BoJack Horseman

4.11 Time's Arrow: In 1963, young socialite Beatrice Sugarman meets the rebellious Butterscotch Horseman at her debutante party.

Henrietta Platchkey is a very kind and friendly but somewhat naive woman who worked as the Horseman household's maid in the late 1990s to pay for nursing school. She had an affair with Butterscotch Horseman which resulted in a child, Hollyhock, which she gave up so she could finish nursing school. She went on to become a nurse and lives in Minneapolis.

In her debut appearance in flashbacks to 1999-2000 in Time's Arrow, Henrietta is depicted with medium length brown hair with bangs going across her forehead, a tan skin tone, and she appears to have wide hips, a similar body type to that of her daughter.

Her maid uniform consisted of a blue button-down collared dress with white trim and collar, two large pockets on the side, and yellow buttons, white tennis shoes, and white socks.

Beatrice, who has dementia, does not want to remember Henrietta, as she is upset about Butterscotch's affair, and appears to regret taking Hollyhock away from her. This is why in Beatrice's flashbacks, Henrietta's face appears only as large black scribbles.

Her face was never shown, although according to the official lead artist Lisa Hanawalt, her face in concepts was designed to be "horse-like."

History

Nothing is known about Henrietta’s past, other than she was raised in Newark, California.

In order to pay for nursing school, she became a maid for Beatrice and Butterscotch Horseman, BoJack Horseman's parents, circa the late 1990s.

Henrietta appears in Time's Arrow, which shows flashbacks to Beatrice's life from her point of view, and are affected by her dementia. As a result, Henrietta's face appears as animated black scribbles, and at times her presence glitches.

Beatrice disliked Henrietta due to her cheerful and naive personality, and the fact she could tell she and Butterscotch were developing a romantic interest in each other, something she somewhat pitied the girl for. Beatrice says, "won't she be disappointed" when referring to how she believes Butterscotch to be the "tortured misunderstood artist" his narcissistic, delusional personality claims himself to be.

Butterscotch did eventually have an affair with Henrietta in December of 1999, resulting in pregnancy. He tells Beatrice, who was angry about the affair, pleading her to help fix the situation. He even got to the point where he breaks down crying, saying "I know you hate me Bea, but please just think of the poor girl."

Beatrice agrees to talk to Henrietta. After telling her she's fired, Henrietta pleads how sorry she is, and that Butterscotch was kind to her. Beatrice interrupts and guesses he told her she reminded him of his dead mother. Henrietta said Butterscotch told her she had hair like his mother’s, he saw it in a picture once—a similar line he used on Beatrice when they first met.

Henrietta wanted to keep the baby, a female horse, but she had trouble paying tuition. She believed if she just finished school and gets a job, everything will be OK. Beatrice then bluntly shuts down this reality by questioning "Who’s going to raise the baby?" Beatrice knows Butterscotch certainly won't.

After Henrietta broke down crying, Beatrice told her she'll pay for her tuition, under the condition Henrietta gives up the baby for adoption. Henrietta objects to this at first.

Beatrice told her not to make the same mistake she did, giving up her life for the baby, and letting Butterscotch poison her life. Henrietta finally agreed when Beatrice pleads to her "don't do what I did." Henrietta was frightened, young, and naive at the time and does not see any other alternative.

Beatrice was with Henrietta as she gives birth on September 24, 2000, even holding her hand through labor. After her baby was born, Henrietta pleads Beatrice to let her hold the baby, but Beatrice refuses and leaves with the little foal. Beatrice says she can't get attached, and this is for her own good. Henrietta screams and sobs as her daughter is taken away from her, implying that she did, in fact, want to keep her.

The baby was originally named "Girl Horse," and she was eventually adopted by eight gay men in a polyamorous relationship, and renamed Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack.

Season 4

In 2017, a seventeen-year-old Hollyhock travels to Los Angeles to find BoJack Horseman, who she believes is her biological father due to looking like him. It is eventually revealed they have matching DNA, and BoJack promises to help her find her biological mom.

In Thoughts and Prayers, BoJack and Hollyhock go to visit Beatrice in her nursing home. It is revealed a now elderly Beatrice has dementia, and as a result, she does not recognize BoJack as her son and instead recognizes and refers to him as "Henrietta." She continues to refer to him like this for the rest of the season until she finally recognizes him at the end of Time's Arrow.

In Stupid Piece of Sh*t, after BoJack takes away her baby doll, Beatrice calls him "a worthless waste of my husband's jzzim." This could initially be interpreted as her referring to her son, but after it’s revealed who Henrietta really is, Beatrice is actually referring to the fact Butterscotch got Henrietta pregnant.

In Lovin that cali lifestyle!!, Beatrice asks where "the girl," referring to Hollyhock, is. When BoJack says she’s gone, Beatrice replies "Oh yes, I took her didn’t I?" This question referring to the fact, she took away baby Hollyhock from Henrietta, after giving birth to her.

In What Time Is It Right Now BoJack further investigates Hollyhock's true parentage. When no Los Angeles courthouse had her birth certificate, he wonders if his dad "knocked up one of [his] maids?" He then travels to San Francisco, where he finally finds Hollyhock's birth certificate—by extension her mother's name, Henrietta. He looks up Henrietta on Facebook and finds her phone number.

BoJack goes to Hollyhock's hometown of Wichita, Kansas, and relays this information to her dads, who blame him for her overdose on amphetamine when it was actually Beatrice drugging her coffee. BoJack begs her fathers to give Hollyhock Henrietta's phone number. They agree on the condition he leaves.

Hollyhock finds out about Henrietta through their "dad language," which she can easily understand. She spends time talking with Henrietta and in the last scene of Season 4 in What Time Is It Right Now, she is about to board a plane to go meet her for the first time.