Netflix Recommendation: Hit & Miss

Earlier this week, on an average, run-of-the-mill week day, I found myself bored, and consequently itching to get wrapped up in a new TV show because, let's face it, Dawson's Creek runs a little too deep for my liking.  Deep in the cheese factor, that is.  I thought My So-Called Life was rich with teen angst and drama...clearly I hadn't even begun to understand the real meaning of teen angst.  Many thanks to Dawson, Joey, Pacey and Jen, I now have a clear-as-glass understanding of it.  Get over yourselves already, people.  So anyway, I added a bunch of TV shows streaming on Netflix to my Instant queue, and decided to give Hit & Miss a try.  Boy, oh boy, am I ever so glad I did.  This show is an absolute gem.  Now, it is British.  I am typically uninterested in any and all things British, but this is too golden not to love.  Originally shown on British network, Sky Atlantic, the six episodes of the first and only season premiered in the U.S. via DirecTV's Audience Network two months later.  The show's creator, Paul Abbott, is known for his brutally over-the-top trashy tale of a large, uber dysfunctional South Side Chicago family in Shotime's Shameless, starring William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, which has won a number of awards and a respectable amount of critical acclaim.  I would describe Hit & Miss as pretty similar to Shameless, not necessarily plot-wise, but definitely in character personality and development.  

In the first episode, we are introduced to Mia (Chloe Sevigny), a pre-op male to female transsexual who also happens to be a ruthless assassin.  Mia quickly learns that she is a father to an eleven-year-old boy named Ryan with one of her ex-girlfriends, Wendy, who is now dying of cancer and wants Mia to look after Ryan and her three other children - Levi, Riley and Leonie.  Mia drives to Yorkshire from Manchester to meet her son and Wendy's other children, and ends up moving into the rural, poorly maintained farmhouse with them, despite their initial resistance.  She kind of forces them to accept her as a guardian/parental figure in a sweet, endearing way.  Surprisingly, she fits the mold quite well.  She is also completely upfront with the kids about her transsexual lifestyle, which they maturely digest and accept.  The following five episodes explore the challenges Mia and her family face as she juggles endless roles - transsexual woman, mother/father, protector, girlfriend, assassin and counting...

 I watched the show over a span of three days, but I could have easily made it an all-in-one-day obsession.  Hit & Miss is a magical, chilling and beautiful story that will make your heart both pound and stop within a few brief moments.  If the plot doesn't interest you, at least check out the soundtrack, because it is seriously one of the best I've encountered.