'Lucky Hank' Episode 1 Review: Bob Odenkirk's dramedy perfectly captures humans' obsession with mid-life crisis
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: You don’t need to think twice about a project when you hear that Bob Odenkirk is going to play a lead role in it. After an epic conclusion to ‘Better Call Saul’, AMC is ready to take the viewers on another enthralling journey with ‘Lucky Hank’, a dramedy that sees Odenkirk playing a professor named William Henry Devereaux, Jr., aka Hank. He is the chair of the English department at Railton College and is there to make everyone clear that he is the BOSS. He doesn’t like to mince his words and is rigid in what he thinks. The premiere of the highly-anticipated series opens with a class full of students trying to tell Hank about the progress they have made in their writing, but Hank is not interested at all in anything they have to say.
Hank (Odenkirk) believes that they haven’t reached where he wanted to see them and tells them to read their own work so that he can restrain himself from giving an opinion. One of his students, Bartow, reads his writing and is stopped in the middle by Hank. He asks all the other students to give their verdict on Bartow’s work, but only one student decides to share their opinion on the writing. As Hank tries to move ahead, Bartow stops him and says that his writing should be discussed. Hank gets provoked and without even thinking twice, Hank shares how structureless his writing is and how readers might not even try to read it. But he doesn’t stop there and lets everybody know how average the college standards are. These controversial comments make him the center of attraction and what happens next is something no one ever expected.
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It's all about humans' obsession with mid-life crisis
The first episode of the series makes us realize that this show is not just about a grumpy middle-aged man trying to poke young minds, it’s also about people’s obsession with happiness, mid-life crisis, and even parenting. While some people might not agree with Odenkirk’s character, but the actor’s charm and impeccable dialogue delivery will lure them in. Apart from his acting, it’s the writing that keeps everyone interested in knowing how Hank will behave in this situation or how will he be able to p*** off another person in his life.
Humans are really unique and that uniqueness can be seen by how they express their emotions. For Hank, emotions are the perfect escapism and he doesn’t want to sugarcoat things so that people feel good about themselves. The way he comes forward with the true meaning of happiness will make viewers realize how entertaining this guy really is and it would be interesting to see how the makers develop his character as the show progresses.
Is 'Lucky Hank' worth watching?
Odenkirk has once again shown us why Television guilds or organizations made a “poor choice” by not giving him all the awards for ‘Better Call Saul’. He deserved them all and his performance in ‘Lucky Hank’ continues to expand his range as an actor. Odenkirk is witty, charming, flawed, and relatable. He has knocked it out of the park once again.
All in all, ‘Lucky Hank’ starts on a promising note and it seems, things are only going to get better. The characters are funny and relatable while the story is grounded. It can’t get better than this.
****&1/2 stars for ‘Lucky Hank’ premiere.
'Lucky Hank' will premiere new episodes every Sunday on AMC and AMC+ at 9 pm EST.