Big Mistakes

The writing, casting and acting add up to a show that is so good you’ll be inclined to give it multiple viewings. There’s no word yet on Netflix ordering a follow-up season; let’s hope that happens.

Though the pacing can drag at times, Big Mistakes finds its groove in the back half of the season, tying together the Morellis’ disparate storylines and ending in a delicious twist that begs for a second batch of episodes.

Though it is all improbable, the parts do mesh neatly; they make television sense. Finally, the series rests on the shoulders of the three principal players, who are just a pleasure to watch.

The joy of Big Mistakes is watching the chaos unfold. Nicky and Morgan have a terrific back and forth, and their banter has an effortless sense of naturalism that makes it easy to believe these characters have known one another all their lives. Their increasing incredulity as they fall deeper into a life of crime they have no desire to be in is strangely intoxicating.

“Big Mistakes” sometimes feels a bit too derivative of things that its creators know people love from the accidental criminals of “Ozark” to the dysfunctional siblings of “Schitt’s Creek,” but it’s ultimately smart enough to overcome that criticism.

“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.

This is a well-oiled comedy machine. It’s also fast, another quality it shares with screwballs of yore. The storytelling is good enough, with some clever turns and a nice amount of the aforementioned character transformation. But the quality of the writing stands out more within each scene than over the narrative arc.

It doesn't all quite work — especially if you stop for even a moment to think about the logic behind pretty much anything that happens — but it's interesting to see Levy getting so down and dirty (often literally) after he became one of the faces of a show about shallow people who find fulfillment in learning how to be nicer.

The gangland drama is deeper and darker than the domestic one. .... Yusuf and his pals are as stymied as the siblings themselves, and just as preoccupied by their status within a larger universe. “Big Mistakes” comes close to making a point about all these hierarchies—but the show, like its characters, has a policy of shooting first, asking questions later.

Even when it’s not being sweet, or when Nicky and Morgan are sincerely terrified about what’s happening to them, the criminal, drug-kingpin-related trappings around them are so heightened and silly that Big Mistakes can’t help but come across as mostly a fun time.

Bad Mistakes works mostly because we like watching Levy and Ortega’s chemistry as siblings, and we’ll always be there to see Laurie Metcalf do her thing. We’re just wondering how silly things are going to get during this show’s first season.

While Big Mistakes isn’t always the most comfortable watch, especially as it holds up a mirror to some of life’s most awkward moments, there’s a sense of hope and humor threaded throughout that reminds us why we keep going. Levy and Sennott have crafted a story that feels real and relatable, even as the circumstances spiral into situations most people can only imagine themselves in.

Big Mistakes can be perceptive and funny when it focuses on the chaotic family unit, especially when Metcalf is present. .... That these elements are crowded out by the gangster plot might constitute another instance of the monolithic crime genre’s incursion into TV projects where it detracts from the psychology of fascinating characters (see also: DTF St. Louis) or works against the natural talents of the showrunner (Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee’s How to Get to Heaven From Belfast).

Overall, “Big Mistakes” is a wild ride. Sharper rewrites and edits to plot points would have offered a more succinct narrative, allowing the comedic tone to shine through. Despite its muddled storylines, the tone, wit and characters give viewers several glimpses into Levy and Sennott’s quirky world.

The domestic cringe comedy at its heart means Big Mistakes is far from a major error, but it isn’t quite a triumph either. Perhaps that’s inevitable. They may seem like a safer bet for a risk-averse TV industry, but shows made by stars can rarely compete with the ones that make them.

Completists will stick with Big Mistakes even through episodes where the mistakes get bigger, just less funny. But for viewers with less time on their hands, here’s a tip. Watch the first two and laugh, and the third to get a whiff of how it slacks off, and move on.

Big Mistakes is agreeably energetic, and its first season goes by at a bingeable clip. But its frantic back-and-forth amounts to little in the end, a meal that goes down so fast it’s hard to remember what you just ate. It’s fun to watch these characters bounce off one another, but I’d be fine if I never saw them again.

Big Mistakes has a very good cast, often clever dialogue and (if only because nothing really makes sense) frequent surprises, so it all comes down to how much you’re willing to suspend your disbelief while watching a generally unsubstantial comedy.

Scaling back would solve a lot of issues. After all, there’s no law saying modern comedies have to be six different shows at once. But they do have to be funny and they do have to make sense, and this genre-bending original may simply be too broken to salvage.

Netflix can be forgiven for ordering up Dan Levy’s next project, despite the fact there’s no “there” there.

It seems like they smashed three separate shows together with laughably thin connections that just aren’t believable. The most frustrating part is that each of the three has glimmers of good writing and character development. They all have at least one really solid scene that made me invested. Individually, they all had potential, but together, it just became messy.