16 October 2019

Go crazy with new seasons of your favourite animated comedies

Big Mouth, South Park, Disenchantment and Archer are back with their trademark cringe-worthiness and un-PC, NSFW shenanigans.

By James Francis

From the not-so-magical world of Dreamland to a small town in Colorado to the horrors of puberty to the void of space, where unfortunately everyone can still hear Archer’s voice – what can you expect from Disenchantment, South Park, Big Mouth and Archer this time around?

Disenchantment Season 2 (Netflix)

Disenchantment’s debut episodes left some disappointed but eventually showed what the series was going for. Season 2 wastes no time with that momentum behind it. It’s more confident about its jokes and characters, allowing them to run a little wilder. The events of Season 1’s cliffhanger linger, but Princess Bean, the demonic Luci and neurotic Elfo are soon reunited. Several other characters become more prominent and evolve, and the world itself becomes more elaborate.

The first season had to meet high expectations, being cut from the same cloth as the much-loved Futurama. But in season 2, Disenchantment finds its stride. Long live the decrepit kingdom of Dreamland!

Archer Season 10 (Netflix)

Ignore the “10” – no prior Archer knowledge is required to enjoy this season. The titular character has been in a coma since Season 8, which allows the show to genre-hop with entirely new stories and locations. The characters all stay roughly the same, but the series can put on a fresh face every time. In the tenth season, the cast is in a science-fiction space world similar to Alien: they are blue-collar freighters moving stuff around the galaxy.

Not that these people get much freighting done. Archer’s trademark blend of bickering, absurdity and gratuity is in full effect, but now with the added flavour of sci-fi weirdness. Once you get to the giant space snail, you’ll know…

Big Mouth Season 3 (Netflix)

Not everyone had fun in puberty. But it appears to have damaged the writers of Big Mouth so much that they made a whole animated series about it. On paper, the pitch must have seemed terrible: a show about various pre-teens who start entering puberty and wrestling with their hormones. Yawn. But Big Mouth is crazy, the kind of show you’d never see on regular television. Finally, a series that reveals puberty for what it is: mainly terrible decisions and giant horned hormone monsters…

Every season of Big Mouth has raised the bar and you keep expecting them to run out of ideas. But Season 3 comes roaring out of the gates before the first episode is even done and doesn’t throttle down. Slutwalks, masturbation, phone addiction, bad road trips, overly flirty cousins… If you’ve been watching Big Mouth, this is the season you’ve been waiting for. If not, better start at the beginning. We warned you…

And, coming soon …

South Park Season 23 (Showmax)

What is there to write about South Park that hasn’t been brought up already? For 22 years, the people of that town have entertained and shocked audiences everywhere. Just when someone declares the show’s lost its edge, South Park roars back into the picture.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a die-hard fan or last watched an episode when the internet only existed on computers – South Park manages to be fresh and evergreen almost every time. Seriously, do you need any introduction to see the notorious HumancentiPad episode? Nope.

Season 23 is already set to be a monster, coming out swinging with the show’s trademark graphic humour and controversial storylines. It’s also a milestone, reaching its 300th episode.

Stream it uncensored in weekly episodes on Showmax from 21 October 2019. Seasons 19 to 22 are currently available to binge-watch.