"The View from Halfway Down" is the fifteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series BoJack Horseman, and the 76th and penultimate overall episode of the series. It was written by Alison Tafel and directed by Amy Winfrey. The episode was originally released as one of eight episodes made available for streaming via Netflix on January 31, 2020. Guest stars in this episode include Stanley Tucci, Kristen Schaal, Wendie Malick, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brandon T. Jackson, and Zach Braff.
In the episode, BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett) attends a dinner party and talent show hosted by his mother Beatrice (Malick) and attended by various characters that died prior to the episode, including his former Horsin' Around costar Sarah Lynn (Schaal), his best friend Herb Kazzaz (Tucci), and a combination of his father Butterscotch and his childhood role model Secretariat (also voiced by Arnett). Exactly 17 minutes into the episode, BoJack realizes that he is in limbo, with his body lying face-down in his swimming pool.
"The View from Halfway Down" was widely acclaimed by television critics, who praised its ambitious concept, dark and serious tone, and function as the culmination of the title character's story. The episode received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Animated Program.
Plot
A young Beatrice Horseman (Wendie Malick) welcomes her son BoJack (Will Arnett) and a child-aged Sarah Lynn (Kristen Schaal) to a dinner party. Also in attendance are Herb Kazzaz (Stanley Tucci), Crackerjack Sugarman (Lin-Manuel Miranda), Corduroy Jackson-Jackson (Brandon T. Jackson), and Zach Braff (as himself), all of whom are dead. Over dinner, the guests take turns discussing their lives, while a mysterious black liquid drips from the ceiling. Towards the end of the dinner, BoJack vomits the liquid onto the table. The guests are eventually joined by BoJack's father Butterscotch (also voiced by Arnett), in the body of BoJack's childhood idol Secretariat.
Beatrice invites the guests to an after-dinner show, which BoJack says is the point at which he always awakes from this recurring dream. This time, however, he goes into the theatre next door, where Herb hosts a talent show. Each guest performs a routine before disappearing through a white door placed center-stage. Following older Sarah Lynn's musical performance (a reprise of "Don't Stop Dancing") and Corduroy's aerial silks act, Butterscotch invites his son out for a cigarette on a nearby bridge. There, BoJack sees the outline of his body floating face down in a swimming pool.
Back in the theatre, as Zach Braff performs a roller skating routine, BoJack begins to remember details of his bender from the previous episode, realizing that at some point he called Diane. Butterscotch performs a poem titled "The View from Halfway Down", in which he (as Secretariat) expresses regret over his suicide, while the door moves incrementally closer. BoJack is unable to leave the theatre, and Herb suggests that this "dream" is actually him processing his own death. After Beatrice performs a ribbon dance, with Crackerjack accompanying on trumpet, only BoJack and Herb remain. As the tar subsumes Herb, he tells BoJack that there is no "other side".
BoJack flees the tar and finds a landline phone in the kitchen. He calls Diane, who responds that she lives in Chicago now and cannot help him. BoJack remembers that the call he made in real life went to voicemail, and he went back in the pool, where he presumably drowned. Diane agrees to stay on the phone until the tar envelops BoJack.
Instead of the usual end-credit music, the episode ends with the sound of a flatlining heart monitor. After the credits, however, the monitor begins beeping normally.
Production
"The View from Halfway Down" was written by Alison Tafel, who previously wrote the episodes "Stupid Piece of Sh*t", "INT. SUB", and "Feel-Good Story". The episode was directed by Amy Winfrey, her 21st across all six seasons. "The View from Halfway Down" was originally released for streaming on Netflix on January 31, 2020, as the fifteenth episode of the show's sixth season and the 76th overall episode of the series.