kathleen_dailey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kathleen_dailey) wrote2023-04-04 06:47 am
kathleen_dailey) wrote2023-04-04 06:47 am
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Lucky Hank, episode 3
I really want to like this show.
In the olden days, when my work life was entertainment-industry-adjacent, performers would often hang out in my office while they were waiting to do ADR or voiceovers in the studio. I soon realized that the old saw about actors being empty vessels was at least 90 percent true. The very people who gave such sensitive, compelling, nuanced performances onscreen or onstage had, IRL, the same feet (and thoughts and conversation) of clay that the rest of us do. It seemed to me that the writers and directors who created and interpreted the wordstreams that were poured into the vessels probably deserved much of the credit or blame for whatever ended up being served to the audience.
Maybe this is the case with Lucky Hank? I've admired Bob Odenkirk's work in the past, and I was especially impressed with his performance as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul. It was that show that made me eager to see Odenkirk in a completely non-Saulish role as a professor at a small US liberal-arts college. I knew that the character was going to be radically different from Jimmy/Saul, and I wanted to see how the actor would transform himself. So far, however, the showrunners have transformed him into a listless, unamusing, self-involved academic drip who is, IMO, frustrating and tiresome to watch.
Some of the supporting characters are promising, and maybe they'll be given the chance to bring the ensemble energy that would elevate this show. Lily (Mireille Enos), the high school vice-principal who is married to Hank, is already my favourite character. In the first three episodes, she's been (mostly) written and directed as smart, pragmatic, and functional, and she shows signs of taking charge of her life and shaking things up onscreen. Her story could be much more interesting and fun to watch than a narrative of middle-aged angst suffered by a character who's not as relatable as the writers think he is.
I knew and worked with a fair number of Hank-types, both in book publishing and in law. I'm ready for a well-executed satire, or even parody, of the type. I live in hope.
In the olden days, when my work life was entertainment-industry-adjacent, performers would often hang out in my office while they were waiting to do ADR or voiceovers in the studio. I soon realized that the old saw about actors being empty vessels was at least 90 percent true. The very people who gave such sensitive, compelling, nuanced performances onscreen or onstage had, IRL, the same feet (and thoughts and conversation) of clay that the rest of us do. It seemed to me that the writers and directors who created and interpreted the wordstreams that were poured into the vessels probably deserved much of the credit or blame for whatever ended up being served to the audience.
Maybe this is the case with Lucky Hank? I've admired Bob Odenkirk's work in the past, and I was especially impressed with his performance as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul. It was that show that made me eager to see Odenkirk in a completely non-Saulish role as a professor at a small US liberal-arts college. I knew that the character was going to be radically different from Jimmy/Saul, and I wanted to see how the actor would transform himself. So far, however, the showrunners have transformed him into a listless, unamusing, self-involved academic drip who is, IMO, frustrating and tiresome to watch.
Some of the supporting characters are promising, and maybe they'll be given the chance to bring the ensemble energy that would elevate this show. Lily (Mireille Enos), the high school vice-principal who is married to Hank, is already my favourite character. In the first three episodes, she's been (mostly) written and directed as smart, pragmatic, and functional, and she shows signs of taking charge of her life and shaking things up onscreen. Her story could be much more interesting and fun to watch than a narrative of middle-aged angst suffered by a character who's not as relatable as the writers think he is.
I knew and worked with a fair number of Hank-types, both in book publishing and in law. I'm ready for a well-executed satire, or even parody, of the type. I live in hope.