Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Son Of A Critch’ On The CW, About An Older-Than-His-Years Kid Growing Up In 1980s Newfoundland

What is it about Canadian comedies and cheeky titles? First there was Schitt’s Creek, which gets American network censors in such a tizzy that the name of the show has to be shown on screen when someone mentions it. Now, there’s Son Of A Critch. At least here, the name makes sense, given it’s about the junior high years of the show’s creator, Mark Critch.

SON OF A CRITCH: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A truck goes past a radio station and a house. “I grew up in the middle of nowhere,” says Mark Critch in voice over. “St. Johns, Newfoundland. 1986.”

The Gist: “Of all the terrible days of my lonely childhood, the first day of junior high was the worst,” grownup Mark says as the 11-year-old version of him (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) wakes up. He’s definitely an older-than-his-years kind of kid, mainly due to the fact that he didn’t hang out with a lot of kids his age. His favorite music is more Rat Pack than Ratt, for instance. He shares a room with “Pop,” his grandfather Patrick (Malcolm McDowell).

Mark is not looking forward to his first day of junior high, because he knows he’s going to get bullied. His mother Mary (Claire Rankin), tells him his reaction to the bullying is what counts. His older brother Mike Jr. (Colton Gobbo) rats him out when Mark pretends to be sick. And Pop is too busy seeing which one of his enemies has died to care about what Mark is scared of.

Mark’s father Mike (Mark Critch) is already at work, reporting on a moose being killed by a car on the highway outside the radio station. When Mark gets on the bus, he tries to deny that the guy reporting on the dead moose is his dad, but when the driver puts the radio on and Mike gives a shout out to his son, his cover is blown.

The only person who lets Mark sit next to him is Fox (Sophia Powers), the sister to two other redheaded Fox siblings, all of whom are bullies in their respective grades. Mark is introduced in class as one of the new kids, along with Ritchie Perez (Mark Ezekiel Rivera), who is Filipino and “the only kid of color in a school that had the sum diversity of a snowbank.” The principal, Sister Rose (Nora McLellan), makes sure to show the class the switch that she will rap on their hands if they get out of line.

During his first week of school, he and Ritchie become friends, and Mark tries food with flavor for the first time. He takes a cue from Don Rickles and uses insult humor to disarm Fox, but the both of them get in trouble when he gets his first note in class, from a secret admirer. He tries to make it up to her by giving her his brother’s Walkman; he gave Mark the Walkman, with a Poison tape inside, so he could be up on more recent music. “We’re not friends,” Fox says to Mark, but there definitely is a thaw starting to happen between bully and victim, even if she has to still punch him to keep up appearances.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? How many coming-of-age shows that take place in the past can you name? Both versions of The Wonder Years, The Kids Are Alright, Eva Lasting, Freaks and Geeks, Young Sheldon, Everybody Hates Chris, Derry Girls, etc., etc., etc.

Our Take: Like most shows in this vein, Son Of A Critch (which is obviously taking its naming cues from fellow Canadian series Schitt’s Creek) has its sweet moments, has its funny moments, and has its dumb moments. What you hope for in a series like this is that the first two outweigh the third, and while the first episode starts out a bit rough, by the end of it you start to get an idea where Mark Critch is going to go with his childhood story.

Yes, Critch is a real guy, a veteran writer and comedian north of the border, and he not only narrates the series, but plays his own father. Critch’s narration can be a bit loud and irritating, but it seems like it eases off as the episode goes along, and he lets his own story breathe.

What we appreciated about the first episode is that Critch, his co-creator Tim McAuliffe and their writing staff takes the brakes off of the “oh so Canadian” aspect of Critch’s story after the first act is over. Do we know a lot about why Critch’s childhood until junior high was so lonely, to the point where he feels comfortable talking about Frank Sinatra and wearing comfortable orthopedic shoes in school? Not really. But we like the fact that Critch makes his young self relatively comfortable with his likes and dislikes, even knowing that it’s going to lead to him getting bullied.

But he’s also a good guy, which is why he becomes such fast friends with Ritchie and even ingratiates himself with Fox, who seems to be reluctant to carry her family’s bullying mantle. Those relationships will carry the show, as will finding out more about the various members of Critch’s family (including Pop, which we’ll talk about below).

Sex and Skin: None. The show is pretty family-friendly.

Parting Shot: Ritchie offers to buy Mark some ice cream after Fox “bullies” him again. “All of my life, I had felt alone. Now, at least, I had someone I could be alone with,” says grownup Mark in voice over.

Sleeper Star: We are absolutely hoping Malcolm McDowell gets more to do than just sit around the house being grumpy. The hope is that Critch and company uses McDowell like Young Sheldon uses Annie Potts, giving us funny one-liners when he’s not featured but featuring him in good Pop-centric episodes.

Most Pilot-y Line: The family has moose steak to “celebrate” Mark’s first day of school. Mike then says, “oh, got a little piece of windshield there.” Yes, it’s that moose. Eww.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Son Of A Critch is funny and generally sweet show about a kid who didn’t fit in, but finds a way to find friends and a life in junior high, anyway.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.