Why ‘Big Mouth’ season two is worth watching

“Big Mouth” is a brazen show about puberty created by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett. The Netflix series is based on Kroll and Goldberg’s adolescence and experience growing up in Westchester County, New York. The show follows a diverse group of middle schoolers navigate their changing bodies and minds with the help of hormone monsters, their parents, each other and gym teachers. Each character has their own issues they try to deal with, while experiencing the drastic physical and mental change of puberty.

The second season is especially endearing as the characters are no longer being introduced so the audience knows them a bit more. The show covers pre-teens/teenagers that shy away from budding sexuality, depression and shame about one’s sexual urges. A lot of shows that depict these impressionable years are acted by 25-year-olds who sensationalize and romanticize those years. Using  animation, the show is able to get more graphic while maintaining a comfortable distance. The format also allows for a representative approach of puberty.

A storyline that jumped out to me this season was from the main female characters — Missy Forman-Greenwald, Jessi Klein and Gina Alvarez. Missy is a timid and smart girl who is at the cusp of being a woman. In this season, she struggles with accepting her body after seeing how the boys in her school react to the more developed girls. The series presents feelings as physical manifestations of the mind and so Missy is visited by another version of herself which convinces her that her body isn’t beautiful.

Jessi, in this season, is working through her parent’s divorce and even experiments in recreational drugs. Her journey is one of anger, shame and sadness as she sees her mother lash out at her father — which eventually leads him to leave the family home. After a string of events, Jessi finds herself in a depressive state represented by a large purple talking cat that sits on her. Again, breathing life into feelings and representing them as visual elements is a smart move by the animators and writers.  

Gina Alvarez, voiced by Gina Rodriguez, is a new-ish character. She is introduced to the audience as the girl with boobs that all the young boys are gushing over. Later on in the series, she becomes more of a three-dimensional character as Nick Birch becomes closer to her. Her story is an accurate depiction of how young girls feel uncomfortable in their own body even if they are seen as desirable. She becomes a victim of slut-shaming after Nick shares with his friends that he and Gina kissed. 

Another notable element in the new season is the addition of the Shame Wizard voiced by David Thewlis. The Shame Wizard torments the kids into believing that their sexual urges and desires are something to ashamed of. The addition of this character is to oppose the hormone monsters message of sexual exploration. The character flies over the school and whispers into the characters ears and adds an element of fantasy in the show. Later, it is revealed that he is not so bad after all and is instead just a part of growing up. The kids eventually banish him from their town where they live free of sexual shame.

Overall, “Big Mouth” season two is one to watch. Even though the series can border on vulgar themes, the animation does a good job of offsetting those feelings. I liked that the series chose to tackle serious issues surrounding puberty but in a fresh and comical way. Sometimes, shows about growing up can feel like cautionary tales but “Big Mouth” finds a good balance between comedy and moral lessons.

“Big Mouth” is a series worth binging, preferably alone and with no one watching. I am genuinely eager about what season three will bring.