BIG MOUTH: SEASON 2 (multiple directors). All 10 episodes streaming on Netflix Friday (October 5). Rating: NNNN
Big Mouth is back, and its heroes still don’t know anything. This is as it should be.
In its second season, the Netflix animated comedy returns to find its crew of hapless suburban tweens – voiced by co-creator Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas and Jenny Slate – still deep in the throes of puberty, and dealing with issues they are not in the least ready to handle. But it’s okay: their hormone monsters are around to make things even worse.
The show remains as mature and as weird as ever, spending a little more time with the adults this season, as Jessi’s parents (Jessica Chaffin, Seth Morris) finally reach a breaking point and ostensible grown-up Coach Nick (Kroll) has a couple of dumb adventures. (I’m not sure anyone’s as invested in Coach Nick as much as Kroll is, but it’s Kroll’s show so what are you gonna do.)
Mostly, though, Big Mouth stays with the kids as they lash out at their folks (and each another) at the urging of their individual hormone monsters, voiced once again by Kroll and the glorious Maya Rudolph, in a series of emotionally fraught teachable moments rooted in the very real pain and trauma of everyday adolescence.
Oh, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Jordan Peele continues to crush it as the giddy ghost of Duke Ellington, who haunts Nick’s house and offers consistently inappropriate advice. And, yes, the writers give him a Get Out joke this season. Honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
