The Televangelist: ‘Luck’ Season 1, Ep 7

• HBO.com
• Wheeeeeeee!

If there was any kind of a theme last night, it was about second chances. The examples were split on the success rates, but each story had an engaging commentary. As I’ve mentioned before, the stories are starting to orbit closer and interlock together as this short season (a total of nine episodes) progresses. Lonnie’s claim horse, suggested by Escalante, was ridden by Leon, who gave his goggles to the kid that Jo had been looking after. There’s something satisfying about seeing these characters bump into each other’s worlds, even tangentially - an “ah-ha!” moment as we finally begin piecing together the complex inner workings of the Santa Anita track.

Not everything had an impact on the racing side of things, but these little vignettes are still interesting character studies. For instance, Jerry goes off to win tickets to the World Series (“you could buy them.” “That’s against my principle!”) and becomes a mentor and lover to Naomi, the card dealer and sometimes poker player. Though the poker scenes themselves and his flirtation with Naomi were by no means highlights of the episode, Jerry bringing her to meet the other Amigos was well worth the wait. Though the exchange bordered a little too close to cloying for me (Marcus warily interrogating the two, Lonnie mentioning he thought she seemed nice and Renzo offering them food like the Mother Hen he has become), in an episode where a promising character gets bludgeoned (to death?) with an ashtray, a little comic relief never hurt anyone.

Which brings me, of course, to that other satellite narrative: Ace’s Revenge. The young Mr. Israel, double-agent, had a quick but meteoric arc. He began, just a few episodes ago, as an arrogant and petulant character that transformed to an almost pitiable pawn of Ace’s. He was formed as a robot but was quickly made human, particularly last week when he said the whole endeavor made him feel sick. “The kid is really showing me something,” Gus says to Ace early in the episode. Even though I felt certain of his loyalty to Ace, after all we had heard of Mike I thought that perhaps Israel might play the part of a true double agent, getting seduced to Mike’s side. Unfortunately, despite some very careful setups by Ace and Israel, Israel dug his own grave when he laughingly said “answers a question with a question,” a trademark Ace-ism. Mike immediately knows that quoting someone not in jest but in a sincere adoption of a maxim by a person you admire is concrete proof of Israel’s true loyalty, and the plot behind his befriending of Mike. If Israel isn’t actually dead, he will certainly wish he was.