**** Luck can be viewed on HBO, which for Time Warner premium customers is Channel 603 and Insight Communications customers is Channel 700 respectively. ****
So once upon time, in the magical land of TV there lived a certain type of show runner. One that breathed their own stylized type of story on to the small screen. You know some of them. Joss Whedon, Hart Hanson, just to name a few. But some of the bigger names that come up is David Simon (The Wire and Treme) and David Milch (NYPD Blue andDeadwood). The latter especially has a way with prose, as it was experienced for those who viewed Deadwood. Even John From Cincinnati despite having it’s detractors critically, seemed to have a language all to itself.
Upon watching Luck on HBO, the pilot for it, at least, reminded me I’ve allowed myself to shut out some wonderful writing but in the process, also perhaps caused my own lack of understanding of what exactly was going on.
What I gathered was we were in the process of viewing a mobster Chester Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) worming his way back into the track with the help with his reliable number 1 Gus (Dennis Farina) after being released from jail. Only later would I learn that he took the fall for the whole organization while everyone else remained free, but in the process, apparently Chester can’t go near a horse track. So using Gus as a proxy, he is shepherding a new horse to race. Meanwhile Walter is very protective and stoic about his horse. Walter (Nick Nolte) is also a bit forlorn, distant and concerned. Something is troubling him and while we get a sense that it had to do with a previous horse he owned, we’re not exactly sure.
There’s Richard Kind as Rathburn, an agent to jockeys, and a small group of gamblers led by Kevin Dunn (Marcus). Oo and then there is, Gary Stevens who is a washed up jockey of some sort (further press info reveal him to be Ronnie). For those who don’t remember, Stevens was in the hit film Seabiscuit.
That’s a lot of information to process in about an hour, and no one is doing you any favors in trying to really explain it to you via normal means, which is exposition that just konks you over the head. You have to sincerely listen to every little word each character says, which is something, I’m hearing, is just like Milch to do; drop you right in the middle of the action and let you, the audience member play catch up. The language is indeed thick and complicated and it’s not just from accents. The whole world of the racetrack has it’s own ebb and flow dialogue wise which will for those not aware of the whole horse-gambling thing (like myself) will make things a bit discombobulating for a bit. Because of that general dizzying feeling of not really understanding what is going on, about nineteen minutes into the show and I was still a bit bored due to my brain not fully grasping what was going on. But a weird thing happened, and I’m not sure what happened but by the hour’s end, not only was I not bored, I was intrigued on what would happen next, but I became interested in the idea of horse-racing. While I’ve never gambled on a horse, (the farthest reach I have gambling is a lottery ticket) it somehow made me interested in the idea of horse-racing. Almost like Treme, Luck plays up to the idea that you’re a human being with a working mind, and you can figure it out as we go along. And to be honest, it’s refreshing when a show can do that.
In a way, as Treme is a bit more wide-scoped in storytelling, the show reeks of the feeling that Boardwalk Empire gave you; that this was going somewhere, but you weren’t really sure where, and be damned if they were gonna take their time in doing so. And Boardwalk Empire ended it’s second season this year with one of the best second seasons and general season finales I’ve seen in a long, long, time. So how was Luck? Ultimately despite being a bit sluggish, despite not being a member to the Church of Milch, I have faith that with as many shows and how critically loved his previous works are, that Milch has another winner here starting off on the slow burn. I just hope that I’m right.
But what do YOU think, examiners?
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