Anya Taylor-Joy, Lucky
Apple TVWhile writing her 2021 novel Lucky, author Marissa Stapley studied how con artists work by watching heist movies, reading books on the subject, and studying YouTube tutorials on how to part trusting marks from their money, a process Stapley described in a recent piece for People. It wasn’t until later, she writes in the same piece, that she recalled another source of inspiration, the memory of her own mother being scammed of her life savings when Stapley was 10 years old. “I wonder why,” she writes, “when the reality of being conned is so harsh, it’s almost impossible not to root for a fictional con artist who is a master of her craft.”
That seeming contradiction is central to this adaptation of Stapley’s novel, which lets viewers admire its protagonist’s skills while still considering the human cost of exploiting the greed and goodwill of others — both on the victims and the con artists themselves. Created by Jonathan Tropper (Warrior, Your Friends & Neighbors) working alongside co-showrunner Cassie Pappas (Silo), Lucky begins in a heated rush and never really slows down over the course of its seven episodes. But, a bit like a con artist playing the long game, Lucky‘s back half reveals that it’s not just its protagonist’s life at stake, it’s her soul.
Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Lucky, who begins the series on the run and never really stops running until the final episode. As flashbacks reveal, this was not in her well-crafted plan. Lucky, we soon learn, has come into possession of millions of dollars in cash and will soon be leaving the country after celebrating her good fortune with her husband, Cary (Drew Starkey), at Caesar’s Palace. But that agenda starts to unravel when she oversleeps, wakes up with a groggy head, and finds Cary has vanished along with the money. Even worse, the police have blocked the casino’s exit, and when she attempts to return to her room, Lucky spots Billie Rand (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), an FBI agent with whom, we’ll soon learn, Lucky has a complicated history.
Then again, Lucky has a complicated history with everyone in her life. She’s come into the cash via a scheme dreamed up by her father, John (Timothy Olyphant), who raised her as a single father and tutored her in the craft of cheating others. (He’s in prison but sees this as a temporary setback.) Other interested parties include Priscilla (Annette Bening), a coldhearted gangster who lives a seemingly respectable existence on a Malibu horse farm (she’s also Lucky’s mother-in-law), and Whittaker (William Fichtner), a mobster so terrifying he unsettles even Priscilla.
Lucky
Like
- The fast-paced action and strong performances
Dislike
- It’s sometimes hard not to wish some of the supporting characters got a little more screen time
Lucky establishes early on that its hero is driven primarily by survival. She might prefer that others around her don’t get hurt and probably doesn’t want to lie to take advantage of others’ kindness but sees doing both as unavoidable if she wants to evade those on her tail. The series bears out this way of thinking via propulsive action scenes and an atmosphere of unrelenting dread. But there’s an undertone that grows louder over the course of the season as Lucky starts to consider the cost exacted by living the only life she knows how to live, a lonely existence that comes with a nagging sense of regret, even when the schemes work out.
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It speaks to the strength of Taylor-Joy’s performance that she makes it easy to forget that anyone with a face as distinctive as hers might have a hard time remaining inconspicuous. She plays Lucky as a woman focused on one goal — getting away while getting away with it — but who’s increasingly unable to keep the more reflective thoughts that might trip her up at bay. Taylor-Joy is surrounded by an equally strong supporting cast. Working behind owlish glasses, Bening has rarely gotten a chance to play a character this chilly (or chilling). Though Olyphant makes limited appearances in early episodes, his full arrival proves worth the wait, giving him a chance to explore the dark side of his usual effortless charm. Ellis-Taylor is quite good as well, playing a character from the other side of the law whose emotions sometimes mirror Lucky’s, and the always reliable Clifton Collins Jr. also gets some nice moments as Priscilla’s loyal henchman.
Combined with Tropper and Pappas’ storytelling, which carefully disperses some breathing room between rushes of action and suspense, they find the heart beating beneath the surface of a pulpy premise. There’s a thrill to watching Lucky work her dark magic, but the show, like its protagonist, understands the emptiness that sets in once the thrill fades away.
Premieres: The first two episodes premiere Wednesday, July 15 on Apple TV, with subsequent episodes releasing weekly
Who’s in it: Anya Taylor-Joy, Annette Bening, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Timothy Olyphant
Who’s behind it: Jonathan Tropper and Cassie Pappas
For fans of: Rich crime dramas filled with intense action
How many episodes we watched: 7 of 7