After several seasons of middle school adventures, the seventh season of “Big Mouth” tackles the challenges the kids face as they graduate and move on to high school. On Oct. 20, Netflix released all 10 episodes of the season. With episodes less than half an hour long each, it’s quick and easy to watch the entire season in one sitting.
The show brought back the series’ regular characters, Nick, Andrew, Jessi, their hormone monsters, monstresses and other imaginary creatures from past seasons, as well as new fresh personifications of mental processes. These new additions included some characters from “Human Resources,” a spin off of “Big Mouth” that focuses on the lives of those creatures, such as Petra, the ambition gremlin. Although the show is comedic in nature, it touches on very real and emotional tribulations that emerge when going through big life changes, including depression, anxiety and — new this season — dread. The show takes these topics and addresses them in a lighthearted and relatable tone that makes intense topics easily digestible for viewers.
In addition to these big emotions, the show also deals with universal experiences of growing up, including loss of innocence, self discovery and dissonance with parents. Similar to the character’s emotions, these troubling issues are displayed and resolved to remind audiences that everyone grapples with the same problems.
This concept of global relatability is presented perfectly in episode six, which is entirely devoted to showing just how universal the experience of puberty is. Titled “The International Show,” the episode takes viewers to several countries, including South Korea, India and Australia, to name a few. There is a glimpse of a character in each country dealing with topics the returning characters faced in earlier seasons like masturbation, menstruation and sexuality.
The universal themes are broken down into different storylines, giving each character their own development. From trying to fit in to bad hookups, there is a way for everyone to feel connected to at least one aspect of the characters’ lives.
The first five episodes of the season tackle the thoughts that plague these middle schoolers as graduation approaches. The second half of the season focuses on the preparation, both internal and external, that the kids engage in while anticipating their first day at their new schools.
Episode one opens with the characters touring the public high school for their school district. Each character tries to appeal to their assigned high school “buddy” for the day and desperately scramble to figure out where they belong in the social hierarchy. This concept drives a lot of the conflict this season, with quick episode plots such as Nick asking Jay for workout advice, Jessi trying to imitate Nick’s cool, older sister, Leah, Andrew and Nick experimenting with drugs and Matthew trying to revamp his style before high school.
The episodes that follow weave realistic stories of these characters navigating their way through life. Characters make the decision to transfer to different high schools for the upcoming year, friendship dynamics shift with the upcoming change in their academic settings and there is the ever-looming feeling that one wrong decision could impact their futures in school.
While the show covers a lot of important emotional topics, they are sandwiched between the show’s signature raunchy humor that is adored by many. Adding a bit of silliness to developmentally significant and stressful events makes this show a repeated hit.