Ask and ye shall receive, apparently! In addition to being a strong episode in its own right (one that earned quite a bit of buzz for its subject matter,) it also offers up the most Andrew Rannells so far this season. It’s a winner all-around!
After the events of last episode, Coach Steve decides he’s now actually qualified for the sex ed class he teaches. Spoiler alert: he’s not. Despite their own individual spaces of ignorance/misconceptions, the kids collectively school Steve on sex ed knowledge, educating him on the different aspects of Planned Parenthood through a series of mostly-pop-culture-inspired vignettes.
An episode that’s both high-concept and controversial (several characters make meta comments about all the angry Twitter comments they’re going to get,) the show gets the job done in trademark Big Mouth fashion, with outrageous visuals, hilarious jokes, and a surprising amount of sincerity. While Jay initially labels Planned Parenthood “an abortion factory,” the kids take turns elaborating on the many different kinds of healthcare Planned Parenthood offers, such as cancer screenings, birth control, STD testing, and, yes, abortions.
Each vignette is led by a different character with their own take on the subject. Missy, for instance, talks about cancer screenings via an awesome sci-fi adventure about the “Vagilantes,” a roaming spaceship crew that travels the galaxy offering pelvic exams to women in need, while Andrew stars in a horror sketch centered around misinformation about STDs. Lots to love here. We’ve got Missy’s ongoing crush on Nathan Fillion, penis-shaped guns (as in, more penis-shaped than guns usually are) that go limp, talking contraception, and Nick’s meta remark, “Is this a Woody Allen thing? I haven’t seen any of his movies, ‘cause Mom says he’s a monster.”
This is no one-or-two-scene day for Rannells. As an episode in which a series of sketches jumps off from a single setting, Matthew is present in all the sex-ed framing-device scenes, offering up his usual bored superiority about everything. (I adore him calling Coach Steve, “You broken Roomba.”) And although Matthew only appears in one of the vignettes, it’s his vignette, hosting a Bachelorette-style sketch about different types of birth control. It features the hilarious introduction, “Babies. They’re like tuna melts – sure, they sound good, but do you really want one right now?”
No comments:
Post a Comment