BoJack Horseman’s season five renewal is a big deal for the character’s hopeful story

BoJack Horseman’s fourth season is one of the show’s heaviest — but also its most hopeful, making the just-announced fifth season very exciting.

[Warning: The following may contain light spoilers for the end of BoJack Horseman season four.]

Netflix ordering a fifth season of BoJack Horseman — one of its most talked-about shows — isn’t unforeseen news, but it’s never been needed more. For the past few seasons, it’s felt like we’ve been stuck in an unbreakable, emotional cycle. BoJack messes up; BoJack wants to get better; BoJack messes up again; and BoJack tries to figure out what’s next for him.

The fourth season follows a similar trajectory. The season ends with BoJack helping out his mother, a woman who has abused and neglected him all his life, when she needed it most. He’s also welcomed as a new family member for someone he just met and excited by the possibility of what comes next for their relationship. As in past seasons, BoJack uses his mistakes to illustrate how awful of a person he is. But the fourth season finale gives BoJack something he didn’t have before: a genuine sense of purpose and a desire to help someone other than himself.

With the lessons he learned from begrudgingly taking care of his mother and trying to build a relationship with his new family member, it finally feels like BoJack is ready to break that cycle. In our review of the season, we said “the finale gives him a vision for a hopeful future he’s never had before. For the first time in his life, it isn’t about him — and he’s more than okay with that.”

The fifth season will give BoJack a chance to redefine his character and try to become his best self, a goal he’s been obsessed with practically since we first met him. Whether or not he succeeds and really learns from the gut-wrenching lessons he was served this season is the question, but a fifth season means we’ll get the chance to find out once and for all.

BoJack Horseman’s fourth season is currently streaming on Netflix.