My Thoughts on Seasons 1 & 2 of 'Monsters at Work'

I’ll admit, as someone who’s always been somewhat indifferent to the Monster Inc. franchise, I had low expectations for the ‘Monster at Work’ series. When season 1 was released in 2021, I watched part of the first episode and gave up on the series until a couple of months ago when season 2 was released, and I decided to give it another try. After finishing season 2 last week, I wanted to dedicate a blog post to sharing some of my thoughts on ‘Monsters at Work’ as a series, including the characters and story.

Just a warning before we get started: this post contains spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 of ‘Monsters at Work.’

I’d like to start by admitting that I found season 1 a bit difficult to get through, at least until the last couple of episodes. For a main character, I personally found Tylor to be somewhat generic and a little (very) annoying. It was hard to relate to his story and understand his motivation for becoming a Jokester. Also, I felt like the way he treated the other members of MIFT for most of season 1, particularly Val, was disrespectful and unjustified, given that MIFT welcomed Tylor as a member of their team and treated him as their equal from day 1 (aside from Duncan that is lol). Each member of MIFT assuredly had their own quirks, but I honestly found myself rooting for them by the end of the season.

I found my interest most drawn to Val, who I thought was kind of annoying at first, but her perky personality and genuine enthusiasm for her work and co-workers made me fall in love with her character. Her voice actor, Mindy Kahling, did an excellent job voicing her and bringing her character to life. Val’s stubbornness in trying to befriend Tylor was endearing, especially given how he continually pushed her away and, despite the pair becoming friends halfway through season 1, continued to treat Val poorly into season 2 of ‘Monsters at Work.’

The green, four-eyed monster Duncan also surprised me. According to the Disney Wiki, his character was inspired by Dwight from The Office, which makes a lot of sense, given Duncan’s paranoid personality and overly ambitious desire to take over Fritz’s position as the leader/head supervisor of MIFT, even if it’s at the expense of his coworkers. Again, like Val, at first, I thought he was a little annoying at first, but over time, I grew to enjoy watching his snarky dialogue and manipulative antics play out in both seasons of ‘Monsters at Work.’

My favorite episode from season 1 was episode 5, “The Cover Up.” Something about this whole episode was incredibly amusing to me, and I actually found myself laughing out loud during several parts. The episode began with the head supervisor of MIFT, Fritz, taking a two-week vacation and leaving Duncan in charge of the team. But everything goes wrong after an incident in the Monsters Inc. scream can storage room involving MIFT members Tylor, Duncan, and Cutter causes a city-wide blackout, and a Squidward-looking inspector named Argus Blinks is hired to find the culprit of the malfunction with the help of his “inspection orbs” (eight individual spy-eyeballs).

The story got even more chaotic when a stray scream canister, which had become wedged into the ceiling during the incident in the storage room, suddenly fell onto inspector Argus’ head as he was preparing to write up MIFT for causing the blackout. In a hilarious conclusion to the episode, MIFT was left to deal with Argus’s unconscious body and capture his “inspection orbs” before they could report back to M.E.R.C. This episode earned its spot as my favorite from season 1 of ‘Monsters at Work’ with its combination of character dialogue filled with dry humor and chaotic episode storyline.

Overall, season 1 of Monsters at Work took me about a week and a half to get through, mostly because I wasn’t super invested in the storyline. I found myself drawn to watching other shows and movies in my free time or when needing background noise. However, when I finally finished season 1, I decided to go right into watching season 2, and I’m glad I did. Once I started watching season 2 of ‘Monsters at Work,’ I was pretty much invested from the first episode, and I ended up binge-watching the last half of the season in one sitting. The return of ‘Monsters University’ and ‘Monsters Inc. characters Johnny Worthington, Clair Wheeler, Chet Alexander, and Randall Boggs surprised me, and the season had several unexpected twists that got me more invested as it went on. However, that isn’t to say my thoughts on season 2 are 100% positive.

Similar to my complaints about Tylor’s character in season 1, I struggled to understand Tylor’s behavior in season 2, particularly toward Val, who he continually ignored and dismissed throughout the season. While yes, he did end up apologizing to Val in the final episode of the season, I felt like I was watching a different kind of miscommunication trope play out in every episode. I found this incredibly frustrating, given most of Tylor and Val’s frustrations with one another could have easily been cleared up if they had just honestly talked with one another about each other’s wants and desires for not only their friendship but their careers as well. I found nearly every interaction between Tylor and Val hard to watch as Tylor’s career concerns seemed to supersede any of the problems of his friends and coworkers. I have to admit, it wasn't very surprising to me when the frustrating amounts of miscommunication occurring throughout season 2 eventually led to many of the issues at Monsters Inc. coming to a head and Tylor making the decision to leave Monsters Inc.

On the other hand, my love for Val’s character only grew this season. It was refreshing to watch her find her own path at Monsters Inc. and how gracefully she handled Tylor’s behavior, stepping up in his absence and supporting MIFT at the same time. I was so happy for Val when she got accepted as a Jokester at Monsters Inc. While I’m glad she ended up working in a comedy duo with Tylor, I no doubt she could have succeeded at her job as a Jokester on her own. Honestly, though, I’m not sure I could say the same about Tylor, given his career was already heading downhill in the first part of season 2, leading him to explore other career opportunities at Fear Co.

Overall, the storyline with Fear Co. was pretty interesting, and I loved seeing a different side of the monster world outside of Monsters Inc. I thought the design for the Fear Co. building and scare floor was incredibly well done, successfully capturing the corrupt side of the company, Scarers, and scare business as a whole, reminiscent of the original 'Monsters Inc.' movie with a darker twist.

I thought the build-up to the final episode of season 2 was interesting, and the high stakes kept me fairly invested. In conclusion, I thought the ending was a bit predictable, but I didn’t hate how it played out, and overall, I was happy with how the season ended. It leads me to wonder if a third season is currently in development. However, as of right now, Pixar hasn’t announced any future plans for the show.

Reading over this post, I’m just now realizing how much of it is me ranting about Tylor’s character lol. Still, if I’m being completely honest, I probably would have enjoyed this series more if there was a different main character. I found myself more drawn to the hilarity and unexpected depth of the supporting characters and would have loved more backstory into the other members of MIFT. I liked how ‘Monsters at Work’ showed some of the different sides of the monster world, but I also feel like it merely brushed the surface of potential world-building. Honestly, I’d be interested in seeing more in the future.

Overall, I think the creators of ‘Monsters at Work’ did a great job of getting me invested in a completely new cast of characters (besides Mike and Sulley), and I don’t regret watching both seasons. Still, I probably won’t rewatch this series for a while.

If you’ve watched 'Monsters at Work,' I’d love to hear your thoughts on the series or the characters!

Thanks for reading!:)