I always liked Todd. He was a great underrated character in Bojack Horseman, and it is fun to see him run around and do kind things for everybody he can. Despite being a slacker who lives with Bojack after a Halloween party in 2009 to keep him company (the origins later explained in Mr. Peanutbutter's Boos), he is a surprisingly well-written character who has more to him than we know. Todd is shown to be a clever guy who evades the authorities for the right reasons in Yesterdayland, Chickens, Hank After Dark and Out to Sea, and he is basically Bojack's conscience who makes him see the error of his ways in other instances such as One Trick Pony and It's You. It is definitely admirable that he tried so hard to save a escaped chicken from being eaten in Chicken 4 Dayz. Another brilliant thing about Todd is that - despite being the only one of the five main characters who is truly happy with his life, he isn't oblivious to the world around him as his happy-go-lucky attitude would make him seem. He probably tipped out his entire 8 million dollars on purpose in That Went Well because he didn't want the riches of fame and success to go to his head and ruin his life like it did to Bojack, and for that he was probably better off living with Bojack to correct his wrongs instead of buying his own house with the 8 million dollars he had.
The Hollyhock plot has to be my most favorite parts of this Todd Episode. She came to Hollywood because she thinks Bojack could be her biological father, and there was a good joke in the middle of that when Hollyhock Horseman started to act like Bojack, and Todd wasn't sure if they even had to do that hair DNA test. They still did the test anyway, and Todd wanted Diane to think that the hairs were for Channing Tatum instead of Bojack Horseman and tried to impersonate Channing's voice when Diane came to talk to him. The hairs match and Todd lies to Hollyhock to spare her feelings because she was raised by 8 dads and she does not need a 9th dad to fill the hole in her life, and Todd doesn't think Bojack is ready for a normal relationship with anyone since Bojack slept with Todd's girlfriend, Emily. In spite of Todd being the one to drop the F-bomb in the previous season that signifies their friendship being permanently ruined, he is still willing to take baby steps to forgive Bojack after they have a really heartfelt moment at the end of the story. Bojack is very kind to Todd when he says "You do so much for everybody, and all you ever ask for was a roof over your head and the occasional s'more and a baguette. I got more of you than I ever deserved. If you never talk to me again, I just want you to know that I appreciate that, and I appreciate you." To make matters better, Bojack helped Todd to feel good about being asexual and saying it out loud, since Bojack sometimes wishes he was asexual himself. I also like Hollyhock - not just because she is here to set Bojack straight when Todd isn't there (like telling Bojack why he should visit his bad mom at Walnut Springs every week in Thoughts and Prayers) but because I have heard that Bojack having a daughter coming to find him to learn about her mom gave him a chance to redeem himself, since this was a big plot point that started at the end of Season 3 - he cost Sarah Lynn her life after they went on a vicious drug bender after Sarah was sober for 9 months and just did it so she could feel like she is on drugs for the first time again, and he did not want to work on Bradley's new sequel spin-off Ethan Around because he was worried he would make the little girl on that show meet the same horrible fate as Sarah, and after Bojack drove away and nearly did suicide by making his car move too fast, we see Hollyhock for the first time after she tried and failed to call Princess Carolyn because she wanted to speak to Bojack. And...I really liked watching Bojack trying to be a good father to Hollyhock while keeping his mom Beatrice in check for most of Season 4.
SPOILER: I know they turned out to be half-siblings on Bojack's father's side at the end of Season 4, and the "Henrietta" whom Beatrice thought Bojack was turned out to be the answer to Bojack's "Carla Mercedes Benz-Brown" mystery, but Bojack and Hollyhock being father and daughter figures to each other before then was nice while it lasted. I can also see why Hollyhock would think Bojack is her dad, since he is surely old enough to be that. It was cute seeing her play Joelle Clark's role in Bojack's live Horsin' Around performance at Walnut Springs, so they can play father and teenage daughter in Horsin' Around as well, since that was what their real-life family relationship was like at the time. I also really like the name Hollyhock because my Introduction to Filmmaking teacher, Yaniv M. Aronson, is from Hollyhock Fellow Stanford University.
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