Big Mouth: A New Comedic Boundary

This first post will be about my favorite Netflix Original, Big Mouth. It may be the raunchiest comedy that exists at the moment. I have currently watch all ten episodes of season one four times and it just keeps getting better and better. For first time viewers it will be a shock. I promise that you will have never seen anything that pushes the envelope as much as Big Mouth does. It also holds a one hundred percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The show follows Nick, Andrew, Jessi, Jay, and Missy on their journey through puberty. They are constantly followed and heckled by Morty and Connie. Morty and Connie are the embodiment of the kids hormones. Nick is the driving character in the show. He is the only one in the group that is not currently going through puberty. He becomes very aware of this in the first episode. The show consistently shows that his main goal is to catch up to his friends. Most of the problems that Nick goes through are him trying to connect to the struggles of the other kids even though he has no idea how. Another one is that his parents are very unknowing and very gullible. They baby Nick and want nothing else than for him to stay young and innocent.

Andrew is the socially awkward friend that is very uncomfortable with Maurty but has no choice in anything that he does to him. Every questionable decision that Andrew makes directly correlates with Morty’s opinion. His problems are in the forefront of the show because his monster is the biggest driving force of comedy. You slowly see Maurty shift from a belligerent psychopath to a helpful mentor to Andrew.

Jessi is the most mature of the group. She has been through a lot as far as her family life is concerned. She is in the middle of her parents divorce and looks to her friends for help. She goes through the whole show being the friend who tries, and most of the time fails, to maintain sanity, until she encounters her own hormone monster, Connie. Connie is the other half of Morty and the dynamic of them trying to transform the kids into adults, even if it is darker than it should be.

Jay is the psychopath. He is an aspiring magician who wants nothing more than attention. He seeks this attention because he gets none at home. Being the youngest brother of three he is, unlike Nick, disregarded by his institutionalize mom and his questionable defender dad. The only thing that Jay knows is fighting his brothers in their basement fight club and his special pillow.

Missy is farther out of the friend group but is Andrews love interest. She has cringe worthy awkwardness and has no idea how Andrew feels about her. The show constantly shows her flexing her intelligence and making her look crazy. Later in the show she realizes that she likes Andrew as much as he likes her and it creates a whole new arc of events of involving a awkward, middle school relationship

Swine Song: The End of Michael Callow

            Black Mirror is a British produced Netflix Original television show set in the near future. Each episode stands alone as an individual plot story with new actors every time. Episodes serve to communicate the dangers of a possible reality in which advanced technologies cause conflict when met with human nature.

            For this assignment, I watched the pilot episode of Black Mirror, entitled “The National Anthem,”. The episode opens to a dark bedroom where a man and a woman lie asleep in bed together. The couple’s sleep is disturbed when the telephone rings. The man answers the call with a gruff greeting of “hello,” and responds to the other end of the call by asking to just be told what has happened quickly. The audience is unable to hear the person speaking on the other end of the phone; however, the man in the scene’s voice sounds confused and slightly annoyed to have been woken during the night. This opening dialogue introduces the importance of communication between characters in the episode and the difference between on-screen interaction and face-to-face conversations. Through the episode it is revealed that communication in circumstances without in person interaction lack emotion and substance.

            The scene directly following the title credits tells the audience that the man who had received the phone call is the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Prime Minister, named Michael Callow, is sat before a television screen watching an abducted princess from the Royal Family recite a script given to her by her captor. The princess tells the Prime Minister that he must have “sexual intercourse” with a pig on live broadcast before she will be released. The connotation of the princess’ declaration, which is written by her captor, is emotionally distant, formal, and missing personality. The detached diction used in the demand for the Prime Minister creates a sense of coldness behind the princess’ words; this is used to critique online communication as a core means of interacting with others. Legitimacy of any claims given when the dialogue excludes passionate feelings needs to be evaluated, for distance evokes a feeling of falsehood.

            Michael Callow responds to the princess’ demand in disbelief and anger to close members of his office, stating that he is not going to be “fucking a pig,” like he has been told to. The contrast between the princess’ and Michael’s statements are great in tone, phrasing, and circumstance. Where the princess was aloof and dispassionate, Michael is full of emotion. His inflection is audibly angry and confused as he appears to attempt to understand what is going on. Additionally, his fervent, vulgar diction relays a sense of shock and urgency. Michael may be using uncouth language as a coping mechanism for being placed in a situation over which he has no control. The word “fucking,” creates feelings of urgency or desperation to be out of the unpleasant situation. While the language used by Michael conveys an unfriendly environment due to hostile dialogue, the face-to-face interaction between himself and his colleagues remains authentic. Michael’s anger is real, and he expresses his emotions through in person dialogue which creates legitimacy for his experience. 

            I found this episode of Black Mirror incredibly intriguing and thought provoking. The language used in the dialogue of the show is interesting and significant. Specifically, the two main ways used to express the act that Michael Callow must commit for the release of the princess. The emotions, or lack thereof, present in the statements made by Michael and the princess show the importance of diction and intonation. This episode of Black Mirror suggests that for communication to contain emotion and validity it must be in person, rather than through a screen.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: An Unscripted Gem

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: An Unscripted Gem

The episode of the Netflix Original Series Comedians in Cars getting Coffee With Jerry Seinfeld and Seth Meyers is one with a lot of wit and funny banter. Many of the conversations they have, especially in the coffee shop, are usually about Saturday Night Live, Seth’s work on the show and even the collabs that they had both done together, such as the “Really?” segment. It is fun to see just how two comedians act when they are working off the cuff, not necessarily trying to be funny but making something funny out of the situation. One example of situational hilarity is when they are in the car, Seinfeld revs the engine up and makes Seth uncomfortable, leading to some goofy facial expressions. Jerry chooses different cars for different people that appear on the show, so this was his way of getting a laugh out of Seth and creating a golden moment for the viewers.

This show appeals to people who really enjoy one-liners, Seth and Jerry just give some of the cheesiest jokes throughout the episode, and though they weren’t well-crafted jokes that have given the time and effort put into them that a comedy series with multiple writers could have made, they were still funny. The reason for that I feel is that because there was no script, they could talk about anything that they wanted to, so many of the jokes came as a surprise. The show is also a fun way to see celebrities just doing normal life things, such as getting lunch with a friend. It shows a connection between the celebrity world and the real world. Celebrities are just normal people that like to do normal people things, it’s just that everyone knows them. That’s why some celebrities decide to leave their homes disguised. However, no one in the coffee shop seemed phased by the fact that Jerry Seinfeld and Seth Meyers were sitting together in the coffee shop.

When famous people are in their home town, it seems that people know who they are, so they leave them alone. There may have been one meeting that wasn’t put into the episode where a fan may have gone crazy, but that isn’t the point of this series. Comedians in Cars getting Coffee is really just a unscripted show where famous people do a normal thing. It demonstrates that many famous comedians don’t need to spend months or even years making and perfecting a comedy show to be funny. They are just people, like everyone else.

The Awkward Stage in Life

The Netflix Original show Big Mouth by Nick Kroll is an animated series all about middle school students and all of their experiences going through puberty. These students go through some awkward moments, which people can relate to. I mean who didn't go through awkward moments at that stage in life? It shows a variety of life experiences such as first kisses, first period, random erections, fascination with sex, and much more.




The show is very vulgar and has a lot of inappropriate scenes. If you aren't the kind of person who finds swearing or sex jokes funny, then this definitely is not the show for you. One of the main characters is the Hormone Monster and he just might be the most vulgar character I have ever seen out of any show. Have you ever seen a show where someone is making a decision, and a mini angel and devil pop up on a character's shoulders to help that person make the decision? Well this is like that, only there is no angel and the Hormone Monster stands over six feet tall. He puts the character Andrew through awkward hormonal changes in just about every other scene in the show. Just about every one of them is sexual, which makes for some cringe-worthy yet funny scenes. At the beginning of the series the Hormone Monster makes Andrew do a lot of things that he truly doesn't want to do. But Andrew has no control over it because it is his hormones causing him to do it.




One of the main themes is trust. We see a lot different scenes where the main character Nick second guesses his trust in his friend Andrew. In one specific scene the character Andrew is helping Nick's girlfriend because she has her first period. Nick was expecting his girlfriend to meet him at the top of the Statue of Liberty to take a picture. When she doesn't show up, he starts looking for her and sees her hugging Andrew. He thinks that something was going on between them and gets mad at his friend and makes a huge deal out of it. Andrew then eventually explains that he was just helping her because she had her period. He then apologizes to Andrew for his overreaction. I feel like while this scene is very specific it outlines how people have trust issues even with their closest friends. Especially during a time where hormones are making you go through changes that you don't understand.




The show also depicts the main character Jessie going through puberty and how tough it is for her. She starts getting into fights with her mother, crying more, going through changes, and more. All of these changes she goes through she is guided by a hormone monster of her own called the Hormone Monstress. One of the scenes that was most interesting to me was the first scene where the Hormone Monstress introduces herself to Jessie. She tells her of all that is going to happen, how she will start calling her mother by her first name and screaming at her. Jessie tells her that she would never do that because she loves her mother, but five minutes later does it. While this is a very specific example, it shows the underlying theme that puberty makes you do things that you do not want to and you have not control over it.

Maybe I'm Not A Psychopath...

“I’m James, I’m 17, and I think I’m a psychopath” the series opens up with this gut wrenching memorable quote. The End of the F*cking World is a recently added Netflix Original that focuses on the journey of James and Allison in what seems to be a dark adaptation of Bonnie & Clyde. This rollercoaster of emotions had me on the edge of my seat (my bed) the whole time.

The story is not very clear for the first couple episodes. A lot happens in the first few episodes with no apparent linear progressive story. The story ties itself back around in a way that is not expected. The biggest thing that kept me watching through the entire series was the fact that there was not a dry moment at all. From the time that the episode starts, to the time that the title appears on the credits screen, continuous jaw-dropping moments occur. A big issue that I had with the way the television series was created, is that nearly every episode, they will show the ending of the episode, and then retract to show what led to it. This bothers me because I know what happens before its shown. For most episodes, the ending that they show is not giving away many details, but for a few, it made the episodes very predictable.

The graphical representation throughout the series was incredible. The use of blood and the graphic content of doing so was very well done. There was a specific scene where the main girl Allison is being attacked and James stabs the guy. Blood pours from the guys’ neck all over the girl. The visuals of this scene were absolutely throw up provoking, it really displayed the feelings of the scene for all characters. Another issue that I found with the show, is that the cast is British. The lingo and vocabulary was different than that of my culture, and I found myself, sometimes not quite understanding what was said. I didn’t know any of the cast members, so it was a little difficult to find a relation between myself and them. The advantage of having a cast of unknown actors and actresses, is that an audience member doesn’t have a relation to another movie with that character. For example. When viewing Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Jim Carrey portrays a very whacky and goofy individual, but when viewing The Number 23, I find it much harder to take Jim Carrey seriously in a drama/thriller role.

The End of the F*cking World is a Netflix Original series that explores the love and adventure of an almost couple on the run. The rise and fall of emotions and characters keeps the tension at maximum. Like a book that refuses to let you stop turning the pages, The End of the F*cking World is a series that will provoke a massive binge. Already knowing the story, I

Would find it hard to watch it again, but watching it for the first time will definitely not be a regret.

Dope

This week I decided to watch the Netflix Docu-series, Dope, as I generally really enjoy the short and informative episodes that these types of documentaries offer. I was planning on only watching the first episode but quickly found myself finishing the entire first season in one night. This sounds like I spent all night binge-watching this entire documentary, but there are only four episodes in the first season. For this blog, I am going to focus on the episode that I found to be the most shocking.

            The second episode is titled “Once You See It, You Can Never Unsee It” which I think perfectly describes how I feel about this episode. It showcased the current opiate crisis in Maryland. I really enjoyed it because it showed the perspectives of everyone involved. The point of view of the drug dealers, the addicts, and the police were all shown. This provided some really interesting insight that I had never seen or heard before. The majority of the drug dealers explained that they were just trying to make money to feed their families just like everybody else, and they didn’t necessarily enjoy what they did for a living, most of them talked about how they eventually wanted to get out of the “game” of dealing drugs. Obviously, there are plenty of more legal and moral ways to make a living, but many of the interviewee’s explained it, they didn’t really have a choice, it was what they grew up around and often times didn’t get the chance to get out of the cycle of drugs that they lived in. The episode then transitions to the local law enforcement and their current efforts on the war on drugs. It shows them doing tactical training and interviews many police officers. Finally, the drug addicts are interviewed. We are introduced to Courtney and Shaun, who are both homeless, but are currently staying in an abandoned house. Both of them have been addicted to heroin for 5+ years and revolve their entire day around getting and shooting up heroin. Shaun explains in his interview “We don’t even get high off of this stuff anymore, we just use it to survive.” He then goes into detail about the withdrawal symptoms experienced when not able to get his fix. The episode ends with a sudden cut to the sound of police sirens and an aerial overview of the city blocks featured in the documentary.

            Growing up I went to private Catholic school from kindergarten through high school. We always lived in a nice neighborhood and you could say that my parents sheltered my siblings and me. Watching Dope seriously opened my eyes to the drug world in America. Prior to this documentary I had absolutely zero knowledge of anything drug related and can honestly say that I was very naïve to it all. As a person that had no experience, I really appreciate this documentary because it gave me the perspective of all sides. I found it informative and essential that they interviewed, the drug dealers and then in contrast, the addicts and law enforcement. Instead of just focusing on one part, I was able to see the entire picture. Overall, it was extremely educational and I would recommend it to anyone interested.

Marvel’s Defenders

The Netflix original show Marvel’s Defenders is a show that provides a crossover of the characters of the other Marvel Netflix originals. The characters come from the shows Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil. This show takes place throughout the Harlem and Hell’s Kitchen portions of New York City. These characters are all fighting their own fights when they realize that they are all fighting the same enemy, an ancient organization known as The Hand. The Hand, supposedly has been controlling the world for about 2,000 years and they are in search of something that they suspect is in New York City. The Defenders don’t enjoy working together at the beginning, but seeing as it is the only way to defeat the enemy, the work together.
The main reason the Defenders did not want to work together at first was because of their similar stubborn drive that makes them good for continuing to try and fix a city that is very messed up. The characters have each had their own struggles that are explained in their individual Netflix original show respectively, but they let these problems prevent them from having good social interactions with most people. They let their past experiences and emotions get the best of them and that prevents them from working well as a team.
Once they start to share stories, they all start to realize that they are not the only ones that have had terrible struggles and challenges. Once they start to share more, they began to trust each other. This provided for better teamwork between them. They actually started respecting each other and the opinions of the others. One common drive that they all share is a love for their friends and the city they live in. That is why all except for Iron Fist is a vigilante savior of the city. All of them have given up many opportunities to become heroes but to them it is worth it because it is part of them.
I liked this show not only because it combines the characters from four of my favorite Netflix Originals, but also it has a lot of action and suspense. It also has plot twists that I was not expecting, which I love because with most shows that I have watched recently, I have been able predict most of the supposed “plot twists”. There is a point when plot twists get predictable but this show did not fit in this category. It was very hard to predict anything that was going to come next, which made me very excited to watch the next episode to find out what was going to happen. To go along with the action, there were many fight scenes that involved all of the characters showing of their fighting talents and abilities. When the Defenders all fight together as a team it is a very powerful force to reckon with.
The Defenders is not only a good show overall it shows just how good Netflix originals can be. With all the action, suspense, and teamwork it is one of my top three Netflix Originals that I have watched to date. I would highly recommend people to not only watch this show but the origin series for the characters for this show.

What Happened To Terrence

**Spoiler Warning**

Tommy Wirkola’s What Happened To Monday is an eerily possible dystopian film from August, 2017. The film addresses the threat of overpopulation in a world left crowded and hungry. To remedy this problem, the government creates the Child Allocation Act which dictates that only one child per family is allowed. The character Terrence Settman quietly works around this rule as he raises seven identical granddaughters, named after the days of the week. Since they are identical, the sisters learn to work together to live publicaly as a single individual, a woman named after their mother, Karen Settman. After the eldest sister, Monday, doesn’t return from their job, the sisters decide to work against the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.) to find out what happened to her.


This film does a great job at a few key things that make the movie as a whole worth rewatching. The emotions conveyed throughout make the viewer empathise with the characters. The scene in which Thursday loses the tip of her finger may be one of the most intense. The graphic imagery paired with the fear and disappointment in Terrence’s expression creates tension. That tension grows as we watch the sister’s granddad prepare to amputate the tips of all of the girls’ fingers to match their rebellious sister. In order to maintain their secret, they must be exactly the same. In the final moments of the scene, Monday’s terror slap us in the face as she finally realized the implications of their illegal existence.


In scenes set in a public place, the frame is absolutely full of people. The viewer feels crowded and claustrophobic. Extras are everywhere, sometimes obstructing the view of the main character. Wirkola gives us a convincing window into our potential future.


Out of all these faces we see in the crowd, Noomi Rapace is one of them. But, more accurately, she is seven of them. Rapace shows off her skills as an actor as all of the Settman siblings. In a single film, she portrays a pothead, a computer whiz, a blonde bombshell, and four more. Each sister has her own unique personality despite being played by one person. The range of Noomi Rapace’s acting in this film alone is truly amazing.


Although the film has many technical strengths, the plot has issues that detract from the potential of the film. The holes don’t quite make the film swiss cheese, but a few points make us question the writers’ choices. The most obvious discontinuity is how that the seven sisters have a distinctly non-American accent as adults. Terrence, who raised them in seclusion, has an American accent. The strongest indicator of this plot hole is that the sisters as children sound just as American as their granddad, but Rapace does not conceal her accent when she plays them as adults.


Another unlikely situation is how easily Tuesday and Thursday revere their eldest sister, Monday, after her death, even though it was she who betrayed them to the government. In the space of a few seconds, they go from fighting to kill, to familiar tenderness for their dear sister. Though it is understandable to be at the side of a dying relative, the acting and directing made the scene unconvincing.


Some smaller plot holes exist, but the last obvious one is how Terrence Settman disappears from the film with no explanation. As the most influential figure in the girls’ lives, it is confusing why Wirkola chose not to show when and how Terrence left the septuplets lives. An appropriate subtitle might be What Happened to Terrence?


The film’s strengths make it worth watching. The flawed plot, however, prevents it from being an outstanding film.

What Happened to Democracy?

The Netflix original movie, What Happened to Monday, portrays a dystopian world where the government, to combat overpopulation, enacts a single child policy. The government supposedly freezes the children for a later age of prosperity, but Terrence Settman rebuts this and instead raises his seven identical granddaughters with a single identity. This Netflix original covers a wide variety of interesting ideas and topics, but what interested me the most was the portrayal of the European Federation and the Government structure imposed. In the movie’s first few minutes it explains how and why the one child policy, called the, “Child Allocation Act,” came into effect. It explains that Nicolette Cayman, a scientist, head of the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.), and a candidate for parliament, created the legislation to ensure the prosperity of the human race. Throughout the movie, it is revealed that the government has reinforced military checkpoints and that the city that the Settman sisters live in has a strong military or police presence to find and apprehend non-first born children, or siblings. Many of these displays of government power would appear as critiques of authoritarian rule, but the character of Nicolette Cayman running for election proves that the government is actually some sort of democracy. This begs the question, why would people elect representatives that oppress citizens, break apart families, and use tremendous force to enact order? It is shown that many people are unhappy with the government early on in the movie, but yet the movie states that the one child policy has been enacted for an extended period of time (at least 30 years). On one hand the lack of change in government policy proves to be an intriguing premise. This shows that the government has oppressed the people to such a degree that while they may disagree with the major life changing policy, the people carry an apathy towards change. This could be due to propaganda, suppression of information, or countless other aspects. I personally think that the government was oppressing desenters and had a very successful misinformation campaign. This stems from the fact that throughout the movie we see a clip of film where a doctor tells the viewer that siblings are cryogenically frozen for a better tomorrow. We also see an elite military force try to kill the seven sisters with precision and accuracy that leads to the idea they may often perform similar operations. These observations would fit into the narrative of this dystopian world, but seem somewhat unrealistic. The other argument discussing the state of government, would argue that this is unrealistic. Having a government that is a democracy with this level of oppression and dislike from the populous seems very unlikely. In one of the film’s first scenes a child is shown being taken away from her parents and thrown into a van by C.A.B. agents. This is met with disapproval from the crowd. This along with the number of cases discussed where siblings must be found and dealt with leads me to believe that there is not large public support for this kind of policy. Common sense and an understanding of contemporary politics would dictate that disapproval at the level the movie suggests would lead to massive change in the other direction by some level of government. This, in fact, is even shown at the end of the movie. After some negative information comes out about the process of enforcing the one child policy, the government quickly overturns the policy. The outrage grew, of course, due to the information but was already at extremely high levels beforehand. It is hard to believe that a government would go from no action to full repeal on a policy never well liked or received. Overall the portrayal of the government in What Happened to Monday? was foggy. I believe it was an interesting, albeit unrealistic, portrayal of a dystopian democracy trying to ensure the future for its citizens. This being said I think the movie should have pursued a route where public approval for the one child act was higher, or allowed for a government that was either non-democratic or was democratic in name only. This would have, in my opinion, allowed for stronger world building and helped the story with some of its most glaring plot holes.

The Natural Comedian

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee struck me as only a slightly amusing sequence of conversations between Jerry Seinfeld and Seth Meyers. These two comedians are generally pretty funny on their original shows, but watching them interact in a natural setting was incredibly lackluster. The show was seemingly set up with a series of distractions (like sporty cars and artsy lattes) to reel in viewers, but after a short viewing the whole series falls flat. Moreover, the episodes are shorter than your usual television show by at least ten minutes, so I’m a little surprised that the episodes aren’t full of quality content. Maybe that is a tip off that an entire television episode shouldn’t center around an activity that most shows film in a single scene?

In the show’s defense, director and comedian Jerry Seinfeld may have been going for a more “natural” feeling setting between himself and Seth Meyers. In that case, I can understand why he chose to go for a less scripted situation. Jerry Seinfeld does a great job of putting together a natural scene for the two of them to talk in; what better way to show a person’s casual side than to take them out for coffee? Unfortunately, both Jerry Seinfeld and Seth Meyers are most famous for their scripted acts. Their talks were funny at times, but without a premade set of jokes, they just strike me as two charismatic people enjoying themselves -  nothing to make a show over.

Even days after watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, I am still confused with the purpose of the cool cars in every episode. Why does the car that Jerry Seinfeld drives matter? Is the car supposed to be some sort of incentive for the guest comedian to get coffee with Jerry? I suppose I could blow it off as some sort of interesting distraction for the sake of making decent TV, but the episode begins with background information about the car. Jerry also makes a point of mentioning it to Seth Meyers on their way to the coffee shop. Of course, one could also make the point that the car must be important to the episode because it is mentioned in the title. But the original question remains unanswered: why tie the concept of a nice car in with a show mainly focused on the conversation between two funny people?

I must say, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has been a real disappointment in more ways than one. The intriguing title and big names definitely caught my attention, and the 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS held my attention for about 5 minutes. After that, the show gave me the depressing realization that Seth Meyers and Jerry Seinfeld aren’t always funny. It may have been naive to think that before watching the show, but it certainly doesn’t help to have video proof of the two of them not living up to the standards that they’ve set on Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld. From now on, I think I’ll just stick to watching “Weekend Update”.