‘Big Mouth’ Season Two Entertains and Educates

In its first season, “Big Mouth” follows five friends, Andrew (John Mulaney), Nick (Nick Kroll), Jessi (Jessi Klein), Missy (Jenny Slate), and Jay (Jason Mantzoukas), as they journey through puberty and learn to deal with the changes that entails. “Big Mouth” is not the “Teen Wolf” kind of show where teenagers have Abercrombie builds and can double as models. “Big Mouth” is an animated take on real life. Andrew doesn’t have a six pack and chiseled pecs, but is instead a normal kid with half a mustache. Nick isn’t 6’3” with flowing hair and a jawline chiseled by Michelangelo, but is instead 4’7” and still growing. All of the characters in the show realistically go through middle school struggles. Their adventures include awkward mini-golf dates with parents one hole behind keeping tabs. However, as it should be in middle school even post-puberty, these kids still make the best of their time and have great memories. “Big Mouth” unflinchingly shows the pimple-filled, hormone-laden journey through adolescence that every child makes while educating and reassuring along the way that there is no one way through puberty and this show makes that clear.

Throughout its second season of 10 episodes, the five friends continue their hormonal journeys in new and exciting ways. Andrew struggles with a new libido and experiencing shame, learning to make conscientious decisions about sexuatlity. Nick deals with being a late bloomer, comparing himself to male classmates, and how to work through a relationship. Jessi deals with the common struggle of her parents’ divorce, an overbearing parent, and experimental drug use. Missy learns about body confidence and the power of healthy conversation. Jay explores his sexuality. Through its carefully constructed dialogue and thoughtful comedy, this animated TV show achieves what many sex ed classes throughout the nation only dream of: educating the people who go through the struggle of puberty and abolishing myths and misconceptions about pubescence.

The show informs its audience in a variety of ways. In Episode Five of the second season, “The Planned Parenthood Show,” one of the characters, the sex-ed teacher, learns about sex after his first time. The students try to understand contraception, STDs, pregnancy, women’s rights, reproductive health, and abortion in a fashion that is appropriately “not too preachy” as Coach Steve (Nick Kroll) states in the episode, and with poise. These topics have been taboo, behind closed doors discussions for decades. but an animated show is able to bring them back into the forefront of public health. For all the comedy and enjoyment that the show brings, “Big Mouth” is the pinnacle of honest discussion about difficult topics.

Beyond the show’s incorporation of difficult themes, such as drug use and abuse and pubescent development, it also can elicit genuine laughs and employs a goofy animation to lighten the mood. Also, the show explores development into adolescence in a comic, light-hearted, and genuinely enjoyable way. This is in part due to the excellent use of animation. The show uses a style unlike any other. It accentuates what most people would consider flaws but also what makes people individuals. All of the characters have large lips and big mouths. Some have smooth hair but pimples. Others have ratty hair but smooth skin. Yet others have long torsos and short legs. The caricatures depicted are those of actual people in everyday life, with points of both ugliness and beauty.

Further amplifying this message of individuality, the show strives to make every individual realize they belong whether they are queer or straight, tall or short, quick to mature or slow, smooth skinned or freckled, frizzy haired or straight. Even as teenagers in a pubescent world filled with Hormone Monsters (Nick Kroll) and Shame Wizards (David Thewlis), dealing with the struggles of growing up, these kids know that they belong. Many of the adults in their lives show them affection and help through worrisome times of self-doubt and self-loathing. Andrew, Nick, Jessi, Missy, and Jay are surrounded by great people willing to help through internal and external struggles.

Throughout the show’s too-short 10-episode season, this animated Netflix show has the opportunity to break tradition and make difficult conversations approachable. Like many cartoons today, it breaks boundaries and sets the stage for social change in the right direction, pubescent teens. As much as “Big Mouth” is an animated comedy, it is also a show filled with progressive, positive messages that leave viewers waiting for more.