Part of the appeal of animated series is that characters may continue being the identical age and exist at an area of stasis that is impossible in live-action. Netflix’s Big Mouth, nevertheless, is among the few animated series that allows its characters to grow old since these changes are fundamental to the types of stories it tells. Big Mouth’spersonalities are in a sensitive age where annually can feel like a lifetime.
This passing of time allows Big Mouth to feel fresh and gain a higher degree of depth in its storytelling and characters, even if it’s still an absurdist comedy that often escapes into fantasy. Nick, Andrew, and Jessi’s development have always been the show’s attention, but their growth in year four is the most significant yet since these characters input the eighth grade and sexual activity becomes a graspable reality instead of some impossible pipe dream. It permits season four to include some of the Enormous Mouth’s best and funniest moments and it instills confidence that the show’s forthcoming seasons should be just as fulfilling as such characters clumsily stumble through adolescence and trudge through the remnants of puberty.
Big Mouth year 4starts with an entertaining change of pace in which the unique pressures and joys of summer camp are seasoned ahead of the figures plummet into eighth grade. There is a sunny atmosphere around these episodes, but there is also a new sense of dread that begins to grow as characters go into the more mature territory and eventually become sex adjoining in their relationships. Summer camp is a really powerful framing device and there is just enough of it showcased to feel satisfied, whereas a whole season that’s set at camp wouldn’t have the ability to sustain itself.
Big Mouth effortlessly juggles hormonal tales with psychological character development and much of the fallout from the end of last year helps start season four away with a great deal of ammunition as figures begin in a place of freefall. It all makes this the series’ longest season nonetheless in addition to a year that sets these characters at significant crossroads as they prepare for major shifts that have been four seasons in the making. Missi is possibly conflicted the most with this and her connection with her racial identity becomes a major narrative for the period (in addition to the fuel for among the year’s best musical numbers), which culminates with the passage of this role from Jenny Slate to Ayo Edeberi.
Big Mouth is often incredibly crass, but it is also among the most progressive and inclusive series on television. This season proceeds to tell important stories and some episodes maturely investigate transgender representation, parents coming to terms with their kids’ sexuality, and even code-switching. It is genuinely fantastic to observe just how Big Mouth represents something such as gender transition treatment using its Hormone Monsters and the rules that its world has established. It finds a creative way to visually explore the sensitive subject matter while still fixing it all with respect. This enables these stories to get the identical treatment as other puberty stories the series gifts. It makes them part of the standard instead of turning them into an anomaly in any capacity.
This new year unpacks important topics in informative ways, like the use of tampons for the first time, an anthology installment based around”hand things,” along the reduction of friends and societal stress. However, certain episodes also take bigger stylistic swings such as one which jumps several decades into the future. Big Mouth is a balancing act that functions because the show is simultaneously ridiculous in addition to intensely realistic. The series was created for adults, but I have stated previously that kids would benefit and learn from the stories being told in this show. That has never been truer than now as these stories turned into more modern and universal with how they approach groups of those who haven’t previously been researched similar to this in animated series. It helps build an important precedent that will hopefully be followed.
Big Mouth excels with how it uses puberty as a filter to inform these hyperbolized tales, but the show’s non-sequitur dialog is gold. A series can rarely be this real and thought-provoking while also being so absurdly laugh-out-loud funny. There are also such satisfying and specific jokes for those who are inside baseball humor nerds, like how these characters will be their voice actors’ pint-sized doppelgangers or estimate lines from their stand-up routines or podcast looks. It’s not often a character’s seemingly mundane title and design can create laughs, but Big Mouth succeeds by knowing who their audience is and unabashedly playing into it.
Season four plays with a lot of ideas, but it builds into an apocalyptic conclusion that is about figuring out how to adopt the worst parts of ourselves. It is a valuable lesson, but its implementation comes across as a little strained, particularly with Nick, but it is still a satisfying period that can bring all its topics together. In doing this, Big Mouth’s fourth year pushes its personalities further into maturity and turns puberty and sex into less of a puzzle.
While this process continues it is clear to take into consideration the length of time Big Mouth can last after those characters go into high school, participate in sexual activity, and prevent being kids. I completely expect the series will love the chance to explore how these characters lose their virginities, just as it doesn’t belittle the significance of encountering genitals of the other sex for the first time this season, but it is hard to envision fanciful creatures following them around for long then.
It looks like Big Mouth is well conscious of its limitations, both in terms of the wider range of territory that it assesses this season and how it has a spin-off series in manufacturing that is ready to transport over Big Mouth’s unique sense of humor, but in an entirely different context. But concepts like depression and anxiety are lifelong disorders and it’s not impossible to envision a variant of this series with elderly characters that no more attributes Hormone Monsters, but a litany of other societal stress creatures instead. Season four previously begins to experiment with this as it eases off on some of its more recognized characters in favor of fresh ideas. The success of this transition is a testament to the potency of Big Mouth’s world and the tone which governs it.
Much like puberty itself, certain minutes of Enormous Mouth’s fourth season are cluttered and awkward, while some are sublime and unforgettable, however, they all set a promising future that can’t get here soon enough.
