‘The Old Sugarman Place’ and ‘Time’s Arrow’ are two interconnected episodes in season 4 of Bojack Horseman. These episodes throw significant light on the nature of unhealed trauma that gets passed down through various generations. We see Bojack’s mother, Beatrice Sugarman, being raised in a household where initially there was comfort and love through her mother and brother. Her father, however, makes statements to Beatrice like the one in the picture which clearly shows a lack of emotional support.
Some events show that Beatrice was bullied in school and that her mother’s lobotomy, which was done as a procedure to deal with grief (post the death of her brother in war) badly affects her. She suddenly loses all her sources of comfort and is left to be cared for by her father who believes that he is “woefully unprepared to manage a woman’s emotions.”
Beatrice grows up to seek more freedom and gets educated. She then makes the hasty decision to elope with Butterscotch Horseman in hopes that they would have a simple beautiful life. They were not prepared for what life was about to throw at them and Beatrice gives birth to Bojack in the middle of all that chaos.
It is interesting how the extent and depth of the trauma that has been passed down to Bojack is explained through these episodes as he is seen being blamed for their unsuccessful life and grows up in an unloving household. We see how his issues of self-hate arise from there. We repeatedly also see how Beatrice was never able to process her trauma which in turn makes her have resentment towards Bojack.
The episode ‘Time’s Arrow’ ends with a strong lesson and an attempt made by Bojack to heal his trauma, albeit unknowingly. He gets frustrated with his mother and decides to leave her in a miserable place which is when she suddenly bounces back from her dementia and calls out his name. Bojack takes a moment to speak but decides to empathize with her and speaks to her to make her feel calm. This shows that he somewhere does hold the capacity to empathize with his mother. Healing one’s trauma can be far more complicated than this one scene but it does show the complicated nature of healing process.
