“Lucky Hank” starts
Is it worth turning on?
In “Lucky Hank” the protagonist Hank is in a veritable midlife crisis.
© Sergei Bachlakov/AMC Network Entertainment
Bob Odenkirk became a superstar and fan favorite with “Better Call Saul.” His new series “Lucky Hank” doesn’t quite come close.
In the summer of 2021, “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” fans took their breath away: Emmy award winner Bob Odenkirk (61), who portrays the likeable angle lawyer Saul Goodman in both productions, had to be hospitalized with a heart attack. As it only later became known, the now 61-year-old collapsed on set during filming in front of his co-star Rhea Seehorn (plays Kim Wexler, 51, in “Better Call Saul”).
Fortunately, a defibrillator was brought in to get Odenkirk’s heart beating again. An operation the following morning was successful, and just over a month later, Odenkirk resumed filming the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul.”
“Lucky Hank”: Bob Odenkirk’s follow-up to “Better Call Saul”
The heart attack also hit Odenkirk at the worst possible time, professionally. The actor and screenwriter, who did not receive his two Emmy Awards for his performance in “Better Call Saul”, but as a writer for the sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” and the “Ben Stiller Show”, recently left Success to success. In addition to his appearance in the ever-popular series “Better Call Saul,” Odenkirk also took on the lead role in the action film “Nobody” in 2021, which grossed the extremely respectable sum of almost $58 million at the global box office against a budget of $16 million.
But with the end of “Better Call Saul” in August 2022, it was also clear that series star Odenkirk would have to turn to new projects. His first leading role in a series after the end of the “Breaking Bad” spin-off is the academic satire “Lucky Hank”, which will be released in Germany on November 17th on the Telekom streaming service Magenta TV.
That’s what “Lucky Hank” is about
In “Lucky Hank,” Odenkirk portrays college professor William Henry “Hank” Devereaux Jr., who is in crisis at work and also in a midlife crisis. Events begin to unfold in the AMC series when one of his students confronts Hank in a seminar. He emphatically wants feedback on his terribly bad story about necrophilia in the White House, and in general, after going through the attendance list at the beginning of the teaching unit, the listless professor hasn’t said anything since.
Cornered like this, Hank actually starts to give a speech. Much to the chagrin of those present, however, it becomes a real tirade of hatred in which he does not leave his educational institution in good stead. As proof of the mediocrity of his students, Hank cites, among other things, the fact that they attend the mediocre college where he also teaches. In the same breath, he also describes himself as average – and of course a seminar participant records this “rant” on her smartphone.
Hank’s speech causes a real scandal on the small campus, but the professor does not back down from his denigrating, hurtful statements. As a result, Hank quickly finds himself completely isolated within his department full of quirky lecturers. Only his understanding wife Lily (Mireille Enos, 48) initially seems to stick by him.
Good, but not great
Bob Odenkirk’s new series “Lucky Hank,” it should be made clear, is clearly not a failure. The main actor in particular still knows how to inspire. Odenkirk plays the sometimes self-pitying, but mostly self-sabotaging protagonist of the darkly humorous comedy series with his usual expressiveness, and finds a deep melancholy beneath the biting sarcasm of the professionally stuck professor.
However, the series, which started in the USA in the spring but has not yet been renewed for a second season, has a number of smaller and larger problems. So it doesn’t seem to be entirely clear to the series makers whether they want to concentrate entirely on their main character or whether they want to tell a workplace comedy series in the style of “The Office” with a large acting ensemble.
Many supporting characters, such as Hank’s faculty colleagues or his wife Lily, seem undeveloped and not thought through. When, for example, in a subplot of the premiere episode, Lily, in her professional role as vice principal of an elementary school, struggles with the question of whether she should expel a problem student from school, it is not only much less funny than Hank’s antics. In terms of tone, this entire storyline could almost come from a completely different series.
So “Lucky Hank” seems a little aimless at times – and based on the first episodes, it’s difficult to imagine where the main character’s journey and character development will lead. In addition, some viewers will certainly not want to devote themselves to the problems and mid-life crisis of an ultimately extremely privileged, older white man.
And “Lucky Hank”, unlike “Breaking Bad”, “Better Call Saul” or the early prestige series “The Sopranos”, does not offer the variety on the plot level that the main character deals with in addition to his personal problems has to toil around as a criminal in a life that is exciting for those watching. There is no crystal meth being cooked here, but very average people struggling with their relatively insignificant lives full of mediocrity. Fans of the main actor will definitely still enjoy the satirical show.