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If the existence of two very good shows can constitute a golden age in a particular subgenre of television, then we are living in a golden age of the puberty comedy. Netflix’s Big Mouthand Hulu’s Pen15are both incredible series that allow millennials of a certain age to relive and reexamine the horrors of middle school in refreshing, funny, and more than occasionally gross ways. While Big Mouthleans on outlandish animation and the conceit of visible “hormone monsters” to process the repulsive facts of achieving adulthood, Pen15uses the increasingly effective concept of adult actors Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine playing pre-teen versions of themselves to delve into the inherent drama of growing up.
Big Mouth and Pen15have been compared to each other because of their similar subject matter, but the fourth episode ofBig Mouth’s fourth season brought the two shows together for a hilarious semi-crossover that outlines both shows’ overarching messages about their characters. When Big Mouthleads Andrew and Nick realize everyone in their grade is dating except for them, they decide to ask out two younger (7th grade, to be exact) girls because they think they’ll be easier to make out with. Those girls are Izzy and Misha, two thinly veiled analogues for Pen15’s Anna and Maya voiced by Konkle and Erskine.
Izzy and Misha may be younger than Andrew and Nick, but they have a sense of self-possession neither of the boys could have anticipated. The big reveal that the girls aren’t cool with older guys pressuring them to make out happens when the show’s animated camera pulls out to show that Izzy and Misha aren’t guest starring on Andrew and Nick’s show (a meta acknowledgement of Big Mouthitself), but are actually the female leads of their own sitcom called Cafeteria Girls. In Izzy and Misha’s show, Nick and Andrew are one-off villains who serve to teach the girls self respect, and the “episode” of Cafeteria Girlsends with Izzy and Misha humiliating their terrible almost boyfriends in front of a live studio audience.
That sitcom moment hearkens back to the most recent season of Pen15, which put intense focus on the conditioning young women like Anna and Maya (the characters) endure to make them think that being a girl is inherently a problem. Pen15is excellent at translating the embarrassing minutia of girlhood into the main event in their show, just asBig Mouthtrains a microscope on puberty in general. By making Izzy and Misha the stars of their own show in the Big Mouthmeta-universe, they remind Andrew, Nick, and the entire viewing audience that seventh grade girls are the main characters in their own lives and narratives, and that boys who attempt to reduce them to objects are merely hurdles to overcome — even when those boys believe themselves to be the main characters of their own show...and reality as a whole.
By making Izzy and Misha the stars of their own show in the "Big Mouth" meta-universe, they remind Andrew, Nick, and the entire viewing audience that seventh grade girls are the main characters in their own lives and narratives.
It’s worthy to note that this crossover actually happening is unusual in streaming television because Big Mouthis a Netflix exclusive show andPen15is a Hulu original. Big Mouthhas crossed over with other Netflix exclusive shows, like when a Season 3 episode included the Fab Five from Netflix’s Queer Eyeand a later Season 4 episode has a sequence inspired by and featuring Natasha Lyonne’s Russian Dollcharacter. A Hollywood Reporterinterview with Big Mouthco-creator Andrew Goldberg revealed that the cross-platform synergy stemmed from writer Gabe Liedman’s work on both shows and that the collaboration with Erskine and Konkle (who are co-creators ofPen15) gave them an opportunity to show that boys aren’t the “only ones who can be horny and gross.”
Big Mouth’s strong cast of female characters including Missy, Jessie, Lola, and Connie the Hormone Monster is a testament to the show’s dedication to normalizing the horny grossness of middle school girls, but adding Izzy/Anna and Misha/Maya to the mix was a breakout moment for the show. The greater message that one’s personal puberty hell is actually one story out of billions is important for Andrew and Nick to internalize, and it shines a metatextual light on the idea that children learn damaging information about their bodies and desires concurrently with damaging information about their gender roles and importance in the world. It’s rare that a pair of guest stars recontextualize the leading players in any show, but Big Mouthand Pen15made it look easy.
So for anyone who came away from the “Cafeteria Girls” episode of Big Mouthwishing they could watch the Cafeteria Girls show as a spinoff...boy does Hulu have good news for you.
Big MouthSeason 4 is now streaming on Netflix. Pen15Season 2 is streaming now on Hulu.