TV Review: Luck 1.3

rating: 4

I will say this for Luck: it does an excellent job creating a seedy environment with seedy people who are generally up to no good. Even the most decent and honest people in the show seem to be decent and honest on a sort of a sliding scale that has limited to connection to the world most people live in. We open with Ace (Dustin Hoffman) working out in a gym. As he does, his probation officer shows up to get a urinalysis test. Yes, I€™m surprised that they do house calls unless it€™s to arrest someone. I€™m even more surprised that the PO in question let Ace do his UA behind closed doors. Makes me wonder if someone€™s paying him off, but that doesn€™t make much sense, as Ace doesn€™t have a drug problem that I€™m aware of. Anyhow, we then catch up to Walter (Nick Nolte). He€™s registering a new horse with the appropriate people and then goes out to watch some training exercises. As he does, an alarm goes off and another horse shows up on the track without a rider. I guess that€™s why the alarm, though I don€™t quite get why it is something that gets treated like a major emergency. This is probably my ignorance of horse racing showing. Meantime, the Gang of Four are at the hospital where Lonnie (Ian Hart) is recovering from an attempted murder. Renzo (Richie Coster) and Marcus (Kevin Dunn) are there, too, and then Jerry (Jason Gedrick) shows up. It seems that despite the attack on Lonnie, the team are going forward with their plans to buy a racehorse. Specifically they have an eye on the one that was claimed in the previous episode, and Jerry sets out to get it. Back with ace, we find him attending a board meeting at a company he no longer officially runs. He gives some €œunofficial suggestions€ about how the company should buy one share more than 5% of the shares in the holding company that controls the Santa Anita race track. A new up-and-comer, Nathan Israel, starts asking questions about what€™s going on. Ace makes note of this and later invites the young man to his penthouse for conversation. Jerry continues to move on the plan to buy the horse. He consults with Escalante (John Ortiz), and then goes to meet with the man who claimed the horse after the previous race. After some interesting negotiations, he winds up the proud owner of 1) a horse and 2) a barbeque grill. As for the jockeys who ride these horses, well, two of them, Leon (Tom Payne) and Jenkins (Gary Stevens) suffer some rather severe physical issues in this episode. First Leon passes out while getting out of a sauna and smacks his head on the tile floor, resulting in a massive head wound. Jenkins€™ injury is a bit nobler, I suppose, in that he€™s in a race and gets crowded by the other jockeys. This results in him falling off his horse and breaking his collarbone. His line when this happens is something to enjoy. As you can see, a lot happens in this story, but sadly, I don€™t really grok a lot of what€™s going on. I mean, I can pick up on the basics, but I keep thinking I€™m really missing something with the deeper plots, and I don€™t know what that might be; I just have a vague feeling of being lost. Unfortunately the world these people live in is one that€™s very complex and that, even three episodes in, I€™m having trouble following. There€™s still a lot going on that I don€™t understand, and that makes it very hard for me to get into the show. That said, it still does remain an interesting world to be completely lost in. Hoffman and company continue their great performances and the series is fascinating to look at. I just wish it was easier to make sense of.