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Spoilers ahead forBoJack Horseman.
Years into Americas deadliest drug-overdose crisis, characters struggling to overcome addiction have become a TV staple.
But few shows offer a critique ofhowAmerica treats addiction, both clinically and culturally.
Its not just a celebrity story line, but one that tens of thousands of people experience in America.
Its a gutsy story line to pursue.
Criticism of the billion-dollar for-profit rehab industry starts the very moment BoJack walks through the door.
A receptionist says, You cant put a price on clean living!
Well, you could, and the six-week package costs BoJack $100,000.
(Detoxing and shaky, he breaks a vase during art therapy.)
But as BoJacks therapist, Doctor Champ (Sam Richardson), says, Im not a therapist!
Im a therapy horse, a subtle but legally important distinction.
The absurdity is all too real.
Reality TV is even worse.
Since 2005, A&EsInterventionhas celebrated the for-profit rehab industry.
BoJack rejects the central tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous that are preached by the likes of Dr. Drew.
While were at it, BoJack says, why 12 Steps?
Thats way too many.
Nobody wants to do 12 of anything.
Later, in a post-rehab interview, BoJack is asked if Sarah Lynns death was his rock bottom.
I dont believe in rock bottoms.
BoJack is right toreject the ideaof rock bottom.
He is abstinent, goes to AA meetings, and focuses on his students theater production.
Since I got out of rehab, I have been on my best behavior, he says.
They cant get me on old shit!
Im a different person now.
It seems wholly unfair to BoJack that his past is fair game while hes trying to change.
But the truth BoJack confronts is that hesnota different person.
What the show understands is that overcoming addiction is about much more than detox and treatment and AA meetings.
The pain became too much for BoJack.
He starts drinking again.
All the satire and humor inBoJackdoesnt mean that the stakes for using again arent high.
UnlikeEuphoria, which deftly dramatizes harm-reduction views,BoJackmisses several opportunities to do so.
But the question that no character asks BoJack is Why didnt you have naloxone?
Its the drug thatsaved Demi Lovatos lifeand countless others.
A show trying to reflect the realities of addiction shouldve nailed this.
There areover 20 million peoplein America who are in recovery today.
They survived their addictions.
His recovery is far more complex than simply not drinking.
Its about confronting who he is.
