Big Mistakes TV Review: Dan Levy’s new series is a hilarious dark crime comedy

Plot: Nicky and Morgan, two deeply incapable siblings who are in over their heads when a misguided theft for their dying grandmother accidentally pulls them into the world of organized crime. Blackmailed into increasingly dangerous assignments, they clumsily fail upwards, sinking deeper into chaos they’re ill-equipped to handle.

Review: Hard to believe, but it has been exactly six years since Schitt’s Creek ended. The Canadian sitcom transcended borders, unlike any sitcom in recent memory, churning out countless memes, memorable quotes, and a lasting legacy for the late Catherine O’Hara. While Dan Levy has stayed busy in the last half-decade with his feature directorial debut, Good Grief, and appearances in multiple series and films, the multi-hyphenate is back with a new Netflix series that is another family comedy but absolutely distinct from Schitt’s Creek. Big Mistakes is a pitch-black crime story with a sense of humor, blending high-stakes thrills into a unique show featuring veteran talent and newcomers alike. With Levy sharing the lead with co-star Taylor Ortega, Big Mistakes is a hilarious twist on organized crime tales.

In their grandmother’s final days, pastor Nicky (Dan Levy) and his sister, school teacher Morgan (Taylor Ortega), go to buy a gift. When they enter a store run by Yusuf (Boran Kuzum), they make a mistake that gets them embroiled with a syndicate of criminals in their sleepy suburban community. Adding to the complexity is their mother, Linda (Laurie Metcalf), who is running for mayor, and their father, Mike (Joe Barbara), a former chief of police. Indebted to a criminal who puts them to work alongside Yusuf, Nicky and Morgan quickly realize that not only are a pastor and teacher ill-suited for a life of crime, but their ineptitude at breaking the law makes everything infinitely more complicated. In that, Big Mistakes finds its funniest and darkest material as the siblings must work together despite getting on each other’s nerves at every turn.

From the very beginning, it is apparent that Dan Levy’s signature awkward charm carried over from Schitt’s Creek. Where David Rose was loud and proud, Levy plays Nicky as a quieter character who serves as a pastor for a church that does not want him in an active relationship. Nicky and his sister, Morgan, have an adversarial relationship, yet they are closer to each other than to their youngest sister, Natalie (Abby Quinn). While Nicky has a secret relationship going on, Morgan’s multi-year partner Max (Jack Innanen) is hitting a rough patch. The new wrinkle of needing to lie to their friends and family about becoming embroiled with criminals, Yusuf and Ivan (Mark Ivanir), makes this incredibly challenging for the siblings. The core humor of Big Mistakes comes from how one impulsive choice turns Nicky and Morgan’s lives upside down, with each episode showing them frantically trying to keep their lives in order while forced to commit increasingly more dangerous crimes to protect themselves from retribution from the bad guys they crossed.

The shift in tone and genre focus proves just how good a writer and actor Dan Levy is. Bringing in Taylor Ortega to play his sibling gives Levy a scene partner who has an impressive give-and-take that puts the two on par with Levy’s dynamic with Annie Murphy in Schitt’s Creek. Levy and Ortega portray believable siblings, but they also balance each other’s energy. When one of the actors goes broad, the other steps in as the straight man, and they reverse roles when the scene calls for it. While Levy and Ortega are the focus of the series, the veteran presence of Laurie Metcalfe and Elizabeth Perkins anchors the ensemble with versatile actors capable of comedy and drama. Big Mistakes is, first and foremost, a comedy. The humor goes far darker than anything in Schitt’s Creek, with scenes of violence and genuine danger raising the tension significantly. I was not expecting this show to balance the genre elements as well as it does, with the story making you laugh at some of the most uncomfortable or awkward moments imaginable, with Nicky and Morgan mistaking real estate deals for drug buys and worse.

Having worked together on The Idol, Dan Levy developed Big Mistakes with I Love LA creator Rachel Sennott. The pair wrote the first episode together with Sennott serving as executive producer, while Levy is the showrunner. The eight-episode series also features writing from Jacqui Rivera, Etan Frankel, Erin Levy, and Timothy Greenberg. Director Dean Holland helmed the first two episodes, with subsequent episodes directed by Adan Bernstein, Colin Bucksey, and Iain B. Macdonald. The series, comprised of half-hour episodes, flies by and makes for an easy binge of the entire first season, which is full of unexpected moments and an ending that sets up a great direction for a sophomore run. Cinematographer Christine Ng gives the series a more polished, cinematic look, and there is also a fantastic soundtrack throughout, courtesy of Peaches and Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum.

While Schitt’s Creek proved Dan Levy could do comedy, and Good Grief showcased his dramatic talents, Big Mistakes combines both into an unlikely family comedy that takes the hallmarks of organized crime stories and makes them relatable in a way we have not seen on screen. When we talk about organized crime and family, it often takes a different shape than what we see in Big Mistakes, but I will not doubt ideas that come from Levy or Rachel Sennott after this. Big Mistakes is a solid comedy and one that will catch you off guard in the best ways possible. Taylor Ortega is an impressive talent who will surely be seen a lot more after this series. With Dan Levy working on a long-term deal with Netflix, we will hopefully be lucky to see Big Mistakes run as long as the actor-writer’s previous show.

Big Mistakes premieres on Netflix on April 9th.