Life isn’t always easy. This much is indisputable. And even though a few rays of sunlight shine through the clouds from time to time, moments of unbridled joy can be fleeting. For Mia, the transsexual professional killer trying to bring up her late ex-girlfriend’s family in a desolate moorland cottage, they’re so brief you could wear them as an alternative to boxer shorts.
Having sorted out the matter of the farmhouse’s smallholding by shoving the muzzle of a silenced pistol in the chops of loathsome landowner John, Mia goes on a boozy date to a bierkeller in the city with barman Ben, who – after umpteen steins of strong lager – pinches a sign that reads ‘I love you’ in German. (‘Ich lieber dich’ – which makes you wonder if the Bavarian bar setting wasn’t chosen simply so this not-entirely- subtle cock reference could be made.) At the end of the night, he gives it to Mia – but that’s all he gives her. ‘I’m not like other women,’ she says, brushing away his clumsy attempt at a kiss. ‘I know,’ he replies. ‘That’s why I like you.’
He has no idea what he’s saying, of course, but he soon finds out. For the first time, one of Mia’s shootings doesn’t go to plan, and after a plunge from a pile of freight containers and a close encounter with a car windscreen, she ends up in hospital – in a male ward with a catheter jammed into her old chap.
Concussed, confused and concerned by the presence of a policeman at reception, she somehow finds her Mercedes 280E and manages to drive home, swerving across the road like George W Bush on his way home from a Labour Day party. Ben sees her weaving through the village and follows her to the farm, carrying her inside when she collapses in the yard. The next morning, Mia explains why it can never work between them.
‘I’m a transsexual … male to female … pre-op,’ she reveals. Ben is bewildered at first – ‘You’ve got a cock?’ – and then aghast. He legs it, leaving a miserable Mia behind. But she’s not thing only one suffering. Levi’s okay, discussing the mechanics of animal vomiting with an emo girlfriend, but Leonie is having visions of her dead mother talking through the CB radio, Riley is struggling with her pregnancy – vile John demands she gets an abortion – and Ryan is going through an emotional wringer after seeing a cow shot dead before his eyes. Horrified by the slaughter, he paints his face green and liberates some frogs from the biology classroom at his school … but how will his newfound right-to-life beliefs impact upon his relationship with Mia, whose career is killing?
It seems the latter’s hopes for an idyllic family life are further away than ever, and it’s clear she should snatch any chance at momentary bliss (as she does at the end, demonstrating to Ben how their relationship can work with a mid-afternoon nosh on the couch) while she can.
Hit & Miss continues to beguile, maintaining the fine balance between domestic angst, rustic visual poetry and unflinchingly bloody violence with the practised air of a master spirit-leveller.
Chloë Sevigny’s alternately fragile and forceful performance is a delight to watch, while Karla Crome improves with every episode. The understated scene of these two women – one a transgender man and the other a girl barely out of adolescence – making their peace with each other, the former brushing the latter’s hair, is a standout highlight.
Aired at 10pm on Tuesday 5th June 2012 on Sky Atlantic.
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