Imagine it’s one of those nights when you want to watch something completely new and unheard of. You scroll through titles on Netflix but everything seems too mainstream. Suddenly, you see his face. He looks like a chubbier Ed Sheeran who hasn’t slept for several days. The title – Toon – suggests that it’s a feel-good series. You check how many seasons there are – just two, with a total of 16 episodes of about 20 to 25 minutes each. Perfect for leaving your self-loathing alone for a while and focusing on something relatively easygoing.

At first, I forgot how weird Dutch names can be and thought “Toon” was short for “cartoon”. Toon is the show’s main character, a music composer who writes jingles for product ads. He’s like a ginger hikikomori, a recluse living in isolation and avoiding human interaction, completely withdrawn from the outside world. After footage of him playing a lame song at a party is uploaded to social media and quickly gets thousands of views, Toon’s life changes. He becomes famous along with Nina, who sings with him in the video.

I’d rather not go into too much detail and spoil the story, but the pressure is unbearable for Toon. His inability to say yes, no, or communicate anything he thinks or wants ends up dragging him into places he doesn’t want to go, interviews he doesn’t want to do, and brings him fame he didn’t want in the first place. He doesn’t want to step out of his comfort zone. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t care about having a comfort zone at all; his entire life is an attempt to exist without being noticed. I’m sure it would be completely nerve-wracking to deal with him in real life, just as it is for the other characters on the show.

The situations presented in the show are extremely exaggerated and absurd, like when Toon becomes the top player in a game about fish-tank managing. There’s a quirky humor that I’ve rarely seen before, and I found myself exploding into laughter many times for its simplicity and easy flow. It’s like watching The Office (UK), Parks & Recreation, a drunk Ed Sheeran performing, and a fly slowly dying, all combined. I mean, it’s funny (except for the fly), but it’s damn awkward. Toon is currently available on Netflix, if you dare to discover the magical world of dark Dutch humor.

Toon – A Quirky Dutch TV Show You Need to Watch