From the beginning of the show, I feel as though Big Mouth has had an important balance of comedy and real-ness. I think they have done a great job tackling some important topics that apply to kids in middle school, but also beyond middle school, especially in this new season.
This new season integrates a few more monsters like the anxiety mosquito, the recurrence of the depression kitty, and the gratitude toad. I loved this transition to more monsters and consequently more emotional difficulties, as the show becomes more complex. The writers did a great job of portraying the different monsters accurately as well, which I very much appreciated. The anxiety mosquito was horribly accurate, and I really related to each character as they were overtaken by its thoughts. I thought it was so clever that they had the depression kitty and anxiety mosquito work together too, as it is so true that depression and anxiety go hand in hand. But my favorite new monster was definitely the grati-toad, who helped several of the main characters, especially Jessie, to see what they were grateful for in their lives. I was so excited to see a more positive “monster”, especially one that could possibly provide insight to viewers as well.
I also enjoyed the students being in different locations other than school this season. I think a lot of new interesting characters were introduced when the core cast went to sleep away camp, and through that medium were able to cover such important topics like transgender issues, more interesting problems with friends, and getting a period for the first time. Missy also had a huge transformation, and learned to embrace her blackness, which was an issue that I really didn’t know more about and loved watching.
I did, however, notice much less of the parents in this season, which I thought was disappointing as they were all very fun characters. I also wish there was more of Coach Steve. Well, I always want there to be more of Coach Steve. Another thing that I did not love was that there was more singing, and it wasn’t particularly funny or good. It was almost like they were trying too hard to make them sound like real songs, so that people would enjoy them, but by doing so actually made them less interesting, even if they were more “real” sounding. But I would say that was really the only thing that got worse in this season. I didn’t even like the inclusion of songs in the first place, so that was a bit disappointing, but the fact that everything else was great made the songs more bearable.
Overall, I think the new season did very well at building upon the show and continuing to be fresh, raunchy, and poignant. I cannot wait to see what other misadventures the Big Mouth crew has in the next season, and I think I’ve been inspired to watch the whole show over again!
