Netflix's New Show Big Mistakes Is The Bear Meets Breaking Bad

9 hours ago 2

Published Apr 11, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT

Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy.

Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones).

If you love The Bear and Breaking Bad, Netflix's new show from creator Dan Levy is a perfect, bizarre mix of both. Of course, these two shows could hardly be more different from one another. FX's The Bear is a chaotic but artistically constructed series about family, both found and natural, and the food service industry. Breaking Bad, on the other hand, follows a terminally ill school teacher into a life of high-level crime. Still, something both shows have in common is that they are absolute hits.

Interestingly, nearly all of the above qualities are also present in Netflix's crime comedy Big Mistakes. This outrageous new series follows two ordinary siblings, Nicky (Dan Levy) and Morgan (Taylor Ortega), who are suddenly blackmailed into participating in organized crime. It's a premise that combines the best of The Bear and Breaking Bad, underscored by complete and total ridiculousness.

Netflix's Big Mistakes Combines Tried & True TV Show Elements Without Taking Itself Too Seriously

Nicky stands in front of his congregation at the church while looking concerned in Big Mistakes episode 3

The Bear and Breaking Bad have been around long enough to prove that their central premises work, so it's rather clever that Big Mistakes would bring them together. At the very heart of this crime comedy is Nicky and Morgan's family dynamic. As siblings, they aren't particularly close, and it quickly becomes clear that they don't have much in common. They are also at odds with their loud and chaotic mother and their seemingly perfect younger sister. This ultimately means that any room in which they are all together is going to be very The Bear-like.

The family dynamic in Big Mistakes is the foundation, and built upon it is the absolute outrageousness of a reverend and a school teacher suddenly becoming criminals. They are fish out of water, and seeing such ordinary figures within this gritty landscape of organized crime is every bit as intriguing as it was in Breaking Bad. It allows the show to stand in contrast to the countless other crime-centered series that follow more typical criminal anti-heroes.

Where Big Mistakes stands out in comparison to The Bear and Breaking Bad is that it never, for a single moment, takes itself too seriously. Nicky and Morgan are ridiculous in every way, and their chaotic relationship and inability to shut up while under pressure allow Big Mistakes to remain submerged in comedy through every scene. It's a show that doesn't really have to make sense, since it's understood that nothing is meant to be taken seriously. Said and done, this makes those borrowed elements from shows like The Bear and Breaking Bad all the more fantastic.

Big Mistakes Bingability Gives It An Edge Over Similar TV Shows

Dan Levy and Taylor Ortega standing in a kitchen in Big Mistakes

Another benefit of Big Mistakes not taking itself too seriously is that it is an easy watch. It's not nearly as complicated as Breaking Bad or as artistic as The Bear. Its episodes are short and enjoyable, and with only eight installments ranging from 30 to 40 minutes each, this is a show you could sit down and binge in a single evening if you really wanted to.

Essentially, Big Mistakes combines some of the greatest elements TV has to offer into one, easy-to-watch, super bingeable, absolutely hilarious series. Even more exciting is that this Netflix crime comedy is practically limitless. While it hasn't yet been greenlit for a second season, it's all set up to continue for several more chaotic installments. If this sounds like your jam, be sure to give Netflix's Big Mistakes a try.