Tuca’s Toucan, Bertie’s a song thrush and together, they’re a whole lot of weird and wonderful.
Starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong as the animated leads in this singular Netflix original, ‘Tuca and Bertie’ (2019) introduces us to the surrealscapes of Bird Town, where the lovable bird buddies navigate life, love and creepy bosses.
Created by Lisa Hanawalt, the designer behind ‘BoJack Horseman’, the series mines somewhat similar adult angst, but from the point of view of two ordinary women.
Juxtaposing Tuca’s loud-mouthed, late-blooming, fun-loving, recently sober persona with Bertie’s sweet and sensible traits, the series gives us odd couple humour, but with plenty of sensitivity, relevance and heart.
With episodes concerning anxiety, toxic family members, sexual harassment, body issues and rape, ‘Tuca and Bertie’ is the women-centred adult animation you never knew you needed.
Sobering in episodes like ‘The Jelly Lakes’ in which repressed childhood trauma is brought to the fore with compassion and striking design, the series gets real and uncomfortable, but strives to have necessary and relatable conversations.
Frank about mental health, co-dependency and its characters’ sex lives, ‘Tuca and Bertie’ is refreshing, fun and peppered with off-beat recurring characters who bring bustling Bird Town to vivid life.
Also starring Steven Yeun, Nicole Beyer and Richard E Grant, with guest appearances by Awkwafina, Laverne Cox, Tessa Thompson, Jane Lynch, Isabella Rossellini and Taraji P Henson, Netflix’s own tag line sums up the series they mistakenly cancelled after one awesome season best: “Two odd birds. One real friendship.”
‘Tuca and Bertie’ (2019) is now streaming on Netflix.
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com
