Is There Anything Better on Television Than "Mr Inbetween"?

Basically: No.

If I confess that my favourite thing about Mr Inbetween is the fact its episodes come in around 22 minutes, would you hold it against me?

You gotta believe I’m not here to insult its creator and star Scott Ryan, who plays the intimidating (if reasonable) standover man and assassin in the Aussie series. I’m (mostly) certain he didn’t spend the 13 years between his darkly comic mockumentary The Magician and its sorta-adaptation Mr Inbetween embedding himself in the criminal underworld, but still, I’m not in the business of starting feuds with anyone who can convincingly play a methodical murderer on television and the big screen.

I also want to make clear I’m not writing this article under duress either. Mr Inbetween, which wrapped its second season on Foxtel’s Fox Showcase in Australia (and FX in the US), has truly graduated from its modest, underdeveloped beginnings to reach the point of perfection. It just so happens a big part of what makes Mr Inbetween work is its brisk runtime. With episodes as brief as 21 minutes and only ever as long as 25, the show gets in and gets out as efficiently as Ryan’s hitman character, Ray Shoesmith. So I’ll say it: I’m glad the episodes are short. And I’m bummed the 11-episode second season itself wasn’t longer, because there was plainly nothing better on TV in 2019.

Sure, Succession’s second season was a masterful symphony of insults; Chernobyl was an astounding achievement; Fleabag, Barry and Pen15 were ingenious; Mindhunter, Killing Eve, Unbelievable, The Hunting, Euphoria and Veronica Mars were all excellent as well. It was a pretty great year for television, generally speaking, which makes the achievements of Ryan and director Nash Edgerton all the more incredible. Few programs hit the loopy comedic heights and crushing dramatic lows that they managed over four collective hours. It had thrilling standalone entries—entire action movies contained within twenty minutes—and thoughtful existential vignettes. It had hilarious bants between Ryan and his literal partner in crime Gary (Justin Rosniak). It was also the only program with the episode titles "Don’t Be a D**khead" and "I Came From Your Balls?", so by that metric alone, it deserves to be called the best show of the year. (I know what you're thinking, and yes, I was as hesitant to make this call before finishing Disney+'s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series as you are.) 

The premise, evinced by its title (sung, in my household, to the tune of "Mr Cellophane" from Chicago) involves Ray dealing with his dual lives as a father to young Brittany (Chika Yasamura) and carer to his brother Bruce (Nicholas Cassim), and secret hired gun for dodgy nightclub owner Freddy (Damon Herriman). During his court-ordered anger management classes, he’s asked to explain how violence has ever helped anyone, and in what he thinks is a winner-takes-all argument, he cites WW2. But throughout the second season, we discover that his quickness-to-violence isn’t helping him do anything except earn a paycheck. He finally flips his lid in the presence of Brittany and girlfriend Ally (Brooke Satchwell), and has to reckon with his own cavalier feelings towards death, especially as those near and dear to him face it first-hand.

Of course, Mr Inbetween isn’t a lecture series, nor are we tuning in hoping to see Ray get 'saved'. His victims alternate between 'annoying jerks' to 'literal monsters', and often, when he tries to be the bigger man, he finds himself instantly regretting it. We like seeing his victims get theirs. In Season 1, this felt as if Ryan and Edgerton were having their cake and eating it too; letting Ray be a morally mucky character who nonetheless does cool, violent s*** for our enjoyment. And again, in Season 2, it’s damn good fun watching him do it. But Ray eventually comes to see that his job, and the havoc he wreaks, is just an outlet for his inner rage. He does what he does for him, usually at the cost of his loved ones. It's telling that the show and its promotional posters keep calling back to Brittany's unicorn obsession; Ray's chasing an impossibility as well: keeping his violent ways from creeping into his home life.

By season's end, there’s an undeniable toll this all takes; a cavernous debt of the soul Ray was in denial of owning when the season began. Ryan’s performance—which oscillates from brilliantly timed deadpan comedy to roiling fury—crescendos and then crests in the heartbreaking finale. I thought, 'What’ll become of him next?' I pray Mr Inbetween gets a third season, so we’re not left wondering. Until then, there are 17 episodes waiting for you. If you start now, you'll be finished by the morning.

Mr Inbetween is available to stream on Foxtel Now.

Header Image: Foxtel