The Book of Rannells: Big Mouth: Season 1, Episode 8 – “The Head Push” (2017)

I already discussed this episode once before, in a post about pre-Time’s-Up-movement episodes of TV shows that deal with sexual harassment.  I won’t get as deeply into it to avoid spoilers, but if you’ve seen the episode and want more of my thoughts on the main storyline, circle back to that write-up.

After the high school play, Nick’s older sister Leah holds the cast party at their house.  Their parents are out of town, naturally, and Nick relishes the thought of his first high school party.  Also naturally, most of the middle schoolers end up there for one reason or another, and a lot goes down; secrets come out, new connections are made, and Andrew and Missy witness an upsetting event.

I love this episode.  While there are others that are outright funnier, this is probably my favorite of the season.  It handles its main plot so well, for the reasons I looked at in my earlier post on the subject, and it’s able to give a serious topic the weight it deserves while still keeping a lot of humor in the proceedings.

Because this episode also has an array of awesome and hilarious stuff in it:  Hamilton references, the only liquor made “for kids, by kids!”, a Tom Cruise-themed adaptation of The Crucible, Seinfeld parodies, a Prince ghost, and more.  It’s filled with great little details, along with the requisite excellent one-liners.  Who doesn’t love the Hormone Monster mournfully shouting, “I never wanted to tame you!  I just wanted to keep a toothbrush and a few spare dicks at your apartment!”  Oh, and Judd, Nick and Leah’s nihilist older brother, is tremendous here.

As far as Matthew is concerned, after the last episode’s bigger outing, he’s back to his usual role of delivering zingers from the sidelines.  Not as much to do here, but as usual, he gets in a few good lines.  I like his arch, “Well, Daniel, you’ve been a busy little asshole,” and his explanations to Nick about the aforementioned Tom-Cruise-themed Crucible.  We also learn that he’s not just completely over the students and teachers at his own school – he has no patience for high schoolers, either.