I'm kind of surprised no ones talked about the line "its so easy. For you to love me when everything's good." So many things about that one line hit like a truck in regards to life and the show.
That's why I always found Judah to be a much better fit romantically for her than Ralph, Ralph said "you're so easy Princess Carolyn [and] this is why I love you" which obviously stung. She's independent and headstrong and ambitious, but those attributes are also some of her biggest flaws. She finds it hard to need and rely on people, partly because she was raised in an environment that forced her to take responsibility for almost everything. Judah helps support her and allows her to be emotionally vulnerable and doesn't view her independence as a plus in a relationship. Judah is willing to stick by her no matter what, even in hard times.
@@nyabis8044 Judah allows Princess Carolyn to be her headstrong, powerhouse self but the difference between him and Ralph is that Judah doesn't ask PC if she NEEDS help then shrug it off lightly when she pushes back on that offer. Judah KNOWS she needs help and he understands what things she may forget whilst taking care of her major focuses and proceeds to do them for her WITHOUT asking her. Judah knows what PC needs and he understands she needs someone to support her work heavily while knowing when to remind her she may need to take a break bc she deserves it xD
I always imagined that PC eventually got a gold version of that necklace to give to Ruthie. Firstly so her daughter can always have something to remember her mother's tenacity and that the worst days don't have to knock you down forever, and second bc lead jewelry can be hella toxic.
@@Isaacindelicato123 I don't think so. She did have a miscarriage before getting the necklace from her mom from her first pregnancy. Maybe it was just how her body is. I think.
@@helen8022 idk, the lead could definitely play a role in further miscariages. Miscariages aren't that extremely rare so the first could have been just a coincidence. I do believe that Lead can lead to fertility disorders...
@@helen8022 well miscarriages are more common than people think, especially in young first time mothers, like PC was during her first accidental pregnancy. The lead necklace definitely did her no favors though, as lead is known to cause fertility issues.
You would expect that Princess Carolyn would throw her necklace away at some point in the episode as a sign of just how much she's fallen into despair, especially since it's a fake. But she keeps it for the remainder of the show and I think that's because the necklace's meaning has been recontextualized. Sure, it's not a family heirloom from the old country that belonged to a line of tenacious cats, but it does belong to one cat who climbed her way to the top of her field and continues on to the morning after in spite of her wounds not healing quite yet. It doesn't matter that it's a cheap peace of costume jewelry because it still holds personal significance. In the same way, all of Princess Carolyn's setbacks in her career and her personal life, while incredibly painful, weren't pointless. If not for her miscarriages, she would have never adopted Ruthie. If she didn't break up with Ralph, she never would have married Judah. Princess Carolyn lands on her feet of her own accord, not because it's expected of her. It's her choice to get up again just like that necklace is hers alone. And maybe one day, Princess Carolyn can make that false family heirloom story into truth by passing it down to her daughter. Or maybe not because lead jewelry is still pretty toxic and can cause allergies.
@@jessicavictoriacarrillo7254 Like somebody else mentioned in another comment about she making a real gold version of the necklace and pass it down to Ruthie in the future, I choose to think she did replace it with a real gold one which carries her own story.
This episode fooled me so successfully. I kept telling myself "This is so sad, but thank goodness I know it'll all work out in the end." Only to find out that I'd been using Ruthie as a comforting coping mechanism exactly like poor Princess Carolyn. I'm so glad she eventually did get a happy ending. Out of all the characters in the show she was one who unambiguously deserved one.
Many fans like the theory about Princess Carolyn´s necklace being the cause of her miscarriages because is likely to be made of lead, but I don´t think is the case. Sometimes life is a bitch without jewelry on.
@@AkJosh98 she got it before her first miscarriage, but in flashbacks from the 90s and mid 2000s she wasn’t shown wearing it, She had 2 other miscarriages in between the time she was 18 and the beginning of season 4, it’s likely they happened during this time
I love Princess Carolyn so much, she's such a hard worker and the fact that she's a pink kitty makes it even better. No deep reason I just think it's cute especially in contrast to the semi-realistic designs of everyone else.
I have a best friend who didn’t really understand depression until this show, the depictions and different ways it can affect you, and she’s an addict to it/your reviews now. It really helped her understand the decisions behind those with mental afflicted. Thank you, Johnny! And if you see this, RayRay, so proud of you!
Princess Caroline firing Judah for some reason felt more impactful than her breaking up with Ralph. Maybe it’s because Judah was quickly becoming my favorite of the secondary cast member, and that’s probably because I’m autistic so I saw a lot of myself in him. I was so happy when he returned in season 6.
The emotional whiplash this caused me, Princess Caroline focused stories tend to be my faovurite, cause she's the most outwardly strong, so showing her vulnerability and sorrow is really important to people who feel the need to always be unphased and unaffected by life
Her mother didn’t have the necklace that long though, the necklace was from the 60’s and she probably didn’t wear it enough for her fertility to be affected as she already had kids by then (I believe, can’t remember if PC is the oldest or if she has older siblings)
I was thinking this too but lead exposure builds in your bones and genes over time and gets passed to your children.. so i dont think its completely off the table
@@mageofdoomsie1598she had her first miscarriage before she ever got the necklace so i doubt it, many people have fertility issues without any outside intervention
As a young woman with a questionable mom, no siblings to lean on, and even similar setbacks to PC in the future family creation department, I feel like PC herself has been a huge role model for me. I have to say, she's helped out a ton. I may not be doing the profession I dreamed about, but I'm pretty okay. Got a nice boyfriend. My own dog. A lovely apartment. My work recently recognized me as the best worker in my department. I did it. This whole show is such a big success because there is a complex character for everyone to learn from. I learn from PC.
@@ThiccFurryBoi34 I am! Made strides both in work and in my relationship. Make twice as much as I did, and the boyfriend is now the fiance. Life is good.
At first I completely removed the fact that she called her daughter Ruthie in honor of her imaginary descendant. My first thought when I'd heard that name, instead, was the chat that PC had with Vanessa Gekko, when the latter said: "being a parent is a ruthless job." And so PC called the baby Ruthie, from "ruthless". Now, I don't know, I very much like both interpretations.
Perhaps it was both, maybe pc had the name lurking in the back of her head throughout Ruthie, and of course, when she got her own daughter, she didn’t have the time or the energy to name her, so when Vanessa Gecko mentioned “ruthlessness”, something clicked in pcs mind, and the name “ruthie” came back to the front of her mind.
I remember watching this the first time, and all throughout the episode I kept thinking "when is PC gonna have her moment where she overcomes everything??? Everything has to be okay because Ruthie is telling everyone about her in the future!" It just made the moment where PC tells Bojack that she imagined it all as a coping mechanism all the more crushing. It was a real kick in the emotions for me, because I understood her: sometimes things in your life just go so so wrong that you have no other option but to escape into your own head where everything works out just to protect yourself.
Princess Carolyn is all of the things that pushed Princess Carolyn towards her own success. It's not her ancestors, it's not her necklace, it's not her clients, it's not any of the people she's interacted with in the show. It's her own self-made audacity to keep trying despite all the setbacks she's faced.
The end of this episode always makes me cry so hard the way it doesn't cut back to ruthie as a kid summing up the end of the story is what hurts the most
I watched this episode for the first time shortly after my miscarriage. Out of all of the sad and horrible things that happen in the show, this was the only episode I cried about. When she got drunk and nonchalantly said no more baby as if it wasn't one of, if not the most heartbreaking moments in her life, was so realistic. The female characters and the way the show handles female issues was really refreshing in a way that I can tell without looking at the credits that women were actively involved in the writing of this show.
Have bawled in so many episodes of Bojack Horseman, but this episode hit me the hardest. My bestfriend used to compare me to Princess Carolyn because of my ability to find ways out of problems and situations, and the tendency to always "land on my feet". I never truly believed it myself until I had the very worst day crashing on me- with my father's illness getting worse, my relationship being so troubled and my job getting so shaky. When this happened, I wanted so bad to believe what my bestfriend said- that I'd always land on my feet somehow even after all of this- and so I watched this episode again. Rewatching Princess Carolyn's struggles and pain, and knowing that things worked out in the end though not how she initially wanted, it made me feel some level of comfort- that perhaps things will work out eventually even if all seems lost and bleak in the present.
There is something... Poetic about this episode. It's almost Buddhist in undertone as the events can be summed up as the destruction of the present, the future, and the past, and how from this total destruction came forth a new person free from those shackles...
Seeing P.C. bawling in her car after that awful day and immediately pretending she was OK so she could answer her phone messed with me a bit. Normally one of the characters with the strongest emotional resolve and sense of control suddenly just breaking down. I still get chills thinking about it, and it also makes me laugh at anyone who says that cartoons are silly and just for children. Many shows (live action or animated) show characters crying, sometimes even just for laughs, but few shows can actually give you chills when they show you someone crying. That's how good the writing is.
I said this under the community post announcing this, but Ruthie is one of my favorite episodes because I have used that same coping mechanism as Princess Carolyn even before I knew Bojack existed. PC is one of my favorite characters if not my favorite character for this episode alone.
Ruthie got me to start thinking like Princess Carolyn in the "distant future person tells about me as an ancestor" mindset: sometimes it's my own future kid.
Honestly when I saw the truth about the necklace made me just dislike her mother even more but then made me wonder if her mom was lied to as well about the necklace history or she just made up a story to make her daughter feel better about their situation moving forward
given the context of the episode we saw PC get the necklace in, i understood it more as her mother lying to her as a way to comfort her. PC's mom didn't seem very motivated and was self destructive, and i assume if her mom had been told the same lie then PC probably would have heard of the necklaces story before that moment. I still hate her mom, but i do think she meant well on trying to comfort her daughter on one of her worst experiences she's ever had in life
I think that it was too perfect. She could have had a surface level perfection, but she'd always feel insecure. PC couldn't have been happy with a conventional and picture perfect. She needed to learn to trust and be open and find a guy who would do anything for her. She thought she needed to be rescued by a man. Bojack, Vincent Adultman. They weren't going to save her. She needed a partner who would make her the best she could be. Judah was that man. Even if he is bizarre maybe even neurodivergent and not good on paper her willingness to trust him is the true love. I'm sure The kindly millionaire will find someone. You have to be ready for love. Even a great guy on paper isn't enough if you don't love yourself and trust him.
Another heartbreaking thing about the necklace is the realization that her mother LIED to her. Shes the one that made up the story about the necklace being a priceless family heirloom in order to emotionally manipulate PC. She only made the story up to encourage PC to stick with the plan of having the baby for the money it would bring them, showing how much of a cold oppertunist her mother was, taking advantage of her in a vulnerable moment for her own gain.
I get so excited everytime you upload, especially your Bojack analysis videos! I can't wait to see your review for Ruthie, as it's one of my favorite episodes, not just of the series, but from any show.
I don't know how, but this episode is the thing that makes me cry. EVERY time. Even when I watch a review of it. PC is a great character but goddamn I'm crying (
Ruthie is an amazing character even though she’s not real, my online friend and I would always role playing sometimes and I would tell her about my imagined character named Mei and how he’s in a band with his friends but he also suffers with depression and insomnia but he always try to fight back with his demons and even though times get tough and hard, he always work hard and put a smile on his face. I honestly do think this is kinda cringe as I’m typing this but I guess I can say it makes me feel better.
I don't think it's cringe at all. Crafting narratives and characters can be another way to make sense of the world and our feelings, as well as being a healthy form of creative expression. Plus it can be fun. As long as it makes you happy and isn't hurting anyone, then that's a good thing you've got going.
hey that's not cringe! roleplay can be a healthy hobby if you're careful to also have other outlets. i find it very similar to improv (bojack reference kind of intended)
PC is one of the strongest characters ever! Not just in this show but in general as well. And the things that make her the strongest are the failures she faces in her personal and professional life. I LOVE that she always lands on her feet. She hits the lows but always gets back. She was the daughter of the maid and now kind of runs the whole Hollywoob. I love her so much ♥️
I wish you'd talk more about Ralph one day. I always felt their break-up was unfortunate (even though I think she'll have a great future with Judah). It wasn't his fault that she miscarried, and when he learned it was a recurring situation for her, it made sense to talk about the possibility of adoption, since what he really wanted was to have a happy family with the woman he loved, not necessarily for said baby to have to come from them. But it wasn't something PC could hear at the time. In the end, I don't think their break-up was either of their faults, they just were together at the wrong time in their lives (he said it best when he discovers she's choosing to adopt later on, even though she refused to do so with him).
I feel like what you said at the end regarding PC's necklace not mattering because what it represented was still real regardless if the necklace was, reminds me of a quote from Death in the Hogfather, about how we need to believe in things that aren't real so that we can make them real. PC doesn't need the necklace, she just needed to keep that spark, that drive to give her life meaning and in the end she and the rest of the cast, minus Bojack, got a happy ending. She is married to someone who is there for her and loves her deeply, she has a daughter, she sort of made peace with her rival and got some help from her, all the strife and pain she endured was worth it, because in the end...she landed on her feet
tbh i still think bojack got a happy ending. he was sober, he was teaching acting, he was doing better. his life was not perfect, he'd lost everyone, but he was becoming a better person than he was and i think that makes the ending happy for him.
The last bit of this video really got me emotional. I had always thought of Ruthie as one of the most severe downers in the show, but with the perspective of later seasons + that interpretation of the necklace, it becomes almost kind of uplifting. A day that bad can happen, but that doesn't change who you are and the traits that got you to where you are. Princess Carolyn ultimately ended up being right - everything did turn out alright, even if that day still sucked and nothing can change that.
I actually started crying, this episode of pc is so heartbreaking but it’s one of my favorites because I see myself in pc and all of the BH characters but pc holds a special seat in my heart
The necklace shows the power that symbols can have in shaping people’s behaviour, whether they are legit or not. Even though the necklace was just a custom piece, Princess Carolyn used it as inspiration to become the tenacious cat-lady Carolyn is, which only makes her even more impressive. She didn’t come from a long-family of resilient cat immigrants as her mother told her, but she willed herself to become one.
Just thought about this episode today on my way home from work, I often think of scenarios about the family I don't have or the life I could lead because " It makes me feel better."
I really like this take on Ruthie because it goes beyond just the sad ending. You do a good job pointing out the positivity that comes from the episode's message.
I always hoped that Ralph would end up with PC in the end, but I’m so glad she actually ended up with Judah. Ralph was a great guy for her though, he helped her realize her dreams for having a family were still possible!
I remember reading and watching a theory about that necklace that she wears, that there is most probably lead in it and that is the partial reason why she miscarried so much.
After watching the full series for the first time, Princess Carolyn is probably my favorite character. Her drive to never give up is what inspires me a lot
Great video! I found I related to PC the most, so seeing her struggle so much in this episode was hard to watch cause I've been in those heart breaking days. Days where it's just one bad thing after another even after you thought you did everything right and worked so damn hard. Glad in the end she did accomplished what she wanted, so it give me hope.
Throughout the whole episode, no matter how bad things got for PC, no matter how hard it was to keep watching, I kept telling myself that it’ll be ok, she’ll still have her baby eventually. But then that ending scene starts, and it destroys me each and every time
Man I loved how you show me the reality of this episode, it's truly heartbreaking but at the same time so resilient, also I really love your miniatures of your videos
One of my favorite details of this wonderfully tragic episode was that despite knowing that her necklace had no monetary value, it still carried sentimental and intrinsic value.
I just realized the phrase of "it's you." that Todd gave can be applied on the positives of a person as well. Like you said at the end of the video, it wasn't PC's mother, or the collar, or hen ancestors the one's who kept her afloat. It was her.
this is a FANTASTIC video! this episode usually makes me too horribly sad to rewatch and think about much, but your point about the necklace and the weight of PC putting the necklace back on really helped me reexamine what this episode means to me + how it's /so/ core to PC's relentless nature.
This is the first episode I ever saw of Bojack, my friend was trying to get me into the show and this was the episode he was on. This episode alone, without knowing anything else about the show, had me binging it.
i remember when I first watched this episode it made me mad that they showed ruthie in the future. There was no more tension with PC’s pregnancy because now I knew it was gonna work out in the end. Theeeeen the end of the episode happened. Well played bojack, well played
I finally understood the “somebody told you a story”. I always thought that the necklace was fake but for some reason, I also thought that her ancestors were still real. Now I realize that everything was fictional, those strong ancestors too. Fuck.
A theory iv seen is that the necklace is actually made of lead and a side effect of lead poisoning is pregnancy issues including infertility, so the very symbol of princess carolyns future could have been the thing preventing it
her mom did give it to her after finding out she was was pregnant which may have lead her to miscarry… but if it gave PC lead poisoning then how come it didn’t affect her mother when she had 12 kittens? i believe PC being the runt of the litter might’ve had something to do with it.
I found it really cool that they portrayed PC as *both* an intelligent and resilient businesswoman and a woman with the desire to be a mother. Usually shows make women choose between the two, and that happens in real life. But she didn't need to.
Wow, I have microanalyzed Bojack Horseman as a show to the moon and back, and I never thought about how symbolic it was when she clasped her necklace with the paperclip. Great speculation, this was excellent and you are on the nose.
That last part about the transformation of the necklace's narrative was especially moving. Love that show, love PC, love this channel. Thanks for another great breakdown J2C.
I have always had the theory that her mom stole the necklace from the rich neighbors. And just made up the story of he necklace being passed down through generations for her daughters sake.
That was a lovely video. It made me feel a lot more positive about the episode. I tell ya, Bojack never made me cry, but the chilling devastation of this episode brought me close. The end, when you find out that Ruthie wasn't real and maybe never would be, made me say "okay, that's enough Bojack for one day." I mean, I think my exact quote was "...ow." But the sentiment was there.
I like PC, I would always label her as one of the best characters in animation for the fact that this whole episode, and the rest of the series, shows how tenacious she really is. Her necklace maybe worthless but she is worth everything on the basis of how determination and how she will try get the job done no matter level of difficulty. It’s really inspiring.
Don’t forget that right before PC names her “Ruthie” she has a talk with Vanessa Gecko talking about how being a mother is “a ruthless job, and I mean RUTHless” and PC was already thinking about Ruthie as a name before that
I cried so hard when she started to cry, this episode hit me so hard on account my own miscarriage past. Princess Carolyn deserves to be happy, and I hope her marriage is a happy one along with her baby Ruthie.
Great video. I wish it could have gone on for 1 or 2 more beans.
The bean system is the way!
the bean system is the way 🙌
the bean system is the way!!
The Bean System is the way 🙌
Th bean system is the way!!!
i cried so much when she named her daughter ruthie, genuinely one of the most beautiful moments in television showing just how far carolyn had came
Dont forget that Vanessa gecko says that children are "ruthless," PC naming her ruthie was also a subtle nod to that!
@@michelleh.1839 i always thought that!!! i hear gecko say ‘ruthless’ and the next minute pc names her daughter ruthie and i was like…😏
i had never had such a heartwarming moment than that scene and i dont think i’ll ever experience that again with television
Ikr! That was amazing 😌
Wait so if she never had a biological kid, cuz ruthie was adopted, how come theres a future mini pc
I'm kind of surprised no ones talked about the line "its so easy. For you to love me when everything's good." So many things about that one line hit like a truck in regards to life and the show.
Same same!
That's why I always found Judah to be a much better fit romantically for her than Ralph, Ralph said "you're so easy Princess Carolyn [and] this is why I love you" which obviously stung. She's independent and headstrong and ambitious, but those attributes are also some of her biggest flaws. She finds it hard to need and rely on people, partly because she was raised in an environment that forced her to take responsibility for almost everything. Judah helps support her and allows her to be emotionally vulnerable and doesn't view her independence as a plus in a relationship. Judah is willing to stick by her no matter what, even in hard times.
Especially since he said earlier in the episode “everything is so easy with you princess Carolyn”
@@nyabis8044 Judah allows Princess Carolyn to be her headstrong, powerhouse self but the difference between him and Ralph is that Judah doesn't ask PC if she NEEDS help then shrug it off lightly when she pushes back on that offer. Judah KNOWS she needs help and he understands what things she may forget whilst taking care of her major focuses and proceeds to do them for her WITHOUT asking her. Judah knows what PC needs and he understands she needs someone to support her work heavily while knowing when to remind her she may need to take a break bc she deserves it xD
He didn't want a partner to take care of that is not love
I always imagined that PC eventually got a gold version of that necklace to give to Ruthie. Firstly so her daughter can always have something to remember her mother's tenacity and that the worst days don't have to knock you down forever, and second bc lead jewelry can be hella toxic.
That's nice
Maybe it was the cause of her many miscarriages?
@@Isaacindelicato123 I don't think so. She did have a miscarriage before getting the necklace from her mom from her first pregnancy. Maybe it was just how her body is. I think.
@@helen8022 idk, the lead could definitely play a role in further miscariages. Miscariages aren't that extremely rare so the first could have been just a coincidence.
I do believe that Lead can lead to fertility disorders...
@@helen8022 well miscarriages are more common than people think, especially in young first time mothers, like PC was during her first accidental pregnancy. The lead necklace definitely did her no favors though, as lead is known to cause fertility issues.
The fact that the bean system is made up by Princess Carolyn because her ''baby was the size of a kidney bean'' just breaks me
😭
WHAT THE FUCK I NEVER CAUGHT THAT
I never thought a joke about beans could hurt me this way.
i didnt realize that 😭
i always thought it was because she was craving coffee
I always thought it was cuz toe beans
You would expect that Princess Carolyn would throw her necklace away at some point in the episode as a sign of just how much she's fallen into despair, especially since it's a fake. But she keeps it for the remainder of the show and I think that's because the necklace's meaning has been recontextualized. Sure, it's not a family heirloom from the old country that belonged to a line of tenacious cats, but it does belong to one cat who climbed her way to the top of her field and continues on to the morning after in spite of her wounds not healing quite yet. It doesn't matter that it's a cheap peace of costume jewelry because it still holds personal significance. In the same way, all of Princess Carolyn's setbacks in her career and her personal life, while incredibly painful, weren't pointless. If not for her miscarriages, she would have never adopted Ruthie. If she didn't break up with Ralph, she never would have married Judah. Princess Carolyn lands on her feet of her own accord, not because it's expected of her. It's her choice to get up again just like that necklace is hers alone. And maybe one day, Princess Carolyn can make that false family heirloom story into truth by passing it down to her daughter.
Or maybe not because lead jewelry is still pretty toxic and can cause allergies.
Let's choose to think that Princess Carolyn had a copy custom-made for herself.
@@jessicavictoriacarrillo7254 Like somebody else mentioned in another comment about she making a real gold version of the necklace and pass it down to Ruthie in the future, I choose to think she did replace it with a real gold one which carries her own story.
There's actually a working fan theory that the necklace gave Princess Carolyn lead poisoning, and that's why she can't have babies
@@elderlybrunch4169 It's interesting, but the lead levels were probably so negligible that it has no effect on her reproductive system.
@@elderlybrunch4169 I actually am on board with the theory.
This episode fooled me so successfully. I kept telling myself "This is so sad, but thank goodness I know it'll all work out in the end." Only to find out that I'd been using Ruthie as a comforting coping mechanism exactly like poor Princess Carolyn. I'm so glad she eventually did get a happy ending. Out of all the characters in the show she was one who unambiguously deserved one.
I practically started screaming
I literally threw up after watching this episode
@@nervousbreakdown711 My heart sank straight into my sneakers.
Many fans like the theory about Princess Carolyn´s necklace being the cause of her miscarriages because is likely to be made of lead, but I don´t think is the case. Sometimes life is a bitch without jewelry on.
Also, didn't she received that necklace AFTER her first miscarriage?
@@AkJosh98 I think the necklace made her fertility issues worse,but Idk
@@AkJosh98 she got it before her first miscarriage, but in flashbacks from the 90s and mid 2000s she wasn’t shown wearing it,
She had 2 other miscarriages in between the time she was 18 and the beginning of season 4, it’s likely they happened during this time
Just saw a Q&A with RBW from last summer where he said that was unintentional but certainly could be an interpretation.
@@ijustlikebees how can a necklace can cause fertility issues?
I love Princess Carolyn so much, she's such a hard worker and the fact that she's a pink kitty makes it even better. No deep reason I just think it's cute especially in contrast to the semi-realistic designs of everyone else.
i’m so happy someone brought this up
Lilac
@@winglessfairy564shes literally pink do you have colorblindness
I have a best friend who didn’t really understand depression until this show, the depictions and different ways it can affect you, and she’s an addict to it/your reviews now. It really helped her understand the decisions behind those with mental afflicted. Thank you, Johnny! And if you see this, RayRay, so proud of you!
@@waffles5433 it made me feel less shitty for making shitty choices but also to make the choice to make better decisions, if that makes sense.
I'm so proud of you RayRay!
Princess Caroline firing Judah for some reason felt more impactful than her breaking up with Ralph. Maybe it’s because Judah was quickly becoming my favorite of the secondary cast member, and that’s probably because I’m autistic so I saw a lot of myself in him. I was so happy when he returned in season 6.
The emotional whiplash this caused me, Princess Caroline focused stories tend to be my faovurite, cause she's the most outwardly strong, so showing her vulnerability and sorrow is really important to people who feel the need to always be unphased and unaffected by life
I doubt the lead necklace caused her miscarriages. Her mother had many, many children and she had the necklace the whole time.
Yeah, you don't get lead poisoning if you don't put it in your mouth
Her mother didn’t have the necklace that long though, the necklace was from the 60’s and she probably didn’t wear it enough for her fertility to be affected as she already had kids by then (I believe, can’t remember if PC is the oldest or if she has older siblings)
@@mageofdoomsie1598 PC is the youngest of 12
I was thinking this too but lead exposure builds in your bones and genes over time and gets passed to your children.. so i dont think its completely off the table
@@mageofdoomsie1598she had her first miscarriage before she ever got the necklace so i doubt it, many people have fertility issues without any outside intervention
As a young woman with a questionable mom, no siblings to lean on, and even similar setbacks to PC in the future family creation department, I feel like PC herself has been a huge role model for me. I have to say, she's helped out a ton. I may not be doing the profession I dreamed about, but I'm pretty okay. Got a nice boyfriend. My own dog. A lovely apartment. My work recently recognized me as the best worker in my department. I did it.
This whole show is such a big success because there is a complex character for everyone to learn from. I learn from PC.
This comment gave me a lot of hope too. I'm happy for you :)
Oh congratulations im happy your doing great man
@@ThiccFurryBoi34 I am! Made strides both in work and in my relationship. Make twice as much as I did, and the boyfriend is now the fiance. Life is good.
@@CorVids1031 yay for happy endings
I learnt from Todd myself.
He was what made me realise what asexuality was.
At first I completely removed the fact that she called her daughter Ruthie in honor of her imaginary descendant. My first thought when I'd heard that name, instead, was the chat that PC had with Vanessa Gekko, when the latter said: "being a parent is a ruthless job." And so PC called the baby Ruthie, from "ruthless". Now, I don't know, I very much like both interpretations.
Perhaps it was both, maybe pc had the name lurking in the back of her head throughout Ruthie, and of course, when she got her own daughter, she didn’t have the time or the energy to name her, so when Vanessa Gecko mentioned “ruthlessness”, something clicked in pcs mind, and the name “ruthie” came back to the front of her mind.
i always just thought that the descendant's name being ruthie was foreshadowing
Princess Carolyn's a nitty gritty city kitty, and she's in it with you fitty/fitty
That was more clever than you think. GG.
@@silvercorvidsmarketing that's from the series lol
@@rileysmiley2521 more clever than they fuckin thought lol
I remember watching this the first time, and all throughout the episode I kept thinking "when is PC gonna have her moment where she overcomes everything??? Everything has to be okay because Ruthie is telling everyone about her in the future!" It just made the moment where PC tells Bojack that she imagined it all as a coping mechanism all the more crushing. It was a real kick in the emotions for me, because I understood her: sometimes things in your life just go so so wrong that you have no other option but to escape into your own head where everything works out just to protect yourself.
Princess Carolyn is all of the things that pushed Princess Carolyn towards her own success. It's not her ancestors, it's not her necklace, it's not her clients, it's not any of the people she's interacted with in the show. It's her own self-made audacity to keep trying despite all the setbacks she's faced.
The end of this episode always makes me cry so hard the way it doesn't cut back to ruthie as a kid summing up the end of the story is what hurts the most
I watched this episode for the first time shortly after my miscarriage. Out of all of the sad and horrible things that happen in the show, this was the only episode I cried about. When she got drunk and nonchalantly said no more baby as if it wasn't one of, if not the most heartbreaking moments in her life, was so realistic. The female characters and the way the show handles female issues was really refreshing in a way that I can tell without looking at the credits that women were actively involved in the writing of this show.
Have bawled in so many episodes of Bojack Horseman, but this episode hit me the hardest. My bestfriend used to compare me to Princess Carolyn because of my ability to find ways out of problems and situations, and the tendency to always "land on my feet". I never truly believed it myself until I had the very worst day crashing on me- with my father's illness getting worse, my relationship being so troubled and my job getting so shaky. When this happened, I wanted so bad to believe what my bestfriend said- that I'd always land on my feet somehow even after all of this- and so I watched this episode again. Rewatching Princess Carolyn's struggles and pain, and knowing that things worked out in the end though not how she initially wanted, it made me feel some level of comfort- that perhaps things will work out eventually even if all seems lost and bleak in the present.
There is something... Poetic about this episode. It's almost Buddhist in undertone as the events can be summed up as the destruction of the present, the future, and the past, and how from this total destruction came forth a new person free from those shackles...
cuddlywhiskers was right
there is a surprising amount of buddhism in this show
Seeing P.C. bawling in her car after that awful day and immediately pretending she was OK so she could answer her phone messed with me a bit. Normally one of the characters with the strongest emotional resolve and sense of control suddenly just breaking down. I still get chills thinking about it, and it also makes me laugh at anyone who says that cartoons are silly and just for children. Many shows (live action or animated) show characters crying, sometimes even just for laughs, but few shows can actually give you chills when they show you someone crying. That's how good the writing is.
I said this under the community post announcing this, but Ruthie is one of my favorite episodes because I have used that same coping mechanism as Princess Carolyn even before I knew Bojack existed. PC is one of my favorite characters if not my favorite character for this episode alone.
Ruthie got me to start thinking like Princess Carolyn in the "distant future person tells about me as an ancestor" mindset: sometimes it's my own future kid.
Honestly when I saw the truth about the necklace made me just dislike her mother even more but then made me wonder if her mom was lied to as well about the necklace history or she just made up a story to make her daughter feel better about their situation moving forward
given the context of the episode we saw PC get the necklace in, i understood it more as her mother lying to her as a way to comfort her. PC's mom didn't seem very motivated and was self destructive, and i assume if her mom had been told the same lie then PC probably would have heard of the necklaces story before that moment. I still hate her mom, but i do think she meant well on trying to comfort her daughter on one of her worst experiences she's ever had in life
I was devastated by this episode mostly because i love Ralph's and PC's romance.
Same here. They seem to be a perfect match, but I guess sometimes it didn’t work out.
I think that it was too perfect. She could have had a surface level perfection, but she'd always feel insecure. PC couldn't have been happy with a conventional and picture perfect. She needed to learn to trust and be open and find a guy who would do anything for her. She thought she needed to be rescued by a man. Bojack, Vincent Adultman. They weren't going to save her. She needed a partner who would make her the best she could be. Judah was that man. Even if he is bizarre maybe even neurodivergent and not good on paper her willingness to trust him is the true love. I'm sure The kindly millionaire will find someone. You have to be ready for love. Even a great guy on paper isn't enough if you don't love yourself and trust him.
Another heartbreaking thing about the necklace is the realization that her mother LIED to her. Shes the one that made up the story about the necklace being a priceless family heirloom in order to emotionally manipulate PC.
She only made the story up to encourage PC to stick with the plan of having the baby for the money it would bring them, showing how much of a cold oppertunist her mother was, taking advantage of her in a vulnerable moment for her own gain.
2:26 and then she has the audacity to say that she never had beef with PC lmao
That’s what I was thinking
She said she never hated PC
that's just how she talks
I get so excited everytime you upload, especially your Bojack analysis videos! I can't wait to see your review for Ruthie, as it's one of my favorite episodes, not just of the series, but from any show.
All of my exact thoughts as well
I don't know how, but this episode is the thing that makes me cry. EVERY time. Even when I watch a review of it. PC is a great character but goddamn I'm crying (
These thumbnails are always so good
Agreed!
Ruthie is one of my all time favorite Princess Carolyn episodes!
Ruthie is an amazing character even though she’s not real, my online friend and I would always role playing sometimes and I would tell her about my imagined character named Mei and how he’s in a band with his friends but he also suffers with depression and insomnia but he always try to fight back with his demons and even though times get tough and hard, he always work hard and put a smile on his face. I honestly do think this is kinda cringe as I’m typing this but I guess I can say it makes me feel better.
I don't think it's cringe at all. Crafting narratives and characters can be another way to make sense of the world and our feelings, as well as being a healthy form of creative expression. Plus it can be fun. As long as it makes you happy and isn't hurting anyone, then that's a good thing you've got going.
@@cassie6146 This. It's not cringe if it makes you happy and it doesn't hurt anyone.
That's not cringe, that's very sweet
hey that's not cringe! roleplay can be a healthy hobby if you're careful to also have other outlets. i find it very similar to improv (bojack reference kind of intended)
PC is one of the strongest characters ever! Not just in this show but in general as well. And the things that make her the strongest are the failures she faces in her personal and professional life. I LOVE that she always lands on her feet. She hits the lows but always gets back. She was the daughter of the maid and now kind of runs the whole Hollywoob. I love her so much ♥️
Princess Carolyn is an example of a good role model in how you should keep moving forward after a failure or a hard times.
I wish you'd talk more about Ralph one day. I always felt their break-up was unfortunate (even though I think she'll have a great future with Judah). It wasn't his fault that she miscarried, and when he learned it was a recurring situation for her, it made sense to talk about the possibility of adoption, since what he really wanted was to have a happy family with the woman he loved, not necessarily for said baby to have to come from them. But it wasn't something PC could hear at the time. In the end, I don't think their break-up was either of their faults, they just were together at the wrong time in their lives (he said it best when he discovers she's choosing to adopt later on, even though she refused to do so with him).
I feel like what you said at the end regarding PC's necklace not mattering because what it represented was still real regardless if the necklace was, reminds me of a quote from Death in the Hogfather, about how we need to believe in things that aren't real so that we can make them real.
PC doesn't need the necklace, she just needed to keep that spark, that drive to give her life meaning and in the end she and the rest of the cast, minus Bojack, got a happy ending.
She is married to someone who is there for her and loves her deeply, she has a daughter, she sort of made peace with her rival and got some help from her, all the strife and pain she endured was worth it, because in the end...she landed on her feet
tbh i still think bojack got a happy ending. he was sober, he was teaching acting, he was doing better. his life was not perfect, he'd lost everyone, but he was becoming a better person than he was and i think that makes the ending happy for him.
The last bit of this video really got me emotional. I had always thought of Ruthie as one of the most severe downers in the show, but with the perspective of later seasons + that interpretation of the necklace, it becomes almost kind of uplifting. A day that bad can happen, but that doesn't change who you are and the traits that got you to where you are. Princess Carolyn ultimately ended up being right - everything did turn out alright, even if that day still sucked and nothing can change that.
I actually started crying, this episode of pc is so heartbreaking but it’s one of my favorites because I see myself in pc and all of the BH characters but pc holds a special seat in my heart
The necklace shows the power that symbols can have in shaping people’s behaviour, whether they are legit or not. Even though the necklace was just a custom piece, Princess Carolyn used it as inspiration to become the tenacious cat-lady Carolyn is, which only makes her even more impressive. She didn’t come from a long-family of resilient cat immigrants as her mother told her, but she willed herself to become one.
Just thought about this episode today on my way home from work, I often think of scenarios about the family I don't have or the life I could lead because " It makes me feel better."
We can all agree that everyone is fcking proud of Princess Carolyn
Yeah!
She has her own business, learned to let go of Bojack,got married to someone who supports her and adopted a baby!
The ability of one’s self can be truly amazing when it’s something you hold close to your heart.
Wow, this episode was a lot heavier than I remembered. Great breakdown, Johnny, as always!
I really like this take on Ruthie because it goes beyond just the sad ending. You do a good job pointing out the positivity that comes from the episode's message.
Johnny, thank you for FINALLY doing ruthie
Hey all! If you wanna see this video TODAY, you can check it out on my Patreon :)
www.patreon.com/Johnny2Cellos
This has to be one of the best episodes of the whole show
I really enjoy your content Johnny as you pick apart the show very thoroughly and show a further meaning to the show.
Ruthie-Princess Carolyn's "11th" episode
Mr. Peanutbutter's Boos - Mr. Peanutbutter's "11th" episode
Good Damage-Diane's "11th" episode
I loves this episode we all have those days where you just need to cry and vent
I can’t wait! I enjoy all your videos! I’ve been waiting for this episode break down since the last Bojack tier list!
This episode of for sure one of my favorites i’m so hyped
I always hoped that Ralph would end up with PC in the end, but I’m so glad she actually ended up with Judah. Ralph was a great guy for her though, he helped her realize her dreams for having a family were still possible!
I would like you to cover “hooray! Todd episode!” Just to give Todd some light, he’s one of my favorite characters and I enjoy his shenanigans!
I remember reading and watching a theory about that necklace that she wears, that there is most probably lead in it and that is the partial reason why she miscarried so much.
After watching the full series for the first time, Princess Carolyn is probably my favorite character. Her drive to never give up is what inspires me a lot
I've only seen it once aswell
Great video! I found I related to PC the most, so seeing her struggle so much in this episode was hard to watch cause I've been in those heart breaking days. Days where it's just one bad thing after another even after you thought you did everything right and worked so damn hard. Glad in the end she did accomplished what she wanted, so it give me hope.
Throughout the whole episode, no matter how bad things got for PC, no matter how hard it was to keep watching, I kept telling myself that it’ll be ok, she’ll still have her baby eventually. But then that ending scene starts, and it destroys me each and every time
Man I loved how you show me the reality of this episode, it's truly heartbreaking but at the same time so resilient, also I really love your miniatures of your videos
My friend and I watched Season 4 together and after we saw the ending to Ruthie we sat there in stunned silence for at least five minutes.
One of my favorite details of this wonderfully tragic episode was that despite knowing that her necklace had no monetary value, it still carried sentimental and intrinsic value.
One of my favorite episodes on the show. Thank you!
I just realized the phrase of "it's you." that Todd gave can be applied on the positives of a person as well. Like you said at the end of the video, it wasn't PC's mother, or the collar, or hen ancestors the one's who kept her afloat. It was her.
this is a FANTASTIC video! this episode usually makes me too horribly sad to rewatch and think about much, but your point about the necklace and the weight of PC putting the necklace back on really helped me reexamine what this episode means to me + how it's /so/ core to PC's relentless nature.
This is the first episode I ever saw of Bojack, my friend was trying to get me into the show and this was the episode he was on. This episode alone, without knowing anything else about the show, had me binging it.
i remember when I first watched this episode it made me mad that they showed ruthie in the future. There was no more tension with PC’s pregnancy because now I knew it was gonna work out in the end. Theeeeen the end of the episode happened. Well played bojack, well played
This really helped me appreciate the episode in a new light. Nice video.
The ending of Ruthie is one of the biggest gut punches in television history
I finally understood the “somebody told you a story”. I always thought that the necklace was fake but for some reason, I also thought that her ancestors were still real. Now I realize that everything was fictional, those strong ancestors too. Fuck.
Never thought I’d be so sad seeing a vectorized cartoon cat lady cry.
A theory iv seen is that the necklace is actually made of lead and a side effect of lead poisoning is pregnancy issues including infertility, so the very symbol of princess carolyns future could have been the thing preventing it
her mom did give it to her after finding out she was was pregnant which may have lead her to miscarry… but if it gave PC lead poisoning then how come it didn’t affect her mother when she had 12 kittens? i believe PC being the runt of the litter might’ve had something to do with it.
i love pc sm i can't wait for the video!! so excited to see what u have to say about this ep
The only thing I wanted during the series was for Princess Carolyn to be happy and this episode broke me
i’m so glad you are making so many videos right when i am VERY hyperfixated on bojack
I found it really cool that they portrayed PC as *both* an intelligent and resilient businesswoman and a woman with the desire to be a mother. Usually shows make women choose between the two, and that happens in real life. But she didn't need to.
Wow, I have microanalyzed Bojack Horseman as a show to the moon and back, and I never thought about how symbolic it was when she clasped her necklace with the paperclip. Great speculation, this was excellent and you are on the nose.
She kept helping Bojack because if she can fix him, she will finally consider herself a "real agent"
God I love how you're still breaking down these episodes,even after the show has been done for quite a while. Feels like watching the series again 😁
This might be my favorite break down so far. It really made me understand just how thoroughly shattered every aspect of her life in just a single day.
That last part about the transformation of the necklace's narrative was especially moving. Love that show, love PC, love this channel. Thanks for another great breakdown J2C.
I love how Princess Carolyn's keeps wearing the necklace throughout the whole show. And I love your breakdown!
I have always had the theory that her mom stole the necklace from the rich neighbors. And just made up the story of he necklace being passed down through generations for her daughters sake.
“Oh Heart” in the end credits never doesn’t make me choke up.
I really connect with PC in Ruthie so im excited for this video!
The ending of this episode killed me.
This was definitely the first episode of Bojack thay made me absolutely cry.
This is one of the few episodes of television that makes my cry without fail every time I watch it.
OML IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS TO PREMIERE AAAA
That was a lovely video. It made me feel a lot more positive about the episode. I tell ya, Bojack never made me cry, but the chilling devastation of this episode brought me close. The end, when you find out that Ruthie wasn't real and maybe never would be, made me say "okay, that's enough Bojack for one day." I mean, I think my exact quote was "...ow." But the sentiment was there.
This whole episode genuinely made me cry so fucking hard, seeing how hard it is to make Princess Carolyn break down and cry
I love that this is David Sedaris’s only acting credit
This show, and your breakdowns, provide powerful and valuable catharsis for me. So, I just wanted to say thanks. 🍻
I like PC, I would always label her as one of the best characters in animation for the fact that this whole episode, and the rest of the series, shows how tenacious she really is. Her necklace maybe worthless but she is worth everything on the basis of how determination and how she will try get the job done no matter level of difficulty. It’s really inspiring.
One of the saddest Bojack Horseman episodes
Don’t forget that right before PC names her “Ruthie” she has a talk with Vanessa Gecko talking about how being a mother is “a ruthless job, and I mean RUTHless” and PC was already thinking about Ruthie as a name before that
This episode breaks me every time. It’s one of my favorites for sure. Thanks so much for finally discussing it 🙌🏻
I cried so hard when she started to cry, this episode hit me so hard on account my own miscarriage past. Princess Carolyn deserves to be happy, and I hope her marriage is a happy one along with her baby Ruthie.
“Mostly about frozen yogurt” I love how (understandably) annoyed you sounded when saying that
Incredible breakdown of this episode!