Sevigny Is More Of a Hit Than a Miss

If you haven’t heard of Hit & Miss then you can catch it Tuesday nights on Sky Atlantic at 10pm, don’t let the channel name put you off however as this is not another American drama to be added to your list, this is Sky Atlantic's first jump into home grown TV. The only thing remotely American about the show is the fact that Indie film star Chloe Sevigny (that's svenyay) plays the lead role, but not to worry she does manage to put on a fake Irish accent and she has happily dragged her arse to a very windy and remote West Yorkshire in order to shoot the six part drama, well she did, I’m sure there finished that bit now.

We have just seen the third episode here in England and the show is due to be aired in the US at some point. Sevigny plays an assassin, but she’s an assassin with a difference, she is a pre-op transsexual who previously had children (that she didn’t know about) with her female partner. We are introduced to Sevigny’s character Mia in great style with the opening scene being her creeping across a car park roof before killing someone. Then, it got a little weird as the seemingly super assassin makes her way back to clean her gear, change her car plates etc, etc. She gets changed and totally naked (which if I’m honest looked good from the back), she then however turned around and well I don’t really need to descried to you what pre-op means do I? Let’s just say I’d rather she hadn’t turned around.

Pretty much from there Mia learns that she has an 11 year old son, and her ex-partner has died. Mia heads to there West Yorkshire farmhouse in order to help out and be part of her sons life, however her sons older siblings who have been left to fend for themselves are not so welcoming and she is given a pretty rough ride. Not only does Mia have the kids to deal with but also the local bully farmer, who if I’m honest is a complete dick, or at least he is good at acting like one, he likes to push around kids and bully them for money whilst having the oldest sister in the back of his car for “favours”, you get my drift this guy isn’t nice.

Like I said above we are now three episodes in and I have to be honest I’m really enjoying the show, admittedly some scenes do make me cringe, especially the bully farmer and the eldest sister, I actually find it incredibly uncomfortable to watch, it reminds me of that British 80’s movie Rita, Sue and Bob Too, if you’ve seen the movie then you’ll get the comparison I’m sure. Hit & Miss has a very British feel to it, there is nothing glossy, a wind swept farm in the middle of nowhere looks nowhere near as cool as Dexter’s apartment in Miami harbour but it works and the show has a real genuine feel to it. The acting is good from all involved including the kids.

The story has also been handled well, I can’t help but think if this was an American show (which I love) that more emphasis would be put onto the assassin side of the story. However, here the story has concentrated more on family matters and Mia is slowly bringing the kids round to her. I’m not saying that the assassin in Mia may not become a more prominent feature as the series continues, maybe that side of her life will catch up with her as juggling a family and an assassin career would be quite difficult I imagine.

One thing is for sure Hit & Miss is more of a Hit than a Miss and I’m looking forward to seeing how the story pans out, maybe we’ll even get a second series of the show as American networks went into a bidding war over the rights, normally they would buy the rights and remake the show but they are going to show you the gritty original that we have been treated to in the UK, so that’s great as is Hit & Miss make sure you tune in or try in some way to catch up with the show. Watching it? Then let me know what you think so far in the comments below.