Season Review: Human Kind Of Season One

Johnny come lately.

The growth of streaming platforms means more adult animation, which is good, it’s great, it makes for great competition and gives a lot of studios and producers work. The fun part? Going through it all and finding the real diamonds. Last year, ABC television’s failed online exclusive streaming series gave us the fantastic Ginger Snaps, this year, Facebook Watch is giving us a couple of solid series, however, you’d never know it because I’m pretty sure the company has been making headlines for a lot of not good reasons in 2018, and as such, probably forgot to promote a couple of their originals. Fortunately, we’re here.

And Human Kind Of is definitely one of those diamonds you want to know about for your viewing pleasure. For those that don’t know, Human Kind Of is an adult animated comedy that follows Judy (voiced by Michelle Trachtenberg), a girl getting through the typical horrors of high school of the unpopular variety. From periods to boys to dealing with being raised by a single parent, Human Kind Of does enough as an animated comedy to focus on these familiar issues and probably could survive just on these alone. Fortunately for us, show creator Diana McCorry isn’t content with doing the normal and would rather give us the supernatural instead.

That’s because Judy is also half-alien, on her screwy dad’s side of the family. But, her mother Iris does her best to make sure that Judy has everything she needs and then some given the circumstances. The overriding arc about the first season of Human Kind Of is the discovery of oneself. For Judy, it’s coming to grips of being both an adult AND being half-alien, which comes with some neat perks like superpowers, access to other planetary worlds, and having mandibles show every time her boy crush comes around…ok maybe not that last part. In fact, the show does an exquisite job of showcasing a character with multiple levels, one minute it’s cool to be an alien, the next Judy wishes she could be more like her silly but normal human friend Cory (voiced by Kate Berlant). These clashes come to a head a multitude of times during the course of a 21-episode season, however, her outside world still comes down on her during the most unexpected moments…like when she’s reunited with her money-grubbing father. By the end of the first season, Judy has to make important choices that she feels would better her psyche.

From a technical perspective, Human Kind Of has SERIOUS muscle. The alien character designs are excellent and for fans of the type of species seen on series like Futurama or Rick and Morty, you’re gonna feel right at home. Their details may not be as well constructed as those aforementioned franchises, but they do belong in the same league. There are also quite a few instances of sheer brilliance in terms of direction and that Joy Buran & Noelle Melody really should be given a slew of kudos, especially when we get to the last quarter of the season and we start seeing montage scenic routes of outer space, these guys strike chords that rival some of the bigger budgeted affair seen out there. It’s impressive really, a solid, but small team put together a series that’s one part Degrassi and one part Final Space.

That’s not to say this series isn’t without its challenges. For starters, I question the release schedule, episode times, and the number of episodes of the series. I think I would’ve preferred fewer episodes with longer runtimes released either weekly or all at once. Really that’s it though because Human Kind Of  is kind of brilliant. The second season has a great place to pick up, and with Judy’s father promising upwards of a 1000 siblings, we may not have even scratched the surface of the familial turmoil that we had dealt with the entirety of the show’s run. Here’s hoping Facebook Watch can get behind this one in a little more prudent way because more is needed.