Sunday, April 9, 2023

Take Three: Lucky Hank

Lucky Hank: Season 1, Episode 3 “Escape” (B+)

Hearing Hank’s thoughts as he thinks them gives us an important understanding of the kind of man he is or at least who he wants to be. Coming up with excuses to tell his wife where he was after Meg took all her clothes off when he drove her home led to him being very nonplussed about the whole thing and telling Lily all about it. She didn’t seem too bothered by his lackluster account of nearly cheating on her, but she was much more taken aback by the fact that he lied about her job prospects to get her to move on with her life, projecting his own hatred of where he is onto other people. We’ve heard a lot about his father, and having a storage unit with his entire office dumped in his driveway wasn’t quite as much of a crushing blow as hearing that his mother invited him back, feeling that he abandoned his son but not her. Lily isn’t finding much fulfillment at her work and had to endure not being reimbursed for the initiative she took on cleaning up the urine in the hallway, and she may have the last laugh if she comes to her boss with an offer from the prestigious New York City institution he didn’t believe was actually considering her. I don’t feel like this show can be what it is with Hank able to escape his hellish hometown, however, and so I don’t think he’ll be moving to the city anytime soon. This show does have great writing, particularly for Hank (“I specify in minor strife and insignificant irritation, my father is into life derailment”) and even supporting characters like Meg and Russell (“So your father-in-law tells me you’re an idiot” / “he has a lot of pain”).

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