‘Big Mouth’ Showcases the Wonders and Horrors of Puberty

From ‘the hormone monster’ to unexpected changes, this series will leave you guessing what’s next.

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John Fiorino, Entertainment Editor

The animated Netflix series “Big Mouth” has a balanced mix of cringe-worthy and hilariously funny moments following a group of friends as they experience the horrors of puberty.

“Big Mouth” premiered on Sept. 29 and is a wildly random series about the physical and mental developments of kids transforming to young adults. The main instigator of their changes is from the beast-like character, The Hormone Monster, voiced by Nick Kroll. The Hormone Monster, and Monstress for ladies, controls what happens when for their “clients.” Kroll also voices the main character Nick, as well as 11 other different voices. His ability to switch accent and tone is incredible and Kroll’s skills are on par if not better than that of the famous Seth MacFarlane.

The series covers everything young teenagers despised about puberty that was once unspeakable; “Big Mouth” puts all those strange emotions into words and laughs. The best part is that since everyone went through puberty at some point, this show is relevant to everyone. Thanks to creators Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, everyone that endured the horrors of puberty can now turn around and laugh about it.

Kroll is not the only one that plays multiple parts in “Big Mouth.” John Mulaney, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele and Fred Armisen all voice multiple characters. Some of these characters can be in the same scene, making the voice transitions that much more impressive.

Each episode focuses on a new character in the friend group and a new development keeping the story going. A strong part in the creation of the show is that the individual episode plots do not take away from the overarching main story behind the friend group. Thanks to this, the episodes roll into the next one flawlessly making “Big Mouth” a binge-worthy show, even if you aren’t trying to binge.

Some of the episodes leave the viewer confused and wondering what they just watched. The episode, “Pillow Talk” stands out as one of the most peculiar ones. Mantzoukas character, Jay, has sex with one of his pillows constantly. The pillow (Kristen Bell) then tells Jay that she is pregnant and he goes on a life-changing mental journey throughout the episode, as well as facing the potential reality of fatherhood. A twist at the end of the episode makes the story go from messed up to hilarious in a matter of seconds.

The show’s comedy is brash and at some points extreme like late in the season when Andrew (John Mulaney) becomes a chronic masturbator and doesn’t want to leave the house. Another time is when part of the group goes into the porn dimension by pressing up against a laptop screen. Overall, the stories are outrageous and some of the events are actually true from the personal lives of the creators. Goldberg shed some light to Business Insider on these stories.

“A lot of it is exaggerations and embellishment of stuff that really did happen to us,” Goldberg said in an interview to Business Insider.

“Big Mouth” currently has a 100% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes making it the highest rated animated series on Netflix. Due to the success in its first season, the show has already been renewed for a second season with the same format of ten half-hour episodes. “Big Mouth” should be expected to have a release date similar to that of the first season, making its release for sometime in the early fall of 2018.