Big Mouth

I can't really remember why I started watching Big Mouth. I think I was just looking for something to fill a Rick and Morty/Archer shaped void for a bit. Whatever the reason, I'm really glad I gave it a go. At first glance, the show is a foul-mouthed, ridiculous excuse for the worst kind of juvenile humour, but the reality is actually a nuanced and surprisingly delicate look at puberty, being a teenager, and all the weird biology that comes with it. In some ways, I really wish the show was less funny as I genuinely think it's one of the best series ever created to try and tackle what it's like to be a teenager, but then makes itself too rude to ever really advocate being shown in a classroom. On the other hand, it's freaking hilarious and that deep level of lewd (yet intelligent) humour is the cornerstone that holds the rest of the show together.

From periods to sexual identity, the show skewers a whole host of adolescent worries and nightmares with a distinctively well-written sequence of comedic encounters and ridiculous characters. The core kids – Nick, Andrew, Jessi, Matthew, Missy, and Jay – are all a lot of fun and the interrelationships that form and break between them feels like a very realistic portrayal of adolescence. That they are surrounded by a host of absurd and impossible characters, like the ghost of Duke Ellington (played brilliantly by Jordan Peele, of all people), Coach Steve, Nick's parents, and of course the Hormone Monsters themselves, just helps add levity and humour to the shows otherwise quite dark plotlines. The combination works perfectly and creates something genuinely unique.

The result is a show with the plotlines and lewd jokes of South Park or Family Guy, only written by the team behind something like Rick and Morty or even The Good Place. It's clever, informative, always interesting, and even when it's going down lines of utter absurdity, a huge amount of fun.

Oh my god, the Shame Wizard is brilliant. If I thought the Hormone Monster angle was a fantastic take in season one, I did not see this coming. As a character, he's a brilliant foil throughout the season, but then the ending is just sheer ridiculous excellence. The whole school sleepover sequence had me in stitches and I loved the "defeat" of the Shame Wizard as the kids just go berserk, plus his utter confusion of Coach Steve.

I'm also a big fan of the show's increasingly liberal (yet not overbaked) leanings. The episode on Planned Parenthood, in particular, is a great expose of why the organisation gets a lot of schtick from the US media and why most of it is unfounded, no matter your religious or ethical beliefs. Once again, I deeply hope that some teachers are just ignoring the swearing (what teenagers aren't using worse language every damn day, anyway?) and showing these kinds of episodes in class, because they do a great job of evenly outlining the facts and highlighting the moral nuances involved that adults rarely manage to convey.

I also found the whole finale to be a lot of fun. Getting to see more about where the Hormone Monsters come from was a great piece of world-building and a surprisingly deep discussion around teenage depression. Overall, the show appears to be gaining strength and I can't wait for more.

I think My Furry Valentine is officially regarded as the first part of season three, but considering it was released as a special I'm not going to wait until I've seen the rest to include it. Overall, I enjoyed the special. I don't think it added anything too brilliant to the mix, but it didn't do anything badly either. I thought the Hormone Monster's arc was particularly fun and, overall, it progressed a number of plot lines nicely. Really, it just made me wish the rest of the season was already out.

The Queer Eye crossover was the mashup I didn't know I needed 😅 Honestly, the last two episodes of this season were a rollercoaster of excellent television. Between the Fab 5 cameo, Coach Steve being the best he's been in ages, the whole superhero episode, the ridiculous school play of Disclosure, and Missy's new hormone monster, it was jam-packed with laughs, interesting moments, and solid character development.

The rest of the season doesn't quite live up to the finale, but it's still a solid set of episodes that builds on what came before nicely, fleshes out the characters, and gives everything a little room to breathe. We don't get a huge amount of world-building or any particularly strong new "creatures" introduced (though the menopause hag bit was fun), but the show still takes time to really explore some of the more nuanced and sensitive subjects. I particularly enjoyed the way they tackled Matthew's burgeoning concerns around his sexuality and what that means in terms of actually dating, as well as Jay's whole arc with Nick's family.

On the other hand, I do think that Nick is becoming a little too unlikeable. It almost feels like they've run out of plot for him (and Andrew, to a lesser degree), so the show is best when he's not the centre of attention. He still has some good moments – the whole Florida episode is really just the two of them and it's one of the best of the season – but I hope they continue broadening the focus moving forward.

Season four steps every aspect of the show up a notch (or two); Big Mouth is absolutely flying at this point! The opening act at summer camp was a really fun change of pace and, despite what I said about moving away from Nick/Andrew, actually works really well with a reduced cast, and aspects like Andrew's poop madness and the introduction of Tito, the anxiety mosquito, were really fun. Plus, I think they handled their first trans character (Natalie) pretty well, touching on a lot of what I imagine are common talking points and doing so naturally within the narrative.

The show is definitely stepping up the meta-jokes, with plenty of asides to camera, references to Netflix, and even an entire episode based on the fact that other kids have their own shows that they are the stars of. These are fun and largely handled well, but I'm glad to see that the broader humour isn't being too diluted by them. On the other hand, they do allow the show to try out some slightly different formats, most notably with Nick's time-travelling episode (and later the whole Nick Starr exorcism), which I thought were just great. To be honest, this season really helped revitalise Nick as a character. Yes, he's become a bit of a douchebag, but the reasoning behind that transition is well shown, and the resultant storylines are interesting and pretty inventive. This does mean that some of the other side characters get less time, and I feel like Andrew is weirdly absent, but overall the season balances everything really well.

That said, easily the best arc of the season is Missy's. I was vaguely aware that there was controversy brewing around the fact that the main character of colour on the show was voiced by a white person, and I think they handled this incredibly well, giving Missy a spotlight to really explore her biracial background and grow into a much more nuanced, interesting character. That they used her journey of self-discovery as a way to switch up her visual appearance a little, and swap out the actor voicing her, was a level of execution I can only applaud.

Throw in a really fun Halloween episode, a bunch of excellent jokes, some more inventive new creatures (I really liked the Gratitoad 😂), and the fourth season feels like the show has really hit its stride.

Season five has some very strong moments and takes some big risks, but it also retreads a lot of similar ground and several of the plotlines never felt like they quite landed. I have to admit, I struggled to really click with the whole "love bug" concept, but taken as a whole, I thought when of the strongest aspects of the season was how it really focused on teenage jealousy, and in that sense the "love bug to hate worm" transformation was kinda inspired. Missy continued to have a strong arc, but I thought Jessi really shone through as well, and the entire thorny mess was really well done.

On the other hand, much like season three, this felt like a plot which could have done without the focus on Nick and Andrew. If we'd just had Jessi, Missy, and Ali having this accidental three-way love/hate triangle, which was ultimately destructive to all of them, I think it would have been better than simply making Nick a douchebag again. What was the point of the whole Nick Starr finale if he doesn't seem to have learned anything? Sure, it gave some additional context to the Love Bugs, but it might me really dislike the character and also felt like they were just going back over the same plot points. Nick and Andrew are fighting again; Nick's being selfish again; Nick has unrequited feelings for a girl again. Nick got such a strong previous season, I think he should have just been benched for a bit. I'm also not entirely sold on the while meta ending where Nick meets his real world, showrunner analogue; they do joke about being unsure if this plot point really works, and I'm still not sure myself, but it did help resolve some of these issues and hopefully leaves them in a better place for the next season (if there will be one). (It also, quite obviously, sets up the spin-off show they're making, and I feel maybe this was more of the point, unfortunately)

That said, the show is still a huge amount of fun, made me laugh constantly, and continues to very cleverly approach tricky subjects. It's still a strong season, but not as strong.

They seem to be really doubling down on both the musical numbers and the Human Resources cameos, and I don't hate either of those elements 😄

Indeed, in many ways season six felt like a nice evening out of form. There are no big revelations or new villains, but each of the kids got a decent arc and some more nuanced character development. Nick is less of a complete dick; Andrew is less disgusting; Jessie and Jay both feel a little more well rounded; and Missy is broadly back to a solidly interesting grounding. Best of all, rather than focusing on world building around the various mythical creatures, we get interesting stories for the adults in the show, all culminating in a fun Freaky Friday homage 👍

The jokes were pretty solid throughout, I laughed plenty of time, and Nathan Fillion's return was fantastic (the filet of Fillion line 😂). All in, it maybe lacked some originality, but it covered a range of topics, from parenthood to asexuality to gender roles, all with its typical nuance and tactful tactlessness 😁