Well, damn.
I will spare you any bad Luck puns that have been tearing up the headlines on the internet. I’m assuming everyone saw the news this week that HBO canceled Luck in the wake of a third horse having to be put down on set. This final death came during the filming of the second season, the first two during the filming of the first. Clearly things couldn’t continue the way that had been going, and the spectacular race footage in the show had a cost that was simply too high. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the show continue without the racing footage. Sure, it would have been missed and the creative vision for the show compromised, but a lot of people would still have a job, and a show that I have grown to enjoy would have a future. Alas. That’s not happening, so I’ll just enjoy the finale next week and look forward to whatever David Milch does next.
This penultimate episode may have been the best to date. Ace’s story is coming to a head and there was a lot of great tension in this episode. I think my favorite was the way that Ace and Gus played DeRossi. It was great watching him squirm as Gus intimidated him at the stables, the two of them locked away together. The real brilliance of the move, though, wasn’t revealed until the end of the episode, when DeRossi’s absence planted the seed of suspicion in Mike’s head. Fantastic. Aside from that, though, there was even more maneuvering. Ace’s enemies seem to be playing right into his hands, with Cohen going to the Native American casino to try to cut a separate deal. I’m very much looking forward to how this is going to play out in next week’s finale, and whether or not there is going to be any sort of resolution.
The drama wasn’t all in Ace’s court this week, though. Walter’s story line also came to a head as he faced off against the Kentucky stable in a hearing. Luckily things came down on Walter’s side as the stable was unable to prove any right to ownership of Gettin’ Up Morning. However, it doesn’t look like all is free and clear for Mr. Smith either. Hopefully things aren’t going to get out of control before the big derby.
Looks like next week is going to crescendo with the biggest race of the year at the track. Both Smith’s horse and Gus(and Ace)’s horse are favorites in the derby, pulling starting positions side by side. It should be an exciting match, but I don’t think I would trust Ronnie on Gettin’ Up Morning. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if somehow Rosie and Leon find themselves riding in the derby. Now that would make things even more interesting.
During the last couple episodes I have been enjoying the humanizing of Escalante that has been happening with his relationship with Jo and Eduardo. They are relationships that I would have liked to have seen progress into the second season, but that’s not an option now.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 18, 2012 @ 22:05 EST5EDT
