Big Mouth: Beyond the Birds and the Bees
Big Mouth Season 2
Click here to watch a teaser for Season 2
Season 2 Themes
1.) SHAME!
dun dun dun… cue the Shame Wizard
In Season 2, The Shame Wizard emerges as a main driver of the character's feelings and actions.
The Shame Wizard was created as the "Mortal Enemy of the Hormone Monster"
The concept of shame that the writers focused on is based on the teachings of Dr. Brené Brown, research professor who has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.
Key to developing the Shame Wizard, was the distinction between shame and guilt. “Guilt is, I made a mistake, shame is, I am a mistake. Guilt is, I did a bad thing, shame is, I am a bad thing,” says co-creator Andrew Goldberg.
Here is Dr. Brown's Ted Talk on Shame
2.) Body Image
Let's talk about "that naked spa scene"
With all of the outrageous content, a common question for the shows writers is where has Netflix drawn the line? What content could possibly be "too much"? Kroll shares that Netflix signs off on most things without a second thought, except the naked spa scene in episode 2 of season 2 where they show not only full frontal nudity of women in the spa, but also of the two girls. The scene occurs when Missy's mother decides to take the girls to a Korean spa after hearing their self deprecating comments. There they see bodies of all shapes and sizes, pride and self love being the thing they all share.
This episode and this scene were difficult to get by Netflix not because of edgy humor, but because of how women's and girl's bodies are so sexualized and stigmatized. According to Jessi Klein, this is exactly why girls, and boys, need this scene.
Rather than being a monster or wizard, Missy's self-hate is an image of herself known as "mirror Missy" to reflect that voice in her own head telling her she isn't good enough.
NC 17: Nudity, Explicit language
Here is the body positivity song sung by the Hormone Monstress with all of the women in the Korean Spa.
3.) Planned Parenthood
"The Planned Parenthood Show"
With an entire episode of vignettes related to the services provided by Planned Parenthood, it's no surprise people are referring to Season 2 of 'Big Mouth' as "the future of sex education".
The episode starts with Coach Steve, after losing his virginity in the previous episode, being "qualified" to teach the kids sex education. Knowing nothing of contraceptives, adolescence, or even human anatomy, the kids take it upon themselves to teach him and each other about all this and the services of Planned Parenthood in short skits.
The inadequacy of current sex education
A bachlotrette-style skit focused on helping a teenage girl choose a method of contraception got particular attention for it's educational and entertainment value.
NC 17: Explicit language, sexual references
Watch the clip here!
At the end of the episode, Coach Steve does a 'Saturday Night Live' style thank you monologue in which he thanks "The liberal elite for your awesome agenda. You guys rocked it! You convinced us to do an episode on Planned Parenthood even though so many people are going to be furious at us for doing it!".
As always, the show doesn't pretend to be something it's not. This meta-joke to it's own political sway is the icing on the cake.
Thank you to "the liberal elite"