Big Mouth: The 10 Saddest Things About Missy

Missy Foreman-Greenwald is an incredibly kind and equally intelligent teenager who attends Bridgeton Middle School in the New York suburbs. She has a proclivity towards fantasy, as can be seen in the story she co-writes with Jay, but the star of her dreams is always going to be the dashing Nathan Fillion, of Firefly fame.

Missy has been assigned the Hormone Monster Mona (played by the delightfully crass Thandie Newton), who is the diametric opposite of her personality. To be honest, the girl has so many different characters trapped inside her that it is occasionally difficult for her to separate them from each other. As such, the events in Big Mouth don’t always play out in Missy’s favor.

10 Her Sugar Rushes Are Intense

Missy’s parents insist on a healthy diet for their daughter, which means no fast food or soft drinks. While it seems, on the surface, that they’re simply trying to instill good nutritional habits, the truth is a little more complex.

Missy is completely unable to control herself when in the throes of a sugar rush, as she finds out during the sleepover party with Jessi, Lola, and Devin. Though technically not sad, she undergoes a horrifyingly humiliating experience due to the near-total removal of her inhibitions.

9 She Shames Her Own Body

For a girl who’s usually so confident about her opinions, she hates the idea that her body is far behind the other girls at school. The problem is that she refuses to acknowledge that puberty doesn’t happen instantly.

Even if it does, it may not even enhance the anatomy she wants to be enhanced. Missy’s reflection is the main source of her issues with her body, as it constantly demeans her for being flat-chested and unattractive.

8 Nick Breaks Up With Her

When Missy dumps Lars for his toxic behavior, she finds some comfort in Nick, her romantic co-star in the school play, which quickly evolves into a brief relationship.

Andrew then gets all worked up about his best friend making out with his ex, but right as he comes to grips with everything, Nick confesses that he never really had any feelings for Missy. This is most upsetting for her, and she breaks down in tears in front of everyone.

7 The Girls Mocks Her For Entertainment

After too much sugar, Missy’s unruly, hyper behavior makes her the object of mockery at a sleepover. Lola falls in line with Devin’s bullying, stating that “Missy is the weak one,” and must be shamed so the alpha, Devin, can be satiated.

Jessi half-heartedly tries to stop this from happening, but she is inevitably dragged into the undercurrents of peer pressure and social hierarchy.

6 She Kisses Lola’s Dog

In the process of her sugar rush fantasies about Nathan Fillion, Missy pictures her ideal man offering her the best things in the world — “solving space crimes, doing homework, and listening.”

At one point, she asks him if she can “kiss [you] with my mouth,” consequently going for the deed within her dreamscape. Unfortunately for her, the Nathan Fillion she’s making out with in real life turns out to be Lola’s dog. Jessi loses it and screams at her for not being “more normal,” upsetting Missy even further.

5 Has To Deal With Andrew’s Jealousy

Considering that Missy happens to be a very nice person (read: someone who rarely demands accountability from the people who misuse her compassion), she attempts to let Andrew down as gently as possible.

Her kindness is a failure, because he goes on a hormonal rampage, invading a party and blaming Lars for taking her away from him. Unsatisfied with her plaintive responses, Andrew then forcibly tilts the wheelchair-bound boy onto the floor, a disgraceful scene that affects Missy to her core.

4 Her Public Worm Dance

When the whole school has a sleepover in the gym, Missy’s plushy glow worm, Mr. Wiggles, insists on doing their “worm dance,” but she claims that it shouldn’t take place outside a private space. His pleadings eventually get to her, and she begins gyrating against her toy as per usual, but her loud moans attract the attention of the other students.

Obviously, Lola is the first to point it out, but the rest of the kids immediately start laughing at Missy. If the night as a whole didn’t go so completely off-the-rails, she probably would have been teased a lot more.

3 Her Lack Of Racial Identity

Missy’s paternal cousins are stunned to realize that she doesn’t know a lot about her own culture, which they blame her parents for.

Her cousins demand that she take more responsibility in learning about the Black side of her family, even convincing her (with some difficulty) to change her look. It’s upsetting that Missy never had access to a significant part of herself until this point.

2 She Bids Her Overalls Goodbye

Before she transforms her whole visual persona, Missy has a heartfelt “discussion” with her emblematic blue overalls. The piece of clothing begs her not to discard it, reminding her of all the wonderful times they’ve had together.

Missy doesn’t really want to get rid of her favorite outfit, so they both share a hilarious scripted scene in which they just cry together, making her older cousins feel slightly awkward about the whole thing.

1 Is Shamed For Not Being Provocative

The girls rightfully object to the administration’s new dress code, claiming that the rules are unjustified as they don’t apply to the boys. As a result, they come to school dressed in revealing outfits in order to make a unified stand against the rampant patriarchal context of school life.

Missy doesn’t choose to participate in the physical aspects of the protest, which is well within her rights, but she has to bear the brunt of being a so-called “gender traitor” for not conforming to everyone else’s expectations.

About The Author

Ajay Aravind
(429 Articles Published)

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In real life, Ajay disguises himself as an academic, mainly writing textbooks for children — who all hate him for making their lives more miserable. He also writes about TV and film, strewing his opinions across the internet to see if people care (they don’t). You can find him @stain_dprinc_ss on Twitter.

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