Big Mouth spinoff Human Resources takes it into adulthood

The team that brought the much-loved, sexed-up, hormone raging Big Mouth to Netflix, are the same minds behind the equally comedic and raunchy Human Resources. This animated spin-off takes viewers to the salt mines of the Hormone Monsters, Shame Wizards and Anxiety Mosquitos that became familiar to viewers in Big Mouth.

While Big Mouth's main focus was giving viewers a front-row seat into the inner-working of teenagers going through puberty, Human Resources shifts its focus onto adulthood. We see Nick Kroll, Maya Rudolph and David Thewlis back in their respective roles of Hormone Monsters Maury and Connie, and Lionel the Shame Wizard. 

We also get to see other monsters and creatures that have become familiar to us from Big Mouth. SNL funny woman, Aidy Bryant, playing the bad-at-her-job Love Bug Emmy, is the perfect fit to this hilarious ensemble.

Essentially a workplace comedy exploring the lives of these otherworldly creatures, the show follows Emmy through her gaffes and foibles. As a Love Bug, Emmy is a mess, who's just been unexpectedly asked to replace her boss Sonya (Pamela Adlon) who's been fired. 

More than a little unprepared, this out-of-control Love Bug would much rather be partying, hooking up with an Addiction Angel than helping out her very pregnant client, Becca. While Emmy feels like one of the primary story drives for the entire season, different episodes bring different creatures and monsters into the limelight.

The monster and creature storylines take centre stage structurally, arcing throughout the course of the season and serving as the only linkages between the human narratives for the most part. Human Resources' creature narratives become what largely push its bigger narrative forward, by focusing the bulk of its plot structure around monster and creature journeys.

As such, we see more clearly how messy these feelings like hormones, love, hate, addiction, and so on can be. The messed-up narratives of these creatures have a far more direct impact on the lives of their human clientele than we've seen with Big Mouth. 

Human Resources not only generates more delightful turmoil surrounding the emotions and hormone imbalances its many monsters and animals are designed to depict, but it also says much more about how we as people relate to our feelings.

The show has exciting new additions to this raunchy universe apart from Emmy the Love Bug. There is Pete the Logic Rock (Randall Park) who goes beyond his instinctive drive to rationalise and finds himself helplessly in love with Rochelle, another seasoned Love Bug (Keke Palmer).

While this is unquestionably an animated comedy, it does not shy away from delving into a deeper and darker emotional territory. Human Resources' humor, like its predecessor, is mostly aimed at being open about sex, yet the more time we spend with these passionate, emotional animals and monsters, the more the curtain on those vulgar jokes begins to lift. 

Soon, we see the toll that living as a Hormone Monster and other highly emotional creatures has on them. These characters, who were largely known as comedic relief and raunchy sidekicks egging on middle schoolers up until now, have unexpectedly found their light. 

Characters like Maury and Connie are forced to wrestle with their own aims and wants. The show goes beyond its crass no-hole barred comedy to examine what it means to want more out of life.

Characters like Emmy and Pete are fresh additions through whose eyes viewers explore the universe. But, it's the time viewers get to spend with classic characters like Maury and Connie that makes this Big Mouth spinoff so successful. 

Human Resources allows viewers to go behind the actions of these creatures and unveils the true motivations that drive them. By humanising these creatures, Human Resources finds its heart and soul in a universe that is making an honest attempt to explore the messy reality of human emotions.