BoJack Horseman shrugging in front of a bookshelf with subtitle 'Rehab was supposed to be a fresh start'

Rehab Was Supposed To Be a Fresh Start

2022copypasta / audio editdeclining

Published October 26, 2026

A somber line from the animated series BoJack Horseman turned into a sad-edit template on TikTok starting in September 2022, when creator @bojackvids paired the clip with Cocteau Twins' 'Sea, Swallow Me'2. By late 2023, horse photos and depressing slideshow edits set to the audio had racked up tens of thousands of posts under the trend's primary sound1.

bojack horseman memes tiktok sound trends slideshow memes dialogue edit memes mental health memes

Overview

Rehab Was Supposed To Be a Fresh Start quotes BoJack telling Princess Carolyn that his latest attempt at sobriety did not fix anything, delivered in season six, episode 11 of the Netflix series2. On TikTok, the clip got welded to Cocteau Twins' dreamy 'Sea, Swallow Me,' creating an audio that soundtracks melancholy slideshows and lip-dubs1. The sound was uploaded under the title 'always the same ending' by Bojack Vids and became the trend's anchor3.

Most edits lean into the horse angle, pairing the quote with photos or clips of real horses, the Horse Sitting On a Porch image, or someone wearing a horse mask in public3. The tone is uniformly bleak or deadpan, treating the BoJack line as a stand-in for any 'I tried to start over and failed' feeling. The copypasta version of the quote also circulated separately as a reply-bait caption on sad posts3.

Origin & Background

Platform
BoJack Horseman (source) / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
@bojackvids
Date
2022

The source scene aired on January 31st, 2020, when BoJack Horseman's final season dropped the episode 'Sunk Cost and All That' on Netflix2. In that scene, BoJack sits at his desk and tells Princess Carolyn that rehab was supposed to be a fresh start, a line later clipped and reuploaded to YouTube in standalone form4.

The meme itself was born on September 12th, 2022, when TikTok user @bojackvids posted an edit of the scene scored with 'Sea, Swallow Me' by Cocteau Twins5. Within roughly a year, that upload gathered about 1.3 million plays and 169,400 likes, and the sound was credited as 'always the same ending – Bojack Vids,' kicking off the trend35.

How It Spread

Other TikTok creators latched onto the sound almost immediately. On a date shortly after the original, user @chemical.inbalance lip-dubbed the audio and pulled in roughly 668,300 plays and 157,100 likes over a year6. On October 14th, 2022, @_musicluvr_ filmed someone wearing a horse mask inside a Spirit Halloween store set to the clip, reaching around 1.7 million plays and 529,000 likes7.

Usage carried into the following year with heavier horse imagery. On September 3rd, 2023, TikToker @.ruby.sapphire set the Horse Sitting On a Porch photo to the audio and reportedly hit about 7.7 million plays and 1.8 million likes in a month8. The format also jumped off TikTok: on October 8th, 2023, YouTuber Pooty Tang cut the BoJack line over Red Dead Redemption 2 footage9.

By October 24th, 2023, Know Your Meme logged more than 35,100 posts under the primary 'always the same ending' sound1. Growth tapered off through 2024 and 2025 as the sad-slideshow audio cycle moved on to newer sounds.

Timeline

2020-01-31

BoJack Horseman season six, episode 11 'Sunk Cost and All That' releases on Netflix, containing the source line.

2022-09-12

TikToker @bojackvids posts the first edit pairing the scene with Cocteau Twins' 'Sea, Swallow Me,' creating the trend's primary sound.

2022-10-14

@_musicluvr_ posts a Spirit Halloween horse-mask video to the audio, reaching about 1.7 million plays.

2023-09-03

@.ruby.sapphire sets the Horse Sitting On a Porch photo to the clip and pulls in roughly 7.7 million plays in a month.

2023-10-08

YouTuber Pooty Tang moves the format off TikTok with a Red Dead Redemption 2 edit.

2023-10-24

The 'always the same ending' sound surpasses 35,100 TikTok posts.

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