Summary
Lucky works on complicating its character dynamics and shifting up its allegiances in “Too Close to See It”, which was expected, but also necessary given the show was already running out of steam.
I’ll confess to having been a bit worried about Lucky. A show like this shouldn’t really be running out of steam so early in Season 1, but it very much seemed to be doing that, so Episode 4 is a welcome shot in the arm. As predicted, it shuffles the character dynamics around by revealing that Cary had a pretty good reason for stabbing Lucky in the back. She’s still salty about it, naturally, but their fractious alliance gives “Too Close to See It” some welcome energy, which is only improved by spending what was presumably a good chunk of the budget on a solidly exciting chase sequence.
It also does something I didn’t expect, which is to kill Cary off completely right after revealing he wasn’t that bad of a guy. It’s a good way to raise the stakes, since Lucky’s self-preservation instincts and greed can only take you so far. Now she has a proper revenge motive, and the development also shakes things up for Priscilla, since what is Wayne going to threaten her with now?
The only downside of all this is that it kind of requires us to buy into Cary’s explanation, which is pretty loose. He’s adamant that his stealing the money and digitizing it was for Lucky’s own protection, and he’s right in a sense, since Priscilla was out to kill her for selling out the operation to the Feds, which is what landed both Priscilla and John in prison. John wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal, but Rand betrayed Lucky, lending her character a bit of moral ambiguity as well. Cary knew that the only way he could “save” Lucky was to pretend that he had cut her off completely, but that entailed leaving her to the mercy of the FBI and his mother. It seems pretty naïve that he thought she’d leave Lucky alone.
Lucky, despite her own hypocrisy in never having told Cary that she was the reason their respective parents went to prison, isn’t really buying any of this. But before they can discuss it properly, Rand and the Feds turn up, meaning that the remainder of the episode is an elongated chase sequence with a bit of buddy-comedy energy and, eventually, that sad and unexpected development when a crash kills Cary in the seat next to Lucky. It’s all strong stuff; stronger, I’d say, than pretty much everything that has come before it, which is pretty good news.
It doesn’t give us a great deal to talk about, though. Lucky Episode 4 coasts by on the quality of its action and the shock of its last-minute development, but the most interesting stuff about it is the stuff that’s still getting short shrift. With the revelations that Rand isn’t afraid to bend the rules, that Lucky was willing to sell out her husband for her father, and that Priscilla was willing to kill the love of her son’s life just to prove a point, it’s depicting pretty much everyone as morally ambiguous to a fascinating degree, but then not really testing the bounds of that morality in any meaningful sense. The speed with which Lucky gets over everything that happened so she can be appropriately sad about Cary’s demise doesn’t feel especially authentic to me, especially given how cold we have seen her be elsewhere. Sometimes, I do get the sense that this show would like to have its cake and eat it.
To be fair, though, I’m suddenly much more invested in what’s going on than I was before. It helps to have proper actors, since they can sell these moments that the script isn’t necessarily setting up all that well. Anya Taylor-Joy is really good in Cary’s death scene, and Annette Bening, who sees the sheet being pulled over her son’s body from a ways down the street, has a moment of maternal panic that is really arresting, and much more interesting than the smug mode she has been forced to operate in for most of Season 1. As in Dutton Ranch, she’s significantly more compelling when she has more to play. Hopefully, the events of “Too Close to See It” will give everyone the excuse they need to up their games.
