It seems after each season of Netflix’s Big Mouth, Nick Kroll won’t be able to top what he did previously. Season four had one of the funniest episodes in the show’s history with “Cafeteria Girls,” but Kroll wasn’t ready to stop there. He was able to create new storylines, work in more sex-, body- and mental health positive material all while doing what he does best: making the audience burst into laughter. Here are all the episodes from Big Mouth season five, ranked from worst to best.
10. “Thanksgiving”
Of course, there are going to be holiday episodes with the show, as the wacky families of the main characters are a surefire way to make for good content. However, other than Andrew (John Mulaney)’s emotional breakthrough with his father and the talking turkey, there wasn’t anything particularly memorable about this episode. However, the bar was set extremely high, as this episode was still really hilarious.
9. “Best Friends Make The Best Lovers”
There was a lot of exploration into Jessi (Jessi Klein)’s feelings for Ali (Ali Wong), which was really important to see this season. Though queer elements of the show are not new (for the love of all that is good, thank you, Nick Kroll, for including queer elements in this show), our main characters have mainly been heterosexual – despite Jay Bilzerian (Jason Mantzoukas)’s pansexual energy. However, this episode wasn’t as exciting as other episodes. We did get some great queer content, but it’s really Andrew’s quippy one-liners and awkward persona that kept the audience laughing this episode.
8. “Lovebugs”
I am once again thanking Nick Kroll for his incorporation of musical numbers. They are always hilarious and make the show that much better. This episode, too, includes new characters: the lovebugs. They’re so cute and it’s nice to have some wholesome content with the love focus. This episode also has one of the most relatable experiences ever: being serenaded by someone and having it be really uncomfortable. If you’ve never experienced this, you’re so lucky, but having someone serenade you to profess their love is one of the most awkward and emotionally ridiculous experiences of all time. Nick (Nick Kroll) does this to Jessi, and it’s so uncomfortable but a perfect addition to the episode. We also get the first mention of Jessi potentially being queer, which is awesome.
7. “The Green-Eyed Monster”
Jealousy is a concept that’s been talked about on the show, but now it’s specific and in an almost Hulk-like form. It deals with relationship jealousy and friendship jealousy, which are both raging emotions felt at that age and throughout life. This episode would’ve been tied with “Lovebugs,” but it featured Adam Scott as the students’ substitute teacher and he makes everything better.
6. “I F**king Hate You”
Another quality episode featured the new creatures to invade the kids: the hate worms. Or snakes. Or dragons. Whatever they morph into depends on your intensity and dedication to hatred. The musical number this episode features Nick and Missy (Ayo Edebiri) teaming up to hate on Jessi. Additionally, Brandon Kyle Goodman and Keke Palmer bring their lovely voice talents to the hate creatures which is fantastic. This episode also has a good amount of awfully hilarious Jay and Lola (Kroll, also) content.
5. “No Nut November”
The first episode of the season starts off really strong with the “no nut November” concept that’s so often joked about. Missy comes through with the best quote of the episode, where she talks about how the no nut November conversation “demonizes masturbation,” which is so true and important to think about as a young person who is nervous about potentially starting to explore their own sexuality. Plus, this episode featured the lovely Kumail Nanjiani as himself, which is always perfect.
4. “Re-New Year’s Eve”
Matthew (Andrew Rannells) has a really interesting storyline this season, where he realizes that he doesn’t need to be confined to his relationship and should be free to explore his feelings. Those feelings are projected onto Jay, and this episode starts the beginning of their relationship. As the season finale, things were somewhat resolved among all the characters, but there was a weird meta interaction between the real-life Nick Kroll and the animated versions of him, Nick, Maury and more. It’ll be interesting to see how audiences respond to this and how Kroll will implement this format in the future.
3. “The Shane Lizard Returns”
Of course, Kroll would be genius enough to include a parodied Saturday Night Live format. Though it doesn’t overtake the show, there are certainly some hilarious moments incorporated. The Shame Wizard (David Thewlis) is one of the best characters, and every time he comes around there’s nothing but pure chaos. Everyone’s insecurities are exacerbated and every situation becomes unhinged. Not to mention Andrew’s Joker-penis after he accidentally cuts himself shaving, which is so wild.
2. “Sugarbush”
This is a special episode because of the change in scenery: the ski trip. Andrew goes with the Birch family on a trip where Nick’s sex-positive parents are forced to deal with the reality that Leah (Chloe Fineman) is going to have sex for the first time. The construction of virginity is visited, as well as the importance of communicating with your partner about sex. “Sugarbush” also features the lovely Kristen Schaal, who is arguably one of the most notable voice actresses, as a potential love interest for Andrew. There’s also a game scene where they play Monopoly that is so well done and trippy.
1. “A Very Big Mouth Christmas”
This is one of the best episodes in the show’s history. It was designed to be a special episode or a Christmas special, but it featured a multi-animation format. Between puppets, regular animation, paper cutouts, comic book style and more, this episode tests the boundaries of animation combinations. Each of the stories are really good, too. Rather than being a cohesive plotline, there are segmented stories and the flow of the episode is really well done. All in all, this season proves why Nick Kroll should continue to make these episodes and how brilliant he is.
