Emmy award-winner Dan Levy is bringing his signature exasperated comedic skills to the new Netflix dark comedy Big Mistakes. The series is created by, executive-produced, and stars the Schitt’s Creek actor, and blends crime thriller suspense and dysfunctional family laughs with entertaining results.
Nicky (Levy) and his sister, Morgan (Taylor Ortega), are plodding through their adult lives with menial success and no solid direction. When their grandmother passes away, Morgan steals a necklace for her grandmother’s funeral, which unwittingly gets the two siblings sucked into an organized crime ring. The only way to save their lives is to complete an ever-increasing and perilous list of assignments to make good on their mistake – but Nicky and Morgan find themselves unexpectedly good at the job.
Levy and Ortega have great sibling animosity like some dark versions of Levy’s characters sibling relationship in Schitt’s Creek. Levy himself said it best in his letter to all press receiving screeners: “While this show couldn’t be further from the wholesome world of Schitt’s Creek, it does share its unwavering affinity for the dysfunction of family…” and goes on to describe it as, “Verrry different book, same sturdy shelf.” which is spot on.
Big Mistakes also features iconic comedic actress Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) as the siblings’ no-filter mother, Linda, who is running for the mayor’s office. Metcalf’s Linda is manic, passive-aggressive, and absolutely hilarious. Metcalf is fantastic, and her facial reactions to her kids and everything going on around the family are a riot. Elizabeth Perkins is another heavy hitter in the cast as the mother of Morgan’s boyfriend, Annette, with an increasingly important role later in the season.
Once the plot is established and all the characters are introduced, Big Mistakes has some fun playing around with the “assignment of the week” format, even though all 8 episodes are dropping at once. Things are at their most humorous when the duo are completely spiraling out of control, but seeing them eventually come into their own ends up being nicely satisfying.
The supporting cast has plenty of quirky characters to add extra flavor to the proceedings. Abby Quinn, as the family’s third sibling, Natalie, is a hyper-obsessive overachiever assisting with Linda’s run for mayor, and a stark contrast to Nicky and Morgan. Quinn’s neurotic performance as the character running the campaign brought many unexpected laughs. Jack Innanen, as Morgan’s overly sensitive boyfriend Max, also provides some refreshingly lighter laughs in awkward relationship moments.
The series definitely toes the line between suspense and comedy; there are stakes involved and quite a few tense scenes. There are more hits than misses with the overall plot and humor content, despite some elements being underbaked. Nicky is a homosexual pastor who never seems very religious despite repeated mentions of how hard he worked to get the distinction. Some of the mob characters are European stereotypes played for easy laughs – it’s not egregious, but enough to feel a bit cheap.
A pleasant surprise and a worthy binge series that vibes like a darkly comedic cousin of Schitt’s Creek wrapped in an organized crime suspense thriller. The lead duo’s bickering siblings are the capable backbone for most of this run of episodes, but Laurie Metcalf’s patriarch steals the show – and the door is left open for more criminal exploits, and that wouldn’t be a mistake.
Score: 3 out 5