Whether you agree or not, what we can all agree on is that BoJack Horseman tackled difficult topics like addiction and generational trauma with rare ambition and emotional clarity... but only if you stuck with it past the first few episodes.
That's not the case this time around with Raphael Bob-Waksberg's long-awaited follow-up, Long Story Short.
From the 1950s through to the 2020s, Long Story Short spends time with each family member and the various relationships they form, weaving an expansive yet easy-to-follow timeline that organically captures the complexity of family dynamics with warmth, yes, but also painful truths as well.
This temporal juggling is especially moving in regard to Naomi Schwartz, the matriarch who obsessively loves her children, but can't stop criticising them regardless. Other standouts include her son, Yoshi, who struggles to fit in, and her daughter, Shira, who provides a rare example of Judaism and queerness intersecting on screen.
It's there in the use of specific Jewish language — "Dude, your davening was on point! Mr Leibowitz was kvellin’ like a felon!". It's there in the humour, which includes a few dark Holocaust jokes only Jewish people could make. And most crucially of all, it's also there in beautiful discussions of identity, particularly at the end of the season when Avi's daughter questions if she was "Jewish enough" for Grandma.
Each example feels unapologetically Jewish in very specific ways without alienating wider audiences. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Long Story Short abandons that "crutch" (as Bob-Waksberg described it to Variety) to ground the storytelling in something much more "realistic". That's true even with the seemingly simpler animation, which is more 'cartoony' in its impressionistic, less defined scribbles, which makes it easier for us to see ourselves in the unfolding dynamics.
Bob-Waksberg has never been afraid of plumbing those depths when it comes to writing characters with real emotional candour. As such, the Schwoopers can also be unlikeable sometimes (although not to those extremes). This family often argues, as real families do, and they can really hurt each other in the ways that only those who know you best truly can.
It's in the layers of traumas large and small, self-inflicted and inflicted on others, where BoJack Horseman and Long Story Short share the most common ground. Well, that and the frequent moments of absurdist humour and wordplay.
Because yes, when Yoshi starts selling mattresses that shoot out of a tube for work, the company does of course have a "soft launch". And when wolves, actual wolves, show up in Hannah's school, only Naomi's oldest son, Avi, reacts in the way you might expect.
At the risk of jumping ahead, much like the show itself often does, there's scope here for Long Story Short to reach those same heights that BoJack Horseman did and maybe, just maybe, become another contender for best animated series of all time.
Long Story Short is available to stream now on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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