The Book of Rannells: Big Mouth: Season 4, Episode 6 – “Nick Starr” (2020)

An enjoyable concept episode, in which we play around with a bunch of futuristic/apocalypse tropes and partake in the time-honored tradition of imagining absurd and ambitious future lives for our present-day characters.

The year is 2052. Nick is now Nick Starr, a game show host who’s addicted to synthetic orgasms and whose only company is his robot Andrew 3000. When he finds out that the Earth is ending that day, he’s given the opportunity to snag one of the few precious seats available on a rocket to the terraformed moon. He’s allowed a plus-one, and there’s only one person he wants to bring with him: Jessi.

This episode reminds me of some of the Simpsons episodes set in the future, albeit mixed with a lot of mayhem and catastrophe, and a lot more sex. In addition to Nick, we see the futures of multiple characters, all of which track individually and within the context of the show’s image of the future. Jessi is a badass revolutionary (she shaved off half of her hair, so you know she means business!), Missy is a scientist and ambassador, Andrew is a schlub with an inexplicably hot wife, etc. (through his son, we get a glimpse at what Hormone Monsters are like from the outside looking in.) The future setting combines space-age technology with a Mad Max apocalypse aesthetic (great animation on the decked-out battle cars) and plenty of Big Mouth silliness – there’s a running gag about the “toilet people” and whether they should be accepted by society.

Though it at first seems like an odd time for an episode that breaks off from the main narrative, it isn’t long before we start getting references to things from episode 5 and realize that this story isn’t as stand-alone as it seems. In amongst all the environmental destruction, sex cults, and twisted game-show stunts, there’s a nice undercurrent examining Nick’s ongoing fears and insecurities.

Back to Greek chorus Matthew. Andrew Rannells’s only lines are in a breaking-news exposition scene, in which Matthew has upgraded from middle-school morning announcements to national news. Not much to say here – his appearance is mainly just plot-dictated, although he does get one line that shows more of his personality.