deadpan & deadly
A recent TV favourite is the Australian crime comedy MR INBETWEEN. About a night club bouncer who is embroiled in underworld shadiness on the side. While also raising his ’tween daughter, dating, and caring for his terminally ill brother.
The 'hitman as everyman' is by now a tired trope, and I wasn’t expecting to like this show as much as I did. However, I was quickly on the hook. Constantly marvelling at the balancing act this series manages, between laughs, and grim spectacles of mortality & dread. A dreadpan comedy. This show manages to be funny, terrifying, and even (surprisingly) poignant.
All 26 episodes in the 3 season run were written by Scott Ryan, who also stars as Sydney crim, Ray Shoesmith. Every episode was directed by Nash Edgerton, one of the founders of Blue Tongue films. I first became aware of this collective of filmmakers via their short films SPIDER, BEAR and I LOVE SARAH JANE. They’d started making shorts a few years earlier, to support each other and expand their skills. Going on to make several highly regarded feature films (including ANIMAL KINGDOM).
Nash Edgerton started his career as a stuntman on such films as TWO HANDS (a personal fave) and Hollywood blockbusters shot in Australia (like the MATRIX trilogy and STAR WARS prequels) while directing rock videos & short films. Including the one that got him noticed, 1997’s DEADLINE.
In 2005, Edgerton saw an early 30 minute cut of THE MAGICIAN. A mockumentary following a Melbourne hit man on the job. Scott Ryan wrote, directed, and starred in it himself, on a budget of $3,000. Edgerton helped expand it to feature length, getting it a cinematic release in 2005. Ryan & Edgerton then developed the film into a TV series, and took it to networks. All balked at a show starring the unknown Ryan.
Then, in 2018, the FX network took a chance on MR INBETWEEN. Perhaps because by that time Edgerton’s stock had risen, having directed feature films THE SQUARE, GRINGO, and several high profile rock videos. Ryan had never been on a professional film set before working on MR INBETWEEN. He'd only done odd jobs. Driving taxis and delivering pizzas since last being in front of the camera, over a decade earlier.
So it’s perhaps understandable that networks hesitated. Assuming that he couldn’t carry a series. However, I’m glad they finally took a chance, as Scott Ryan gives the performance of a well seasoned actor. With range to deliver brilliantly timed deadpan comedy, deadly rage, and even existential sadness.
Being embroiled in the everyday lives of antiheroes is one of TV’s most familiar setups. A ‘way in’ to a loon's life, allowing the average non-psychopath to empathise with (if not exactly like) the main character. We learned to understand Tony Soprano (the prototype for all these recent ‘everyman’ goons) when introduced to him via his therapy sessions. It was hard not to feel for Walter White, as he dealt with his financial & medical emergencies.
Similarly, when Ray talks about unicorns with his daughter over ice cream, or reads her a children’s book, of course we’ll see the softer side of the hardened crook. But for me, 'getting' Ray, began when he took the blame for his buddy Gary’s porn stash. Discovered by Gary’s wife. In taking a bullet for his mate, and willingly copping naked contempt for it, I began to actually like Ray, and his personal no mate left behind warrior code.
Some early reviews complained that the basic idea for the series was nothing new. It's true that we do see Ray in anger management classes, and other such familiar scenes (entertaining though they may be). However, the series evolves, and by season two I found the stories to be uniquely thrilling affecting and funny. Critics who stayed with the series agree.
The 19-25 minute episodes are miracles of narrative compression. They swoop in, set their explosive timers, and get out. Just like Ray on a mission. Some are purely funny. Focusing on bickering between Ray and his crim cohorts. Or verbal sparring with his daughter & brother (the bogan poetry of my people bantering was, for me, a constant pleasure). There are also brief, existential meditations. Other episodes are barely verbal - action movies distilled to a white knuckled twenty minutes. Taken as a whole, the series is a crime comedy that evolves into something more. A smorgasbord of brilliantly written, acted and directed short films - serving laughter, horror, thrills, and heartbreak.
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Nash Edgerton’s most recent directing was for the Irish black comedy thriller BODKIN on Netflix. Scott Ryan is apparently writing new stuff, but has kept a low profile since MR INBETWEEN. That great series had a long gestation, and the next one might too. I'll gladly wait as long as it takes for him to deliver his next gem.
