Big Boys season 2 spoilers follow, but they're pretty minor.
Jack Rooke's Big Boys is a story of loss, and that's especially true in season two.
Across these six new episodes, Jack continues to grapple with the death of Laurie, his father, as not only Jack the main character but also Jack the writer, who uses the show to navigate his grief.
Jack's Straight Best Friend™ Danny also struggles with loss, both through abandonment and through how his Nan's mind is unravelling due to Alzheimer's.
But then there's the loss of Jack's virginity, which continues to be just as important as these sadder threads. And rightly so, because that's the magic of this show right there.
One minute, we're watching a younger Danny fend for himself at home because his parents forgot he existed, and the next, Jack's eye is getting poked out by a pub DJ's cock in the loo.
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It's an ambitious, tricky balance to maintain, yet Rooke's writing is even more confident this time around, expertly navigating the fine line between tear-inducing laughs and tear-inducing sorrow in ways that are painfully true to life. Yes, even the glory-hole bit.
It's tempting to say Big Boys is even bigger in season two, although we don't mean in a physical sense, even if Jack and Danny are now technically one year older, navigating their second year at Brent Uni.
Rather, the show's already-confident grip on loss and mourning goes even deeper in these six chapters with more ambitious swings that face grief head on. Rooke is smart to foreground his incredible supporting cast more here, especially via painful flashbacks to Laurie's last days.
If that doesn't knock the wind out of you, there's also a couple of extremely smart yet devastating narration choices that will.
But back to that cast. Rooke's writing, which veers between melancholic and extremely horny at a moment's notice, demands a special kind of performance that's heartfelt and earnest yet still deftly hits those comic beats.
Izuka Hoyle's Corinne and Olisa Odele's Yemi continue to be standout characters while Harriet Webb still gets the best lines as Shannon, Jack's cousin, whose ASOS obsession develops into something rather more permanent this season.
Then there's Camille Coduri as Peggy, Jack's mother, and the two Nans, Annette Badland and Sheila Reid, who deliver some of Big Boy's most grounded, devastating moments with class and dignity.
In short, it's impossible to pick a favourite, although a case could be made for either of the two leads. Derry Girls' Dylan Llewellyn effortlessly nails the show's shifting tones as the fictional Jack, while Jon Pointing succeeds in what's arguably an even harder task, which is to make a straight lad appear warm and vulnerable on screen.
That central friendship is key, so it's commendable that season two isn't just a re-run of what came before.
Last time, Danny introduced Jack to an adult world beyond his small terraced house where he could finally explore his identity and life as a gay man who's horny for other men. This time though, the dynamic begins to shift as it becomes more and more clear that Danny is actually the one who needs help most.
The love they share is touching and affirming and also quite unique still when it comes to TV, even if friendship between straight and gay men is actually more common in real life than some people might think.
Thankfully, we're at a point now where more unique queer stories like this can be told beyond the obvious tragedies or coming-of-age stories. Big Boys is kind of both in a sense, yet the way it amalgamates them is very unique to Rooke's vision, and very unique in a British sense too.
Even with Sex Education and Heartstopper centring queer British youth like never before, Big Boys still forges its own path, even if some of the more outlandish moments like that Tesco Meal Deal scene from season one occur less frequently now.
That's okay though. There are still laughs to be had, and this bigger emphasis on the emotional side hits even harder now that we've spent an extra three hours with this wonderful, oddball cast of characters.
The ending in particular is not just a perfect season finale, but it's arguably a perfect series finale too. Except, we don't want Big Boys to end just yet.
Two seasons in, Jack Rooke's series has cemented itself as one of the best and most important British shows of the last decade. To end it now would be an even more monumental loss than Jack finally losing his virginity.
Big Boys season 2 airs every Sunday night on Channel 4 at 10pm, but the boxset is also available to stream on Channel 4.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
