Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mr. Inbetween’ On FX, An Australian Dramedy About A Hitman More Worried About His Life Than About Killing People

Scott Ryan created the role of weary hitman Ray Shoesmith in the cult hit The Magician in 2005. Thirteen years later, he reprises the role in a new FX series Mr. Inbetween. Will the show make the Aussie actor and writer become a household name in America this time around?

MR. INBETWEEN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Two men meet on a set of stairs looking over a city street. One man wonders why the other didn’t put a bet down that the other said he’d do. He says the guy who’s accusing him of doing that is lying. The first man wearily calls his boss, who talks to the second man, who admits he made a mistake. Then, the first man pushes the second man over the railing.

The Gist: Ray Shoesmith (Scott Ryan) is a hit man. He works as a bouncer at a strip club, but his real job is to intimidate, injure and/or kill people that owe his boss money. But that’s just what he does; his job is secondary to all the other bullshit that’s going on in his life.

First, there’s his buddy Gary (Justin Rosniak), who asks Ray for help when his wife finds his “Golden Showers” porn videos. Ray takes the bullet for that, telling Gary’s wife that “I’m the pee-pee man.” He’s also annoyed that the strip club manager, Freddy (Damon Herriman) owes him money, and Freddy wants Ray to go squeeze the money out of another client. He also has to train a new guy, Nicky (Edmund Lembke-Hogan), who looks like he learned the art of intimidation from bad gangster movies.

But there’s good stuff: He meets a great girl named Ally (Brooke Satchwell) while at the dog park and regrets not asking her out. He picks up his little daughter Brittany (Chika Yasumura) and they spend some time with Ray’s sick friend Bruce (Nicholas Cassim) then get some ice cream, where Ray has to deal with some annoying teens who hurl insults at him after bumping into him. It’s a complicated life for Ray, and the smallest part of it is the fact that he kills people.

Our Take: Ryan originated the role of Ray in the movie The Magician. He developed Mr. Inbetween for FX Australia, and it got such a great reception that the U.S. version of FX imported it lock, stock and barrel (this is a first for FX; the last time they imported an Australian show was Wilfred, and they remade the whole thing with a mostly American setting and cast).

We’ve seen movies and shows where hitmen and women navigate their lives as if their violent profession was just any old job — Barry comes to mind as the latest example of that genre. But what Ryan brings to the format is a “tired of this shit” weariness and deadpan manner that makes him one of the more unique hitmen on TV. All he wants is a good relationship, and to be a good father and friend. Everything else is secondary.

Ray essentially intimidates by looking out the top of his eyes, frowning, and communicating to his victims that he’d really rather not be there, but because they messed up, he is. And it works. He certainly isn’t a loner, and he’s good at his job. He just wishes his life was a bit more in order.

We accidentally got a look at the last episode (it was listed first on FX’s screener site… go figure), and it could have passed for the first; a quirky look at the life of a guy who has a dangerous job but just wants to live his life. It indicated to us that Ryan’s view of Ray will be funny and full of great moments as he navigates a new relationship and his other responsibilities.

Sex and Skin: Ray works in a strip club, so there’s likely to be a lot of skin in this series

Parting Shot: Ray runs into Ally, a paramedic, on the street (she was likely called after he beat the snot out of those teenagers). They flirt, exchange info, and he walks down the street, his day a little brighter.

Sleeper Star: We can’t wait to see more of Satchwell as Ally, and how her relationship with the sardonic Ray grows.

Most Pilot-y Line: Nothing really clunky about this first episode, likely because Ryan has such a good handle on Ray and the world around him.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Mr. Inbetween is darkly funny, and Ryan is compelling to watch.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Mr. Inbetween on FX