Nuanced approach to HBO’s latest series

LAST Jan. 31, we were among the “lucky” few to be invited to preview the pilot episode of the hit HBO drama, “Luck,” starring Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and other proven talents.

The show elicited our special interest because it’s about racing, and racehorses have impressed us ever since we were invited to “go to the races” in England, way back when. In our view, thoroughbred steeds are beautiful, noble creatures, the star athletes of the animal kingdom, and their feats are truly awe-inspiring.

In addition, 2012 is turning out to be an especially busy year for productions celebrating the horse as a valiant hero in its own right.

Special relationship

Aside from “Luck,” which is already reaping plaudits in the States, Steven Spielberg’s film, “War Horse,” is fast gaining traction as one of this year’s most inspiring movies. Its story revolves around the special relationship between a steed and his young human friend—a link that even a world war can’t break.

As for “Luck,” the first episode of which screens in Asia on Feb. 20 on HBO, the new series’ title clues us in on its own specific focus—the races, the people who take care of the horses, and more to the point, the bettors from all walks of life who hope to win thousands if not millions of dollars at the racetracks.

Most specifically, “Luck” is about the lead character played by Hoffman. We first meet “Ace” Bernstein just as he’s being released after serving three years in prison.

It is intimated that he took the rap for the usual other suspects, so revenge is clearly at hand. He’s set the stage by buying a very promising and expensive steed (worth $2 million!), with which he intends to win a series of races, and in the process revive the failing fortunes of a famous racetrack.

On the other hand, the episode is also about four down-on-their-luck gamblers who cook up a scheme, not just to win one race, but the series of six races in one day that will enable them to reap the hitherto elusive jackpot of more than $2 million!

The episode also introduces us to other characters at the tracks and in the stables, all of them living off the horses, as Bernstein and the bettors do, but some of them also loving them for the noble creatures they are.

Unlike other series that present their regular cast members in a straightforward manner, “Luck” opts for a more tangential, circuitous approach, so the viewer has to be more open to suggestion, nuance and “texture” in storytelling and characterization.

Measure of sadness

Most fittingly, the horses themselves figure strongly in this drama. They’re more than “just animals,” they’re champions and heroes, and the show exalts

—and mourns—them as such: In one scene, a horse breaks his leg and is “put down” with efficiency—and more than just a measure of sadness.

Finally, the series’ title has an ironic significance in its continuing drama, as both good and bad “luck” alternately blesses and curses its rogues’ gallery of characters, as they dare the gods of fate and fortune to do their best—or worst!