Review: Hit and Miss 1.3

"What's a transexual?"
"A cross between a man and a robot?"

While Riley got some charactisation, Ryan was just... odd.

You know, when last week's episode repeated a few elements from the premiere, I didn't mind. But there are several thematic and simply cinematic things that keep getting repeated and it feels more xerox than anything else; certain scenes feel almost exactly the same, like they had a routine event and thus used the same footage three times to save on costs. That felt even more the strange, as this week saw several revelations and changes between our characters in fairly interesting ways, as well ironing out a few problems I had with last week.

     After going against her word and threatening to murder John (the Landlord) if he doesn't leave them alone, Mia went out on a date with Jack (Jonas Armstrong, Robin Hood) where she still felt uncomfortable with her own place in the relationship. Ryan and the Farmer's son, having made friends (somehow) went to John's barn, where seeing a cow being beaten and then shot led Ryan to develop a rebellious environmental streak, making him do several crazy things throughout the episode. Desperate for the small emotional support he gives her, Riley was shocked when John heeded Mia's word and left her alone. On a job, Mia is nearly killed by her target, swiftly after which she is knocked down and is forced to escape from hospital semi-conscious. Jack finds her and carries her home, after which she tries to break up with him and she is forced to reveal her transexuality. He storms out. At the same time, Riley is randomly searching Mia's room and finds one of her guns, which Mia claims is security after having been raped. The two bond as Riley tries to tell her about her pregnancy by John but is unable to.
     I didn't really get Ryan's character this week. His little sister Leonie is often seen doing crazy shit (seeing hallucinations, hearing her mother's voice, cutting off a Barbie doll's hair) but that's because she's still facing the grief of losing a mother. Ryan, on the other hand, just randomly starts being a troublemaker, culminating in a scene where, face and hands painted green, he releases his Science classes' frogs and starts jumping around. I could maybe accept his transvestite experimentation last week as an examination of dysmorphia, but this week it felt like, "lets get kids to do weird shit and call it drama". There was a touching scene where Mia assured Ryan that he wasn't to blame for killing his mother (which he believes having prayed for her to be taken to heaven where she would no longer be in pain), but it didn't link in with any of the weird, weird stuff he was doing.

    Like I mentioned, I'm noticing a few repeated once-a-week things. Mia kills someone, Riley goes swimming, Riley has an encounter with John, John threatens to sell the farm and Mia shuts his mouth - it seems a bit repetitive for a series with so much to actually do. There's also this weird attitude that we have to see the prostethic penis every ten minutes or so, like the audience would be unable to appreciate the drama if we weren't constantly reminded of Mia's true nature. After everything that Sevigny has done with the character implicitly, with her stance, and manner of dress, it comes off as a bit crass that every once in a while they say, "Hey, in case you forgot, here's Mia's penis." Despite this, I am glad that the series is treating transexuality with a respect and realism rarely afforded to it by the media.
     What else is there to say? Hit and Miss may have a few repetitive elements, but at the moment it still manages to allow enough plotlines to slither forward to keep me interested. At least 50% of it is Chloe Sevigny's excellent performance, as well as the series' raw and mostly realistic portrayl of transexuality. It didn't have the pure power of the premiere or the thematic significance of last week, but it was still an enjoyable hour of drama.

Thanks.