Another good episode, and very much a companion piece to “Cellsea.” Two of the big plots follow directly from storylines in the previous episode, and the third is very much influenced by revelations that happened there. In other news, I feel like Matthew is becoming more of a main character this season, which I love.
Nick’s codependent infatuation with his phone turns toxic as she starts demanding “viral moments” from him to impress her, and all the while Andrew feels like he’s losing his best friend. Matthew is nervous at the prospect of his first real date with Aiden, and Jay finds an unexpected kinship with Missy when he stumbles across some of her erotic fanfiction.
I really like the development of Nick’s “relationship” with his phone over the past couple episodes. Not only is it an apt metaphor for technology addiction (again, Big Mouth isn’t the first show to do it, but it does it well,) it also does a great job showing the progression of an abusive relationship. At first, Nick is just gaga, an easy mark for his phone’s seductive offerings, but as things move along here, she makes demands of him, urging him toward reckless behavior and berating him when he doesn’t give her what she wants. Nick is clearly uncomfortable, but he’s so desperate for her approval that he goes along with it. (Side note: I also like that in this “relationship,” the abuser is female-coded and the victim is male. Despite the silliness of this being about a middle-school boy and his phone, the beats of it still ring true.)
Jay and Missy are tons of fun together. I hope we see more of them interacting as the season goes on. As usual, Jay gets in some great lines – I really love, “Stop overreacting or I will fucking kill you!!” – and I continue to love Missy’s weird sexual fantasies. Plus, the fanfiction is delightfully-bizarre and provides some good callbacks.
Matthew’s plot here is a bit of a repeat from the last episode – new step forward with Aiden, commence freakout – but it takes a different enough angle that it doesn’t feel like a retread. The storyline allows Matthew to be a little more sexual than he’s been up till now, although the romance itself remains very chaste and puppy-love sweet. I’m really loving seeing some of Matthew’s interactions with Maury this season. Obviously, all the kids have complicated relationships with their Hormone Monsters, and we’ve seen Andrew, Nick, and Jessi all tell theirs off for making them act crazy, but it’s really interesting to see with Matthew. For someone who’s generally so poised and put together, he can’t deal with Maury’s constant horny side comments when he’s trying to keep his cool around Aiden. Also, Maury dressed as Marie Antoinette proclaiming, “Let them eat cock!” made me laugh so hard.
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