The second season of Big Mouth, Netflix’s cartoon comedy about the trials and tribulations of adolescence, is fixated on the same issues as the first: uncomfortably and entirely relatable gags about boobs, stray pubes and “rubbing fronts.” But this season includes an unexpected gem: Jay Bilzerian, the 13-year-old hornball who practices magic tricks and has sex with pillows, more or less comes out as bi.
In Big Mouth, the heartaches and desires of the pre-teen characters are personified by hairy, horned “hormone monsters” that serve as emotional, hilarious joke-cracking guides through the land of sexual maturation.
Related: Netflix is about to get even gayer
Although Bilzerian is a side-character, he’s also a close friend to the show’s main characters and is surprisingly complex. In the first season, we learn that his father is a shady divorce lawyer who regularly cheats on his mom. He also has two older abusive brothers and a curiously self-aware and depressed pet pit bull.
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Spoiler Alert: In the second season’s ninth episode, Bilzerian makes out with Matthew, the show’s only openly gay pre-teen character (voiced by openly gay actor Andrew Rannells), during a spin-the-bottle game called “Smooch or Share.” While their initial kiss (with tongue) initially comes off as the two literally kissing and making up from a fight they had earlier in the show, the two meet up later on for more flirting and kissing during a debaucherous lock-in in the school gymnasium.
Jay: "Hey, man, a mouth's a mouth."
Sure, who hasn't heard or said that; but in a divorce lawyer's advertisement? We've got to see some of Jay's dad's quotable commercials in season 3. #BigMouth pic.twitter.com/0UNagSl1Sa— Ardor Tonally (@ArdorTonally) October 11, 2018
Previous to Season Two, Bilzerian had only expressed interest in girls and a female pillow named Pam. The show could have left his kiss with Matthew at that, giving its gay fans an unexpected moment of same-sex smooching. But then, in Season Two’s final episode, Bilzerian struggles with feeling attracted to both a male and female pillow.
The female pillow, Suzette, initially tells him that he has to decide which one he feels more attracted to. But by the episode’s end, Jay has a threesome with both of the pillows, pretty much establishing himself as attracted to more than just one gender. (Though considering his attraction to pillows, perhaps it’s more accurate to call him pansexual.)
Related: WATCH: Everyone’s soaking wet on Courtney Act’s new bisexual dating show
Big Mouth fans on Twitter were impressed with Bilzerian’s coming out story and shared their enthusiasm on Twitter:
I am loving how they are handling the topic of Jay's Bisexuality #BigMouth
— Timothy Wiley (Beto For Senate) (@TimoSLAY) October 6, 2018
i've finished #BigMouth s2 and i still can't believe they made jay canonically bisexual after kissing matthew pic.twitter.com/SoFnfM2DLS
— ? (@singularsadie) October 7, 2018
BIG MOUTH SPOILER
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jay going from homophobe to bisexual is an iconic character progression story— ????.¹²? (@occultjaemin) October 6, 2018
big mouth spoilers //
i still can't believe the bisexual character is JAY. the gross misogynistic sexual deviant who fucks pillows. ? i do have somewhat of a soft spot for him tho, his home life is so terrible.
— poet | artist (@baseminialbum) October 6, 2018
WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT JAY BILZERIAN’S BISEXUALITY IN BIG MOUTH BEING LITERALLY SO FUCKING IMPORTANT
NO ONE FUCKING TALKS ABOUT BISEXUAL BOYS’ JOURNEYS THROUGH BIPHOBIC ADOLESCENT HELL
[SCREAM]
— ? big tiddy ghost gf ? (@gggeribomb) October 9, 2018
Man these two are adorable~
Jay is my favorite character Thank you for this show @nickkroll ! #BigMouth #bigmouthseason2 #jay #matthew @bigmouth pic.twitter.com/LjsP1LvwzW— ?Mama Fujoshi? (@KaykatKreations) October 15, 2018
While we’re happy to see Big Mouth feature a pansexual preteen, the show proved itself to be quite progressive in its queer and sexual views long before its final episodes. Season Two features an entire episode on how sexually transmitted infections aren’t moral failings and Season One had a coming out episode in which a young character questions his sexuality — during the episode, the show made no homophobic jokes at his expense.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Gives a whole new definition of “pillow talk”
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“Though considering his attraction to pillows, perhaps it’s more accurate to call him pansexual”
How? How is that more accurate??? Pansexuality does NOT mean or include attraction to inanimate objects, jesus christ. The fact that this is a queerty article makes it even worse.
gay af
It was a joke here I’ll spell it out J-O-K-E