“Lucky Hank” (2023)
A quiet comedy that might tickle your fancy.
Dear Diary,
Monday 3rd July 2023 was just a stinker wasn’t it? The supposed “heatwave” here in the UK seemed to have missed my particular part of this Sceptred Isle and rather than fanning oneself against the heat I rather shivered against the cold of a grey looking day more befitting early April rather than early July, and pondered on what to do with myself. With the Summer’s cricket and my book writing on hold, I toyed with the idea of re-visiting some picture-book stretches of the local canals and waterways but with the sun nowhere to be seen I grew more and more irritable with life until, in desperation, I stumbled upon another 50 something mis-understood and cranky contrarian and found his descent into apathetic misanthropy all rather amusing.
The wise-cracking, grumbling contrarian was once more in the capable hands of Bob Odenkirk and rather than the slippery eel character he inhabited so brilliantly in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, here we have a call-back of sorts to his big screen outing in 2021’s Nobody but rather than the quietly simmering man who explodes into Jason Bourne style vengeance, Hank Devereaux is a college Professor stuck in a tiny American town he despises but cannot leave. Haunted by the ghosts of a past and a debilitating physical malady in the present, Hank is safe in a job and a college “tenure” that excuses his inability to write another book whilst he looks on at an “idiot” for a son-in-law, a dreamer of a daughter, and a wife he adores. Just don’t pop his bubble by calling him “Junior” or for suggesting his ennui with life is leading to everything he holds dear, though he won’t admit it, to come crashing down all around him.
Produced and directed by Peter Farrelly (episodes one and two), the remaining six are split equally between Dan Attias, Jude Weng and Nicole Holofcener, with the series as a whole based on the original 1997 novel Straight Man by Richard Russo. Decades later, the TV adaptation Lucky Hank is by no means a loud out loud comedy but for those with an ear for dry, sarcastic humour or perhaps the mid-life disposition to see themselves in the Bob Odenkirk character, those of his family or the chaotic bunch of professors who litter his College English Department, you may well find this as amusing as I did. It certainly fit my day yesterday!
Kudos to a supporting cast too numerous to fully appreciate, but Mireille Enos deserves special praise for her quietly unorthodox role as Hank’s wife and Olivia Scott Welch too as his lovelorn daughter. Nancy Robertson, Sara Amini, Suzanne Cryer and Cedric Yarbrough all excel in the cramped confines of the offices of the English Department where the majority of the shenanigans take place and within only 8 episodes it’s clear that further seasons will no doubt be in the offing as already we have a fully formed world around Hank and several directions in which the narrative could go in future episodes.
Recommended for those who enjoy their comedy as quick and dry as a coat of quickly drying paint.
Thanks for reading. I don’t write nearly enough on the occasional TV series I watch, but here are the three most recent appraisals I deemed worthy enough of putting digital pen to digital parchment:
