Spoilers for Big Mouth Season 2 follow.
Big Mouth has never been a show to shy away from sensitive topics. Hell, we see several penises in the pilot. But the very meta Season 2, which just hit Netflix today, is bolder and filthier than it’s ever been — and in light of the political hellscape we’ve been living in, it’s taking some pretty impressive political risks.
Episode 5, “The Planned Parenthood Show,” is entirely devoted to reproductive health and contraception in the form of several Saturday Night Live-style skits. In an on-the-nose critique of our sex education system, Coach Steve (voiced by co-creator Nick Kroll)—who literally just lost his virginity, or as he repulsively calls it, “made thick in the warm” — is, for some beyond-fucked-up reason, the sex-ed teacher. But when Jay declares that Planned Parenthood is an abortion factory (another on-the-noser), Missy (Jenny Slate) and Jessi (Jessi Klein) decide to take over the lesson by launching into skits relating the importance of providing easy access to reproductive healthcare.
The episode kicks off with Missy’s skit, a space-themed mission in which the “Vagilantes” (Nathan Fillion included) zoom in a vulva-shaped ship through the wonder of the female reproductive system, conducting pelvic exams and cancer screenings. As the foundations of Jay’s Planned Parenthood argument crumble—“OK, fine, maybe Planned Parenthood does a couple cancer screenings. But it’s mostly abortions!”)—the episode launches into more skits about the importance of the organization in a way that only animation can. In a skit themed around The Bachelor in which contestants hope to match with the perfect contraception, Leah (Kat Dennings) chooses between several methods including a condom (“Did we just hug? I couldn’t feel anything. I’m just kidding, I felt it a tiny bit.”), a diaphragm (“Your mother and I were really good friends.”) and birth control pills (“You have to make a commitment to me every day.”).
While the show knows it’ll piss people off, it doesn’t care.
The show even touches upon how men can get involved in sexual planning with Mr. Birch’s (Fred Armisen) Annie Hall–themed tale about his vasectomy in his standard creepy-yet-weirdly-sweet way that ends in a lobster literally doing surgery on his penis. Even Andrew’s neurotic parents get involved in the episode, as Mrs. Glouberman (Paula Pell) recalls a funky, bittersweet ’70s memory to the tune of “Groove Is In the Heart” in which she met Andrew’s father (Richard Kind) on the way home from getting an abortion at Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, Andrew (John Mulaney) frets about the internet lore of “blue waffle” — a bizarrely gory horror skit with an over-the-top tone that reminds us all how we felt when blue waffle was making its rounds through the digital grapevine in the ’00s. But Planned Parenthood yet again saves the day when an employee gently explains to Andrew and his Hormone Monster (Kroll) that blue waffle is just a myth (albeit one borne from the stigma surrounding sex and STDs).
The show knows the risks it’s taking with this episode, and it makes them clear. After Jessi tells Jay that “women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies,” Nick nervously scrolls through his phone, seemingly as Nick Kroll himself: “Oh shit, gonna get some Twitter comments about this. They’re gonna be mean and threatening and weirdly personal.” During his SNL-style thank yous, Coach Steve thanks the “liberal elite” for their “awesome agenda.”
“You guys rocked it!” he yells over the rest of the “cast” goofing off. “You convinced us to do an episode on Planned Parenthood even though so many people are gonna be furious at us for doing it!”
But while the show knows it’ll piss people off, it doesn’t care. Because by the end of the episode, with just a little bit of imaginative, raunchy education, even Coach Steve got why Planned Parenthood matters: “They do medicine for your bathing suit parts.”
Pretty much, Coach Steve. Pretty much.
Thanks for reading The Dot and Line, where we talk about animation of all kinds. Don’t forget to👏 for this article and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.