer: “Okay, folks, this is for posterity, so don’t forget to look far-away sad!”
Joseph Sugarman: “Oh darling, it’ll always be here. Just like polio and blackface."
Joseph Sugarman: "If anyone is to blame, it's the Jews for peeving off Hitler so bad"
Eddie: "And that broken door is the cherry on the top of the shit sandwich!
BoJack: "What kind of a sandwich has cherries on top of it?
Eddie: "A shitty one! How about fixing your door instead of my metaphor!"
BoJack: "As a great woman once said, 'Suck a dick, dumb shit."
Trivia
- Princess Carolyn, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Todd do not appear in this episode.
- BoJack’s imaginary daughter from Downer Ending was named Harper, the exact same name as the town where his family’s cottage is located.
- According to the sugar cube label, the “family” currently owning Sugarman Sugar is the Fukasaka Family of International Conglomerates.
- Destruction of the Sugarman house continues over the ending theme song.
- This is the first appearance of Beatrice's parents, Joseph and Honey, and her older brother, Crackerjack.
- This is the first time we see Beatrice's childhood.
- "I Will Always Think of You" is an original song written for the show.
- Michelle Branch's cover of "A Horse With No Name" plays over the montage of BoJack driving to Michigan.
