TV-MA | 7 episodes | Drama, Action, Crime, Thriller | 2026
One of the first movies ever made was “The Great Train Robbery” from 1903. This 12-minute silent short is also the first-ever crime thriller.
If written halfway decently and executed the same, crime thrillers are almost impossible to get wrong. Set-up, theft, double-cross, triple-cross, a shootout or two, some chase scenes, resolution. In, out, thank you very much.
The only possible issue with the new limited series “Lucky” is that it must execute a premise that generally takes place over 100 or so minutes in a movie and sustain it for five hours over seven episodes without ever testing the audience’s patience or its own credulity. As it turns out, there’s no issue at all. “Lucky” clicks on all cylinders for the duration.
Like Father, Not Quite Like Daughter
Loosely based on the eponymous 2021 novel by Marissa Stapley, the lead character, Luciana “Lucky” Anderson (Anya Taylor-Joy), has been a grifter since childhood. Tutored by her unscrupulous, unflappable widower father John (Timothy Olyphant), she’s an unwitting sponge who absorbs trade secrets as if they were after-school lessons.Through sparse and well-placed flashbacks, the young Lucky (Quinn Aune) proves her deceptive, stealthy meddling and then some yet gets to a point where she starts questioning the morality of it all.
For reasons not made clear until the sixth episode, Lucky and John eventually parted ways, and she’s now partnered with her husband, Cary (Drew Starkey). The series kicks off with the couple celebrating in Las Vegas after a $10 million score. There’s talk of retiring to a tropical locale until Cary slips Lucky a mickey. He then absconds with the loot in the wee small hours of the morning.
Little Man-Child Son
Priscilla is the type of woman who thinks her little man-child son can do no wrong, and that Lucky is the source of all his problems. If anything, the opposite is the case. It doesn’t help matters that Priscilla detests John even more than his daughter. Rand merely wishes to arrest Lucky; Priscilla desperately wants to skin her alive.
It doesn’t take long for Priscilla to nab Lucky and dispatch two extra-large goons to transport her to the middle of nowhere and put two caps in her head. This is the first instance where we get an idea of just how resourceful Lucky can be.
Perhaps Lucky’s greatest gift is to read any room and blend into any situation. An initially testy encounter with a widow and her granddaughters is quickly defused by Lucky’s effortless charm. Hers is not the back-slapping, eager-to-please, fake-sincerity type of charm, but rather relatable empathy.
Another encounter occurs when she gently crashes a child’s birthday party that nets her a $1,000 dress, untold amounts of birthday card cash, and a new Range Rover.
Michael Versus Lucky
While not ultra-rare to present a criminal as a protagonist, it is a tall task to simultaneously condemn their actions. Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” trilogy is one such example.
The big difference between Michael and Lucky is that he realizes the error of his ways far too late, whereas Lucky begins to question it early on in her life. By the end of the series, she redeems herself in a manner that (in an admirable way) goes way against the thought process of any seasoned thief.
Unlike the majority of limited-premium series with an even number of episodes (six, eight, 10), “Lucky” has seven. At first, I thought the show runners were just being clever (Lucky 7, get it?).
But in retrospect, seven was just the right amount. Six wouldn’t have been enough, eight would have been excessive. There’s not a single ounce of fat to be found in the entire production.
The only thing that could ruin my “Lucky” experience is if someone in power green-lights a sequel. Please leave well enough alone.
