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The Lafayette

The Oldest College Newspaper in Pennsylvania

The Lafayette

The Oldest College Newspaper in Pennsylvania

The Lafayette

Netflix review: With ‘hormone monsters’ and awkwardness, Netflix’s ‘Big Mouth’ is a relatable teenage trip

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‘Big Mouth’ captures the essence of youth through raunchy comedy and adult imagination. (Photo courtesy of Collider.com)

We all remember the cystic zits and uncontrollable angst of our adolescence.

Scientists have determined our young prefrontal cortex is not fully developed during our teenage years, which explains our poor decision-making. However, during puberty, the experience for us was much more complex than a pubescent brain structure. Netflix’s “Big Mouth” shows all the complexity that’s nestled in puberty, and its second season doubles in the icky filth and social commentary.

“I’m horny all the time and I’m makin’ bad decisions,” says Andrew (John Mulaney), one of the shows 13-year-old protagonists. As the show introduces a shame monster and awkward first times, this phrase sticks out because it is this realization that can resonate with every adolescent child.

The exaggerated scenarios and confused adults are literally a manifestation of how teens begin to view the world.

The levels of puberty are in fact hormone monsters, lurking around the corner to hit us with a new experience. The experiences are scary and confusing because (and scientists said it right) our brains are literally incapable of keeping up with the changing state of our bodies.

Season two is baffling and much weirder than the first, but each stage of puberty is more baffling and much stranger.

It’s a roller coaster inside of us all that’s wrapped in our imaginations.

Big Mouth takes these overwhelming desires, heightened emotions, and illogical interpretations and spreads them across a number of main characters. The second season takes a ride into the sporadic behavior and insecurities that come with adolescence as well as the individual differences in every child.

All the while, the kids are seen thinking adult things and in adult situations (I mean, this is an animated series made for mature audiences) because from their minds, they are beginning to feel like adults.

As the show’s intro sings: “I’m going through changes.” That’s all it is—a stinkin’ batch of changes, and for the characters of Big Mouth and for you and me, those were some of the hardest changes of our lives.

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