Big Mistakes: Season 1

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I can’t say that “from the makers of Schitt’s Creek” was a big selling point for me here. I was kind of lukewarm on that series. It was too goofy at times, not stakes-y enough and often boring. Sure, there were some laughs here and there, but the characters were broad, uninteresting stereotypes. But, hey, I’m always willing to give folks a second chance. Plus, beyond Dan Levy, this one involves Rachel Sennottt as a co-creator. I haven’t actually seen any of her stuff, but know her comedy is a bit darker than the Levy’s, and has its fans. Whatever the case, this series is much sharper and down-to-earth than Shitt’s Creek, layering in a crime comedy narrative that brings some grit and actually layers on some stakes for our characters. Characters who definitely have their cartoonish qualities at times, but feel much more human and prone to, well, mistakes in a way that makes sense.

For a genre sitcom as expansive as this one, the creators do a good job of liming the main cast and bringing in people who are pretty damn funny. In that way they get the most out of their performances and really give us a view into their interior lives as they spill out all over the screen. This is the downfall of a lot of these types of shows. They either spread things too thin, diluting the impact of the charisma of their actors. Or they just rely on rat-a-tat dialogue (which this show also has in spades), but use that for laughs without investigating anything real about the characters. The thing here — and this may be due to the casting choices — we really get into the heads of all of our characters. Mainly siblings, Nicky (Levy) and Morgan (Taylor Ortega), but also all the supporting cast who manage to all have their moments.

The concept here is a relatively straight-forward one. It is the birthday of the matriarchal grandmother of the Morelli family, who is in the process of dying. This brings together her daughter, Linda (Laurie Metcalf), and Linda’s three adult children, Nicky, Morgan and Natalie (Abby Quinn). It’s evident from the first moments that grandma is not the sweet old lady type, which has clearly impacted Linda and her raising of her children. Disfunction abounds. Linda sends Nicky and Morgan out to buy one last gift for their grandmother, but these two wonderful idiots can’t decide what to do. So Morgan just decides to steal what she thinks is a costume necklace from a low-end tchotchke / gift store. Suffice it to say that the necklace turns out to be more valuable than expected, and the owner of it wants it back. The store worker who let it get stolen, Yusuf (Boran Kuzum), is on the hook to get the necklace back, and rope the siblings into their crime ring in order to pay his boss back for the inconvenience of stealing their property. The rest of the series is an ever-increasing spiral of two non-criminals being forced to do tasks that are relatively opaque, until the end of the season when all is revealed.

Did I mention that Levy plays a closeted pastor? Which seemed like a weird choice for a dude who is so obviously Jewish. Like Zach Braff / Jon Lovett (of Pod Save America) level Jewish. It turns out his character is supposed to be adopted, so that could make sense. But really the show comes down to an acting contest between Taylor Ortega’s ADD ballbuster thing and Laurie Metcalf’s absolute on-ten-always crazy person act. The shit is funny. And both of them are great. I’ve apparently seen Ortega in small roles here and there, but her energy and comic timing are so on point. Her character is an amped-up version of that woman we all know who has all the confidence in the world, but can’t get out of her way as things collapse around her. We’ve seen Metcalf play this vibrating, fast-talking mess before, but she’s so pitch-perfect as the mom who you both respect for raising these three children on her own, but are also scared she might fall off the edge at any moment. It’s a much less-sad, but not completely dissimilar, version of Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother figure on The Bear. Set in suburban New Jersey, we are then treated to a gang of Russian mobsters and possibly some more traditional Jersey wise guys. They’re a little clown-ish — like most criminals are in these types of shows — but the writing doesn’t render them as cardboard cutouts. Plus, Russian accents are always funny.

Look, man, I’ve tried watching sitcoms. They mostly suck. The construct is almost always repetitive. The characters can be wooden or hokey. The actors just reading lines or “acting” comedically. Why not try something a little bit different? You’re already paying like $40 a month for Netflix at this point, so you might as well tune in. It’s funny and more than a little bit hectic. The series has legs and the actors seem to be having a good time being wacky. Their good time translated on screen and brought me some joy in an otherwise grim landscape. Just watch and laugh. No mistakes.