High hopes for “Big Mouth” season two

The Netflix original cartoon Big Mouth is disgustingly funny. And I mean disgusting in the best way possible. The second season of the comedy is no less funny than the first. The adult cartoon circles around a group of middle schoolers and their “hormone monsters” as they dive into puberty and the world of semi-adulthood. Not for the weak of heart, it has no lack of inappropriate scatological humor, sex jokes, and cartoon nudity: definitely at least a PG 13 rating, definitely not something to watch with grandma. The characters are voiced by such names as John Mulaney, Jason Mantzoukas and Maya Rudolph and the show is written by Nick Kroll, who voices another character, Andrew Goldberg, the mind behind Family Guy, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin. 

The second season of a show can be tricky; the last thing anyone wants is for character intentions to change or plotlines to fly off the rails. Fortunately, Big Mouth retains its initial integrity, if it ever had any. Character intentions shift, but not too far. After all, the characters are 12; things are bound to change. Old crushes dwindle and new ones replace them, people experiment with drugs and boys, depression strikes and friendships get pulled apart, you know, classic middle school stuff. 

For some reason, this show has decided that fourth-wall breaks qualify as humor. And, for some reason, they make it work. The second season of Big Mouth, much like the first, is full of audience interaction at the credits and shameless promotions for Netflix itself. For some reason, perhaps due to the already ridiculous nature of the show, the breaks don’t appear out of place. It’s a dumb little detail, but something about it makes the show memorable. There aren’t a lot of programs that can do that and seamlessly blend it into the show.  

Despite the show’s overall comedic intentions, there are times where real lessons get mixed in, sometimes leading to a downer episode. Body image, depression, divorce and slut shaming all get discussed in detail in the second season. Modern politics makes its way in the mix – though not to the extent of, say, South Park; it’s only mentioned – and there’s a whole quasi-educational episode about Planned Parenthood. While these themes do bring the energy of the episode down a bit, the remaining comedy is enough to keep it happily entertaining. 

Big Mouth is a trash pile of a television show – but it works it. It’s truly hilarious and relatable; we’ve all been jealous of our friends and we’ve all had a crush on someone we thought was out of our league. If you don’t watch it for the comedy, watch it for the art style, the little songs built into the episodes or the ridiculous storylines, which would be just as entertaining without all the period jokes. Not to mention, with such popular names behind the writing and voice acting, I can’t believe that Big Mouth isn’t more popular.