The Televangelist: ‘Luck,’ Season 1, Episode 4

• HBO
• Seriously, if ONE more person tells me I’m fat ...

Perhaps the best episode of “Luck” yet, Episode Four focused on several stories of talent that could all be brought down through one fatal flaw. It was engaging and heartbreaking and complex. But most importantly, we saw Rosie topless.

Rosie is, in fact, the only character in “Luck” currently on the upswing. Returning to ride Getting Up Morning to a stunning victory, the beauty of which left me close to tears, Rosie’s fortunes appear on the rise. Getting Up Morning’s journey - from the botched gate start to the fantastic ride that not only caught up with the pack but lead him to surpass them - was one that would have made most viewers look around achingly for an oxygen tank. “Luck” has proven that nothing can be taken for granted - fortune rules all. Sometimes a couple of guys will actually win a Pick Six, and sometimes a promising racehorse will snap a leg and be put down on the track. Fate is little more than a coin flip. So as Getting Up Morning began his drive to win, one couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding. His nostrils did look awfully red ...

The looks on the faces of even the most hardened of racegoers during his run told the story - this horse is something special. The beauty of his ride was captured perfectly with a myriad of slow motion shots at all angles, set to a score in full crescendo, as if we were being guided by a passionate curator, “look! Behold! The grace and beauty of this magnificent creature!” Was Walter the only one to wipe away a tear? If I’m going to be obviously emotionally manipulated by a show, let it always be so glory-filled as that. There is a reason why a horse was the subject matter for what would be the creation of motion pictures.

It wasn’t all rosy for Getting Up Morning, (you see what I did there?) of course, as Walter stealthily wiped his bloody nose after the race. Horses noses bleed, it’s not particularly uncommon, but with racehorses it can suggest anything from an infection to hemorrhaging blood back into the horse’s lungs that, critically and coldly put, slow them down. After Jo’s reassurance (about which she kept mum to Escalante, her unexpected lover), Walter felt free to invoke the Ghost of Delphi as he emoted over his love for the horse and the horse’s Heir Apparent. Getting Up Morning appears to be a the kind of animal who genuinely adores the game of racing, and Walter, with his true passion for horses, his kindred spirit.