Jessi and Missy navigate the tumultuous terrain of teenage friendship along with their other friends in Netflix’s animated comedy, Big Mouth. The two characters become friends in the show’s first season, which features the girls bonding — and falling out —when Jessi hosts a sleepover.
Their friendship faces several struggles as they grow up and drift apart. Jessi’s parents’ divorce and she has a troubling brush with the Depression Kitty, while Missy struggles with her body image. The crazy journey of adolescence brings Jessi and Missy together — but also tears them apart.
Jessi Mocked Missy At Her Sleepover
Jessi has a sleepover in Season 1 and invites popular girls Devin and Lola to her house. Missy accompanies them, and she soon becomes the butt of their jokes. Against her better judgment, Jessi joins in with Devin and Lola and mocks Missy after she has a sugar meltdown.
Jessi gives into peer pressure and aligns with the popular girls instead of her friend. She sees the error of her ways, however, and prevents Lola from uploading an embarrassing video of Missy to the internet.
Jessi Thinks Missy Is Weird
Missy joins in with the other girls at Jessi’s sleepover and drinks a fizzy drink despite being warned by her mother not to consume sugar. Jessi is embarrassed by her friend’s hyper behavior and screams at her to behave normally.
In striving to gain the approval of the popular girls at school, Jessi struggles to accept Missy as she is and fails to be a good friend all of the time.
Missy Thinks Jessi Is A Bad Person
Missy also rejects Jessi in the same episode. After Jessi sides with Devin and Lola and mocks Missy’s sugar-induced meltdown, Missy remarks that she doesn’t think her friend is a “good person.” While Jessi definitely treats Missy poorly, this is a little harsh for a temporary lapse in judgment.
Missy and Jessi share several similarities but they are still very different people. Missy’s friendship with Jessi is tenuous as Missy has little faith in her friend’s morals and reliability.
Missy Wasn’t There For Jessi During Her Parents’ Divorce
Nick and Andrew see Jessi’s mother kiss another woman in Season 1 after the two go to the city, which results in Jessi’s parents getting divorced. The troubled teenager struggles to cope with her parents’ separation and becomes increasingly more depressed.
Missy and Jessi share fewer scenes after Jessi grows more rebellious. There is little evidence of Missy supporting her friend — though to be fair to Missy, Jessi didn’t reach out either.
Jessi Uses Missy
Jessi takes Missy for granted a lot throughout Big Mouth. In Season 1, she uses Missy as an excuse when her mother questions her about her whereabouts after she starts shoplifting. Missy appears delighted to have a friend in Jessi but Jessi seems less enthusiastic.
Jessi often exhibits a lack of effort in her friendship with Missy. This juxtaposes with her attitude in “Sleepover: A Harrowing Ordeal of Emotional Brutality,” where she goes to great lengths to win Devin’s approval.
Jessi Only Wanted To Hang Out With Missy When She Was High
Jessi and Nick eat a cannabis-infused gummy in Season 2’s “Drug Buddies” after Jessi steals her father’s supply. The two teenagers get high together for the first time and inadvertently end up at Missy’s house whilst searching for food.
Missy appears genuinely ecstatic by Jessi and Nick’s visit and happy to see her friends. However, she soon realizes what is happening and is upset that Jessi’s visit wasn’t because her friend wanted to see her.
Jessi Is A Bad Influence
Jessi spirals after her parents’ divorce and tries to take Missy down with her. She encourages her friend to shoplift with her and brushes Missy off when she refuses. Jessi is a bad influence on several of her friends, including Nick, whom she peer pressured into eating the gummy in “Drug Buddies.”
Jessi’s home life becomes increasingly more unstable after her mother and father divorce. Missy, however, has supportive parents who encourage her to notice when people are a bad influence in her life.
Jessi Struggles To Get Along With Other Women
Jessi prides herself on being an outspoken feminist throughout Big Mouth yet has shown that she struggles to connect with other women. She inadvertently tells everyone in school about Gina and Nick’s encounter, and causes Devin and the other popular students to turn on Gina, causing a fallout between her and Jessi.
Jessi has few female friends in the show and instead spends most of her time with Nick, Andrew, and Matthew. Missy shares fewer scenes with Jessi than her other friends, highlighting their weaker relationship.
Jessi Prefers Spending Time With Matthew
Jessi and Matthew become best friends in the third season of Big Mouth. The snarky teenagers go on a platonic date in “My Fuzzy Valentine,” and their friendship grows stronger throughout the season. Jessi encourages Matthew to pursue Aiden and spends most of her time with her new friend.
Jessi’s friendship with Missy is much weaker than her friendship with Matthew. It is apparent she has a favorite, and Jessi has more in common with Matthew than she does with Missy. Missy is more timid and can be naive, whereas Matthew matches Jessi’s dry, sarcastic humor.
Missy And Jessi Are Too Different To Be True Friends
Missy and Jessi do share some similarities, such as their passion for feminism and love of teen romance novel The Rock of Gibraltar, but ultimately they are very different and struggle to connect. Missy is quirky, eccentric, and unapologetic whereas Jessi is more sarcastic and pessimistic.
Jessi and Missy drift apart slightly in Season 3. Jessi becomes best friends with Matthew, and Missy finds a surprising but heartfelt new friend in Jay.
