Netflix’s Human Resources season 1 recap guide: Episodes 1 to 10

Big Mouth spinoff Human Resources is finally out now on Netflix! This new series is the raunchier and adult-ier version of the beloved adult animated comedy with many of our favorite monsters and creatures returning alongside colorful new characters!

If you’re someone who loves the monsters most on Big Mouth then this show is for you. There are way fewer human characters and more focus on the interior and professional lives of these ancient creatures. The show is a workplace comedy and we get to see what goes on in the official Human Resources office buildings as Lovebugs, Shame Wizards, Ambition Gremlins, Logic Rocks, Depression Kitties and more work together to manage their human clients.

Netflix’s Human Resources recap guide: Episodes 1 to 10

SPOILER WARNING: Here’s a complete episode guide and recap for the show, including all the music used. Keep in mind that there are SPOILERS for all 10 episodes of season 1 in this piece.

Episode 1, “Birth”

Human Resources starts by introducing us immediately to this new world of monsters, creatures and all the other beings that make humans act the way they do. The show introduces us is self-described as Big Mouth meets The Office, with lots of crossover characters, meta jokes and the raunchy humor we’ve come to expect from this adult animated comedy franchise.

To ease us into the inner workings of Human Resources, the overall office space where these characters do the bulk of their work, we catch up with Maury (Nick Kroll) during an awkward elevator ride with some of his fellow Hormone Monsters. Gil and Joe are two average employees who complain about their wives and believe humans will eventually stop having sex because of the evolution of VR while Gavin (Bobby Cannavale) is a high-flying monster who gives Maury grief about his continued work with kids going through puberty.

Gavin, on the other hand, just accepted a huge gig as the head of testosterone at the NFL. For a Hormone Monster, it doesn’t get much better than that. It also happens to be Maury’s 40 millionth birthday and Gavin’s comments cause him to spin out into an existential crisis. Who is he, really? What does he have to offer after all this time existing?

Maury’s co-workers try to throw him a surprise birthday party complete with a cookie cake but it just pisses him off. Even Connie (Maya Rudolph) can’t get him out of his funk. It’s only when Maury gets home and sees his dicks (yes, Maury has a bunch of furry self-mobile penises that he treats like kids for those who haven’t seen Big Mouth) that he starts to feel better.

They’re sort of like having children, right? Spending time with them while reminiscing together (with several Big Mouth references interspersed throughout) over a slideshow and a group masturbation session is exactly what Maury needs to celebrate his birthday in style.

We catch up with the rest of the monsters while Maury is dealing with his identity crisis. Big Mouth focuses on middle schoolers and teens, but Human Resources has more adult human characters, like Becca Li (Ali Wong), a pregnant litigator on the cusp of giving birth to her first child with her husband Barry (Mike Birbiglia). Becca’s team is completely stressed out by the preparation.

Becca’s Hormone Mistress is Big Mouth‘s Connie, who is worried that Becca and Barry won’t have sex again after Becca gives birth, Tito the Anxiety Mosquito (Maria Bamford) worries the baby will come out wrong, Petra the Ambition Gremlin (Rosie Perez) doesn’t want Becca to risk losing a promotion at work because of maternity leave. Then there’s Pete Doheny (Randall Park), the resident Logic Rock trying to keep everyone in line.

At the head of the table is Sonya the Lovebug (Pamela Adlon) who demands everyone get their sh*t together, more or less. After the meeting, Sonya gives her assistant Emmy (Aidy Bryant) a stern talking to because she doesn’t put any work in at her job. Her notes are terrible and she spends all her time doing imitations and making would you rather question boards. She’s also totally distracted by her fling with the sexy Addiction Angel, Dante (Hugh Jackman).

But Emmy is going to have to step up soon, because Sonya is suddenly fired and escorted out of the office by two burly security guards. Why is she fired? That’s a mystery that will be revealed later this season. With Sonya fired, Emmy is reassigned to Becca, a change that neither is happy with moving forward.

While getting drunk at The Mistake Factory bar with Dante that night, Emmy runs into Sonya who is horrified that Becca has been left in her assistant’s care. Sonya demands Emmy stop messing around and go do her job, especially since Becca is on the verge of giving birth and the doctor is concerned she will go into early labor.

Drunk as a skunk, Emmy does make it to Becca’s and she makes everything worse in combination with Becca’s pesky Anxiety Mosquitoes. It’s no surprise all the stress causes Becca’s water to break. All of her monsters have to drop what they’re doing to rush to the delivery room. Every creature is doing their job except Emmy, who would rather hide in the corner than spread the love. Pete coaxes her into giving Becca a pep talk and spreading the love like she’s supposed to.

Emmy eventually gives Becca a motivational speech that is more or less effective even if it isn’t the nicest to help her through labor and she gives birth to her healthy baby, albeit it’s ugly. In Emmy’s own words, “Call that thing cute, you’re a liar.”

Besides Becca giving birth and Maury’s birthday, storylines that fit well together and act as bookends to two notable points in the human existence, there is a third short C-plot that doesn’t fit as well into this episode. Minor characters Gil and Joe get trapped in the elevator and lobbed into a strange magical realm where a sea slug-looking creature reads Gil’s heart chakras and a tarot card tells Joe he’s going to die soon. It’s just kind of random and doesn’t add much to the story. We’ll see if either reveal becomes important later this season.

Human Resources episode 1 soundtrack

• Theme song: “Make Me Feel” by Janelle Monáe
• End credits: “The Monster” by Eminem ft. Rihanna

Best jokes and stray observations from Human Resources episode 1

• “But you got two shows on Netflix!” “So what? Everyone’s got a show on Netflix.”
• The running joke about Sonya sleeping with the Grinch.
• “It’s a chakra con!”
• The way Maya Rudolph voices Connie is just perfect, everything she says is funny even if the dialogue itself sometimes isn’t.