Mating Season Review
Director: Henrique Jardim and Anthony Lioi
Date Created: 2026-05-22 23:07
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Mating Season Review: Directed by Henrique Jardim and Anthony Lioi, Netflix’s adult animated comedy features voice performances from Zach Woods, Nick Kroll, Sabrina Jalees, alongside Jason Alexander, Maria Bamford, Clancy Brown and others. Created by Jennifer Flackett, Andrew Goldberg, Nick Kroll and Mark Levin, the series consists of 10 episodes with a runtime of around 25 minutes each.
Mating Season Review
Netflix adult animated series Mating Season centres on four animal friends, the sensitive bear named Josh, the arrogant raccoon named Ray, who tries hard to cover up the fact that he feels lonely, the social misfit fox Penelope looking for some real connections and the poor Fawn, always ending up in disastrous romances. Set in a forest filled with animals exhibiting human traits gone wrong, the plot focuses on dating life by using one-night stands, broken romances, problems with commitment and an abundance of stupidity.
Each episode forces these animals into ridiculous romantic adventures, whether through the animal instincts used for speed-dating, a disastrous group date, the reappearance of old flames at inconvenient times or the attempts to join hookup culture. As crazy as the concept might sound on paper, sometimes it actually works.
Given the people behind the making of Netflix’s Mating Season, I was prepared for constant gross-out humour without any limits. This series does have this flaw, but it is not all bad when it comes to jokes that hit home. A few jokes about using dating apps, territoriality in animals, and insecurity within relationships do have some cleverness involved. One segment in particular about animals matching by their smell and not swiping left or right on their phones was both absurd and clever at the same time.
Regrettably, the Netflix Mating Season series fails to take the time necessary to really develop these individuals. Whenever the series is about to delve into an important statement concerning themes such as isolation, relationships, or vulnerability, the producers immediately deflate the mood with another sexual pun. It seems like the series is afraid to be sincere. Rather than developing these emotional beats further, the series continues to fall back on the easy out of humour to avoid becoming too serious. It does not take long before the predictability of the series is glaringly evident.
The most frustrating aspect of the series has to be how few of the characters develop at any point in time. Josh may be the closest character that seems genuinely emotionally compelling since his insecurities and struggles with coping after heartbreak are quite relatable, despite the fact that he’s surrounded by chaos. The nervous energy that Zach Woods brings into Josh helps to make him a sympathetic figure despite all the times when he’s clearly pathetic. Josh gets involved in one constant plot thread where he has to deal with his parents’ very sexually active relationship, which ends up being pretty hilarious.
Ray, played by Nick Kroll, seems very familiar to viewers due to their past experience with adult animation characters that share similar traits. Ray is very loud, risky, and insecure, and does everything he can to not appear vulnerable by using humour and one-night stands. Nick Kroll plays his character in a manner that is typical for him – maniacally comic, but the screenwriters did little to make Ray seem anything more than a chaotic figure. The story of Penelope seemed promising as she is struggling to build meaningful relationships, but her scenes are also ruined by humour.
The thing I like about the Mating Season animated series is its rhythm. Episodes are fast-paced, and there is never anything boring in them, even if the plots are obvious from the start. There is always something funny coming up next – another weird joke, another eccentric character or a completely insane date fiasco. The animation is also appropriate for such a loose comedy for adults. It looks a bit similar to Big Mouth animation-wise, and that is something you might or might not enjoy.
However, under all the strange jokes and sexual madness, there is an absence of substance when it comes to storytelling. Most of the episodes tend to revert the characters to being alone and disappointed. Any moment they seem to be on their way to happiness, the series will just pull away at the very last minute to make a joke out of it. Eventually, after seeing it many times over, it becomes quite annoying since there doesn’t seem to be anything else to say besides “dating blows.”
Netflix Mating Season Review: Summing Up
Overall, the adult animated series Mating Season appears to be a series that confuses its ability to make noise and sexual references with being witty. While it is not terribly offensive, the show certainly has its share of hilarious jokes sprinkled all around it. A couple of voice acting choices stand out as good, and several remarks about relationships ring true and are quite humorous. However, the show relies heavily on crude sexual humour along with familiar sitcom relationship tropes amidst all of its animal antics.
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