‘Schitt’s Creek’ Season 3 Amuses with Muted Start

Catherine O’Hara and Dan Levy remain the stand-outs of Schitt’s Creek Season 3

Canadian import Schitt’s Creek never reached the heights it fully deserved. After two years on the Pop network (I’ll wait right here while you figure out what that is), the show has achieved minor cult status, but it deserves so much more. It does feel, at this point, that awards attention is sadly outside of its grasp. You watch the show thinking, if it only had a sexier streaming platform behind it, stars Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy would all reap Emmy attention. And even though the Schitt’s Creek Season 3 season premiere doesn’t match the brilliance of the Season 2 birth, the half-hour feel like a welcome return to cable’s looniest small town.

Up the Creek with confidence

The half-hour flies by with the breezy confidence of a fine-tuned series. Season 2 gifted us with a family somewhat embracing and integrating into their fish-out-of-water surroundings. That shift felt like a refreshing turn. Season 3 runs with that theme as each Rose family member deepens their connections. It opens with an amusing sequence in which Dan Levy’s David becomes interrupted post-coitus by all family members. Giving David a local love interest (no matter how bisexual his lover is) is an important part of the series. He’s no longer just the comically effete son. He gets to play too.

The great Catherine O’Hara’s Moira launches into her career in local politics with all the theatricality we’d expect. Moira wears elaborate costumes. She launches into political monologues. She puts on a show for the yokels This subplot is something I desperately need them to continue, and Moira exploring the theatricality of politics feels like something we need right now. Eugene Levy’s Johnny and Annie Murphy’s Alexis remain consistently funny, even if their character growth feels slightly stunted. Still, this fantastic foursome’s interactions are the stuff of which dreams are made.

Final Verdict

Schitt’s Creek Season 3 does lack the inspired hilarity of the Season 2 opener. Nothing here matches the sight of Season 2’s David going full Cries and Whispers in a cornfield. But the cast sells the material with the panache of seasoned pros. Schitt’s Creek is one of my very favorite comedies on television, and, even if I’m not breathless with laughter, it’s still great to be back in the company of the Rose family. Just wish the Television Academy felt that way.