Dec 11
12
“Is it better to be good or is it better to be lucky”? In the case of David Milch and Michael Mann I find that each happens to be both, good and lucky because they have another hit series on their hands in “Luck”.
“Luck” premiered this past Sunday on HBO and I found it to be very entertaining while also very interesting. David Milch has a way of introducing characters that on the surface seem almost ordinary but happen to be very compelling with a dark side. And throughout his past television series these intense characters take us back and forth from one side to the other as we slowly sink into their thoughts and actions.
The characters introduced in just the first hour of “Luck” already have my mind and emotions going into different directions. For instance the “old man” trainer that finally has the horse he has waited for his entire life. The ‘”aging gangster” that just got out of prison and is trying to latch back on as payment for what is owed him. The “young unknown jockey” seemingly talented enough to become a star. The group of “track buddies” that finally get their big score.
There is no telling what’s going to happen with these characters but it will ceratinly be an interesting ride finding out.
One other thought I would like to address is that the horse racing industry is hurting in a big way. It seems more politicians would like to do away with the entire industry instead of trying to help it. So with the introduction of a series based on horse racing I was hoping for it to be a huge success and for it to turn more people onto the sport. However if “Luck” is going to create more people getting into Thoroughbred racing than it’s going to have to add characters that smile. Characters that don’t walk around with that “dark cloud” over them.
Maybe it wont happen in this series. Perhaps it was never the intent of the makers of “Luck” to try and build such an audience but it would have been nice. Surely “Luck” will be a big hit whether or not it creates new fans for Thoroughbred racing. I was just looking for the win-win situation. I guess I am still a dreamer. For some Thoroughbred racing will always have that dark cloud hanging over it. For me, that dark cloud is really a rainbow.
