We’ve been waiting patiently for what Dan Levy’s real follow-up to “Schitt’s Creek” would look like after he signed his overall deal with Netflix back in 2021. There was his tepidly received “Good Grief” film back in 2023, but this dark comedy co-created with Rachel Sennott is finally his real grand return to television.
“Big Mistakes” turns out to be a mixed bag, but one that’s extremely entertaining and watchable. Levy stars as Nicky, a pastor at Glenview Community Church who dates his boyfriend Tareq (Jacob Gutierrez) in secret to avoid alienating his congregation (he’s out as gay but the church prefers him “non-practicing”). His sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega) is still processing having moved back to the fictional town of Glenview — a 30-minute train ride from New York City — after failing to get her acting career off the ground in the Big Apple. She’s a public school teacher now and more or less annoyed to be back together with her nagging high school sweetheart Max (Jack Innanen).
The family comes together around the death of their grandmother, which is how the pilot kicks off. The boisterous divorced matriarch Linda (Laurie Metcalf) is trying to make the last days of her mother’s life in hospice as comfortable as possible, so she requests that the siblings pick up a cheap jewelry store necklace to dress her up. After taking her least breaths, grandmother ends up buried in a necklace that Morgan actually stole from a nearby shop after Yusef (Boran Kuzum), the cranky shopkeeper, refused to sell it to her.
Unbeknownst to them, Yusef is involved in organized crime, and that necklace is a lot more important than Morgan and Nicky realized when they swiped it. Thus, the titular big mistake that spirals the siblings into a series of misadventures as they get embroiled deeper into the crime world of upstate New York.
It’s a bit of a flimsy premise to kick things off, and it doesn’t help that the organized crime aspects of the show feel somewhat stereotypical. The attempts for the siblings to extricate and return the necklace all feel extremely contrived; not the most realistic way to establish the show’s stakes. A small mistake might be more accurate, before things get more exciting in the second half of the season.
As they get more entangled in the organized crime of it all, it’s unclear what the motivation these characters have not to get themselves out of the situation immediately. At first, they seem to be blackmailed into this “work,” only for a later reveal that suggests they are being paid. Perhaps the show wants us to think beyond money, although both siblings definitely have an incentive to leave behind the circumstances that are holding them back.
As their tasks get increasingly complex, Morgan and Nicky begin to derive a sense of pleasure from it all despite the stress, and the opportunity ends up being an unexpected way to propel their personal growth. Morgan realizes she’s capable of more than her currently mundane life as a public school teacher, and Nicky begins to accumulate the confidence to live in his truth. But you can’t help but feel they should be able to step away from this dangerous situation more easily (especially when you find out their father is a retired policeman).
Regardless, the absolute best part of the show is watching the two siblings spar in various chaotic contexts; their banter and chemistry is on-screen gold, and the way they grow closer becomes unexpectedly heartwarming. Levy is right at home as skittish Pastor Nicky, and Ortega is a definite stand-out as a character who absolutely would have been played by Sennott if she wasn’t wrapped up in other projects. At times, Nicky and Morgan’s dynamic is even reminiscent of David and Alexis Rose, if they found themselves answering burner phones for criminals. Ew, David!
Things start to get messier when their side gig implicates the rest of the family. Linda has decided to look beyond her career as the owner of a hardware store and run for Glenview mayor with the help of her third child Natalie (Abby Quinn), who’s taken on the role of campaign manager. Metcalf’s somewhat over-the-top performance resonates as something between Jamie Lee Curtis in “The Bear” and Louise Brealey in “Such Brave Girls” — breathlessly shouting every line and speaking over everyone in a way that can be grating early on in the season, before the depth of her love for her family becomes clearer later in the season. Elizabeth Perkins is also always a delight as Max’s mother Annette, who is very invested in his courtship with Morgan.
What holds “Big Mistakes” together when the plot isn’t always the most logical is pure belly laugh-inducing entertainment, including some extremely witty dialogue crafted by Levy, Sennott and their writing team. At eight, zippy half-hour episodes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome in a landscape of 50-minute crime dramas that too often drag their feet. “Big Mistakes” also makes the smart move to ease us into this world; it doesn’t get that dark until it does, but just like Nicky and Morgan, you’ll realize you’re in too deep to go back now. Along the way, “Big Mistakes” reveals gentler layers about existentialism in elder millennials, what truly bonds families and what it means to be living an authentic life.
To be clear: “Big Mistakes” isn’t the kind of show you’ll be cuddling up to for a cozy heartwarming journey (we can just rewatch “Schitt’s Creek” for that), but it absolutely makes for a deliciously funny binge with a few twists up its sleeve that are sure to keep you on your toes.
“Big Mistakes” premieres Thursday, Apr. 9, on Netflix.
