Lucky, Apple TV's new drama based on Marissa Stapley's 2021 crime novel, starts mid-caper, and almost dares you to keep up. The title character is a very shrewd, resourceful con woman. She's played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who showed just as much fiery intelligence as the chess prodigy in The Queen's Gambit — and in several standout roles since then.
When we meet Lucky, she's out on the town at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, along with her husband, Cary, played by Drew Starkey. They're celebrating because they've just absconded with almost $10 million in cash, gotten a room at the casino and made plans to leave the country the next morning.
But their crime is complicated because of some respective parental issues. Lucky's father, who's now in federal prison, skimmed that money from a powerful and criminal family. He told Lucky where the money was hidden, and to go get it.
All her life, Lucky had been coached by her father to con people and trust no one, like Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon. That's her issue. Her husband's issue? The crime family from whom they stole the money are his parents — a ruthless couple, determined to recover the money for themselves.
The night Lucky and Cary grab the money and check into their room, he's happy, but she's fidgeting with a cigarette lighter, and obviously nervous. That lighter is a recurring motif in this series. More than once, it's the secret weapon used by Lucky to get out of a tough situation. And the sound of the lighter being flicked even opens "Horns of the Bull," the series' theme song. Written and performed by Fiona Apple, it's one of the most energetic, and perfectly suited, TV theme songs since The Sopranos.
That energy is appropriate, because the first half of the first episode of Lucky rolls out like one long chase sequence. Lucky's pursued by a steely and single-minded FBI agent, reminiscent of Tommy Lee Jones pursuing Harrison Ford in The Fugitive — except this agent is a woman, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. She was unforgettable in Lovecraft Country, and is very memorable in this, too.
Watching Agent Rand and Lucky track and evade each other is great fun. Agent Rand is a force of nature, and Taylor-Joy's Lucky is TV's toughest, smartest female fugitive since Juno Temple's Dot on Season 5 of Fargo.
Agent Rand and Lucky could carry this story alone, but about halfway into the premiere episode, the series ups the ante considerably. Jonathan Tropper, who adapted Stapley's novel for TV and wrote the opener, waits until then to unveil the actors playing the parents. Lucky's dad is played by the always watchable Timothy Olyphant, and Cary's mom is played by — what a treat! — Annette Bening. She's fabulous, and the energy between her character and Lucky is electric.
Lucky is seven episodes in total. The beauty of dramatic miniseries and limited series is that even major characters can die at any time. It's the secret sauce of shows like Fargo, and Lucky maintains that high level of tension and unpredictability. It's a wild ride, as aggressively entertaining as its theme song.
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