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Netflix's Big Mistakes is a dark, odd-couple comedy with legs

Dan Levy and Rachel Sennott's series tosses sniping siblings into a criminal underworld.

By Jenna Scherer  |  April 9, 2026 | 3:01am
Photo: Netflix
TV Reviews Big Mistakes
Netflix's Big Mistakes is a dark, odd-couple comedy with legs

Dan Levy first swanned onto the screen—and into many hearts—with the Emmy-sweeping sitcom Schitt’s Creek. Viewers came to the series for its acerbic wit and cast of comedy legends, but they stuck around for its surprising coziness. Here was a podunk town that welcomed the prickly Rose family with open arms, a place where Levy’s finicky David Rose was not only tolerated but welcomed for his queerness. The stakes were low, the stress was minimal, and kindness was the order of the day.

Netflix’s Big Mistakes, which Levy co-created with I Love LA‘s Rachel Sennott, is basically a complete tonal 180. Sure, it’s a fish-out-of-water comedy about a family living in a small town. But Glenview, New Jersey, is a very different place than Schitt’s Creek, and the Morellis are a very different family than the Roses. 

The show centers on a pair of distant siblings who are forced to spend time in each other’s company after the death of their grandmother: Nicky (Levy), a closeted pastor whose beliefs are at odds with his identity, and Morgan (Taylor Ortega), an elementary-school teacher who can’t seem to stop making a mess of her life. They’re both disappointments to their overbearing mom, Linda (Laurie Metcalf), and buttoned-up sister, Natalie (Abby Quinn). 

After Morgan impulsively steals what she thinks is a cheap necklace from a knick-knack store, she and Nicky find themselves knee-deep in Glenview’s criminal underworld. Before long, they’re plunged into a secret double life: grave-robbing, haggling at cattle auctions, and snorting coke with Brazilian narcos—all while trying to maintain their jobs and relationships (and, in Nicky’s case, work through a crisis of faith). Meanwhile, Linda launches an underdog mayoral campaign with the help of Annette (Elizabeth Perkins), a local real-estate mogul who happens to be the mother of Morgan’s himbo boyfriend, Max (Adults‘ ​​Jack Innanen). 

You might think the minds behind Schitt’s Creek and Bottoms would make for strange bedfellows, but Levy and Sennott’s sensibilities combine for a compelling blend of dark family comedy, crime caper, and character study. (Think Showtime’s Weeds meets Sennott’s breakout film, Shiva Baby.) Even as you wince every time Nicky and Morgan make another, well, big mistake, you’re rooting for them—whether to get their shit together or give in to the free-fall. 

 

On the surface, the repressed, unstylish Nicky seems to be the opposite of David Rose. But they share a stunning incompetence in the face of any practical task, which is Levy’s bread and butter as a comedian. As Morgan, Ortega channels Sennott’s signature dry wit and her characters’ penchants for chaos. And it’s easy to buy these two as sniping siblings who have more in common than they’d care to admit. 

The role of Linda is tailor-made for Metcalf, who’s equally gifted at comedy and drama. The Morelli matriarch is arguably Big Mistake’s most complex character, a narcissist who’s her children’s biggest critic and staunchest supporter. In a show about breaking out of the boxes suburbia forces people into, Linda’s unlikely pivot to politics makes for particularly juicy material. Plus, it’s always a delight to see Perkins (speaking of Weeds) grace our screens, and she’s in her element as a small-town queenpin who’s more than meets the eye. And Turkish actor Boran Kuzum makes a great foil to Nicky and Morgan as Yusuf, a low-level goon who’s forced to babysit our hapless heroes. 

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. And the series proves that, if done right, a certain kind of dark comedy can make you feel just as good as the feel-good variety.  

Jenna Scherer is a contributor to The A.V. Club. Big Mistakes premieres April 9 on Netflix.      

 
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