Michael Suarez
The following recap contains spoilers for Lucky S1E4, “Too Close to See It” (written by Mark Stasenko and directed by Jet Wilkinson)
It turns out I was on the right track with my questions and theorizing, but I was off by enough that this week’s episode kept me engaged throughout its running time. The episode can be split into two parts:
1) Lucky and Cary have it out, with flashbacks showing motivations for both of their actions; and
2) Lucky and Cary on the run from the F.B.I. and Priscilla
The ending of the episode ups the stakes quite a bit in a way I didn’t see coming, but I’ll get to that. Right now, I want to address the show’s structure so far.
I love it. Episode 1 felt a bit disjointed, but I appreciated what the showrunners were going for. They wanted to give viewers a bit of whiplash. The show starts with Lucky running from someone, then we flashback to see how she got there, and by episode’s end, we see just how capable Lucky is. We know she feels betrayed by Cary, but there aren’t too many details of their relationship. Her father is in prison, but they keep in touch. Lucky is on the run, and she is terrified of what Priscilla will do to her. But again, we don’t know the details. Even through the next two episodes, we got a few more pieces of information, but not enough.
Episode 4, “Too Close to See It,” delivers. The opening grabbed me in a way the show hadn’t done in the previous three episodes. In a flashback, Agent Rand approaches a younger Lucky (who is conspicuously reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest) in a diner. Rand knows that Lucky wants no part of her father’s criminal life with Priscilla, so she offers her a deal. If Lucky will help with getting Priscilla, Rand will grant immunity to Lucky, her father, and Cary. Lucky accepts.
As it turns out, things aren’t what they seem. In a later flashback, it’s revealed that Rand couldn’t get immunity for Lucky’s father, which angers her, and honestly, I empathize with Lucky. She was brought in to do something for the F.B.I., and Rand lied to her face. At least, that’s how I see it. Lucky doesn’t trust Rand now, so of course, she’s on the run from her and her team. Makes sense to me, but I wonder if Lucky has a grander plan that involves either getting square with Rand or getting back at her. We’ll see.
As for Cary, during their confrontation at his beach house, he finally tells Lucky why he did what he did and what he’s been doing since Vegas. It turns out that Cary has a heart, but he makes dumb decisions. I felt for him in this episode, which is quite the 180 for me, because I really didn’t like what little of him I got in the show’s previous three episodes. Unfair of me, or am I really just on Lucky’s side so much that I immediately tagged him as a jerk? I must admit that I tend to side with a story’s protagonist fairly easily simply because they are the protagonist, so props to the writers for making me care about Cary.
Some time ago, Cary went to see his mother, and she told him that Lucky’s father had been stealing from her for a while. She knows Lucky knows where the money is, and rather than torture and kill her, she offers Cary the chance to convince Lucky to hand it over. Fearful that his mother will still kill Lucky, who is now his wife at this point, he concocts his own plan. He will get the money with Lucky, drug her, and leave her, assuming she will be left alone once he delivers the money to his mom. It obviously didn’t work out.
As Cary went to the place he was meant to meet Priscilla, he saw her laughing with Harris, and something in him snapped. He hated that he was in such a heart-wrenching position, but there she was just laughing and enjoying her life, so he went back for Lucky. When he got to the hotel, the F.B.I. was already there, so he exchanged the cash for Bitcoin and started a new life, a decision he recognizes as dumb, which it is.
Lucky is reasonably upset at his actions and informs him that she was not safe and that his mother still tried to torture and kill her, because Priscilla assumed Lucky was in on whatever Cary was up to. She still feels betrayed, because she was. However, Cary knows that Lucky sold his mother out to the F.B.I. Like him, she had her reasons, and it’s at that point that they’re relatively even. Do they reconcile? Unfortunately, Agent Rand and others arrive.
Still in the midst of an argument, the two crash through Cary’s garage in a Bronco and lead a high-speed chase through San Diego. And it’s not just the F.B.I. after them, because Priscilla and Harris catch up, too. At one point, it looks like they’re going to get away, but Cary makes another dumb decision. He begins shooting at the tires of the law enforcement vehicles chasing them, resulting in not just those vehicles crashing but his and Lucky’s, as well.
That’s not all, of course. Cary’s also been fatally shot, and as their time together comes to a close, he and Lucky make up. And, to be honest, this moment actually got me. In one episode, I found myself liking Cary and actually rooting for these two to succeed, to get away from everyone and make it to Mexico to start over. That will never happen now. Lucky takes the bag Cary brought with him and leaves.
By the time Rand gets to the car, she’s gone, and any adrenaline keeping her upright goes away,. Rand ends the episode on her back. Paramedics arrive, as do Priscilla and Harris, who watch from a distance as a sheet is pulled over Cary. Priscilla breaks down the only way a mother who loves her child could, but Harris holds her back and puts her in their SUV. They leave as more help arrives at the scene, and the episode ends.
Lucky is still on the run, but things have been slightly altered. Agent Rand seems to be incapacitated, Lucky knows where Cary put the money but not how to retrieve it, and Priscilla has lost the one thing that mattered more than money and her own life. To say that I’m worried for Lucky is an understatement. As for her father, his time is very short now, because I believe Priscilla might very well be on the warpath in the coming episodes.
“Too Close to See It” deepens Lucky. As much as I like a straightforward, surface-level thriller, I definitely appreciate it when writers dig deeper. In one episode, I went from simply siding with Lucky to understanding where other characters are coming from. I really liked Cary and wish he could’ve stuck around, and Priscilla, though still very much a villain, is shown to be a human being capable of feeling emotions. Ultimately, the episode is about doing what you think is the right thing and having it not work out.
Right now, I’m very excited to see where things end up. Does Lucky have an overall plan we haven’t seen yet? Was she reading Infinite Jest in that diner because it’s a cool literary reference, or because she was doing performative reading for Agent Rand and is pulling a long con? I suppose I have to wait and see, but I believe Lucky is capable of getting the money, cutting ties with her father for good, getting Priscilla off her back, paying back Agent Rand, and starting a new life for herself. Even though the odds are stacked against her, I believe she can do it. She just needs a little luck, and it’s her namesake after all.
