This time, though, he wasn’t aiding or betting on a meth-making megalomaniac.
You know real-world stakes.
Nothing So much to see here.
Bob Odenkirk as Hank in ‘Lucky Hank’.Sergei Bachlakov/AMC
Hank levels up and dresses down the student; pitchforked campus outrage follows, but he refuses to apologize.
But after Hank is re-elected as chair, he squashes that dream again.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Hank delivers that wish-fulfillment smackdown speech to a college student with delusions of grandeur.
Mireille Enos as Lily and Bob Odenkirk as Hank in ‘Lucky Hank’.Sergei Bachlakov/AMC
Does he resent himself even more than those he’s charged with educating?
And how much of his misanthropy is inward and how much is outward?
BOB ODENKIRK:It’s 90 percent inward.
Shannon DeVido as Emma Wheemer, Cedric Yarbrough as Paul Rourke, Suzanne Cryer as Gracie Dubois, Arthur Keng as Teddy, Alvina August as June, Nancy Robertson as Billie Quigley, and Haig Sutherland as Finny in ‘Lucky Hank’.Sergei Bachlakov/AMC
[Laughs] Yeah, it’s all inside.
It’s all his own frustration at himself for not being more important.
His dad has this legendary status in the world of academia, which sounds like, who cares?
But, of course, the people in academiacare.
And he’s nowhere near that level of status and he’ll never get there.
He hasn’t helped himself because he should have written more, but he didn’t.
And he knows it.
And he’s frustrated at himself.
The de-chairing and re-chairing of Hank was amusing and absurd.
After everything that transpired inSaul, was it nice to have the stakes be so low as a de-chairing?
Oh yeah, it was great!
There’s a lightness to this show.
Of course, it is also a comedy much more thanBetter Call Saulwas as funny asBetter Call Saulcould be.
There’s probably one or two sequences you might point to that were played for pure comedy.
But this show is lighter.
I love that about it.
Now that he’s re-upped for three years, how many f— does he have to give?
What implications will this de-chairing and re-chairing carry?
It feels like he’s doomed.
Whereas before he felt like, “I can get out of this anytime I want.”
And in this case, they’re bumping him.
He doesn’t even vote for himself, if you notice.
I don’t care."
When secretly he does care, because this has been his identity.
And then he gets it handed back in his lap and it’s a three-year thing.
That only came because he thought he would get de-chaired.
So, I think he thinks, “I’m doomed.”
And now it’s changing.
And tough s—.
What’s he going to do about it?
And he doesn’t know.
Because those things seem very tied up in him.
I think inertia is what keeps him going.
He has avoided that and he’s just got tons of impacted feelings.
[Laughs] And they’re coming out.
but you heard them sigh all the time?
But he’s not exerting himself.
He’s just living.
I think he’s got a lot of feelings inside that he hasn’t dealt with.
That’s exactly right!
He’s been holding all this s— inside him.
And I really liked the growth.
And I wasgenuinelysurprised at the choices they made.
Like, “Oh s—, really?
I mean, I know we’ve been talking about that, but holy s—!
Like, f—in' A!
That’s cool that you went there.”
And it made me really happy.
That was a devastating scene.
Well, it’s a lot bigger than he thought it was.
Well, most of it is inside his head and his heart.
It’s not in the real world.
But also most people would go, “Who cares?
It’s f—ing literary criticism.
It’s within a small arena that you’re fighting.”
His dad is a big fish in a small pond.
It’s still in a small pond.
Keep that in mind.
Like, “I thought we were having a competition here about this!”
And the rest of the world goes, “No, no, we don’t care.”
And you go, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
In this case, he’s just unmoored from his sense of himself when his dad retires.
He can’t have that guy to hate, which is part of how he’s defined himself.
And the rest of the world is shrugging going, “Why?
What do you care?
Leave it be.”
And I think that’s a relatable scenario.
What can viewers expect from these dynamics?
There seems to be a lot of petty comedy to mine in these office politics.
It’s the best!
It’s such good actors.
It’s the camaraderie of hate.
[Laughs] Is there such a thing?
It’s the camaraderie of hate that they share.
We talked about this early on, when we were shooting the first episode.
Get the hell outta here!
Don’t you talk about my friend like that!"
[Laughs] And it’s like, “What is going on?
You guys just gave each other s—!”
But you feel a sense of connectedness and camaraderie.
I just love it.
I think it’s true to life, and I think we nailed it.
And you’ll see that play out over the course of the whole show.
Some of that warmth comes out more later.
Hank started all this.
And then the suggestion to his wife that they should move to New York.
Is the dam about to break?
Isn’t that a great scene with the chocolate?
That is so well-played by everyone.
I have to be a good parent."
And then there comes a day when it’s like, “You know what?
And it’s not true.
[Laughs] Just leave her the f— alone.
So that’s the way this guy’s defined himself.
And the interesting thing is his dad’s retirement rocks his world.
And it’s only because what’s inside him changes.
“I can’t hate this guy anymore.
He doesn’t even have the job he had that made me feel so small.”
Is Hank’s process of finding himself his awakening?
going to come at a great cost to himself as well as others?
Yeah, it’s going to come at a great cost!
His world’s going to crumble.
He didn’t have to confront his relationship with his dad because everything was in this holding pattern.
And now he does.
Now he has to ask himself, “What does it even mean?
My resentment doesn’t help me.
I can’t define myself by these things because they’re all changing.
And I didn’t realize how lucky I was to just have this person to hate.
[Laughs] This easy person to hate, who I could hate for obvious reasons.
And now it’s all gone.”
It just all goes away.
These things we define ourselves by, suddenly there comes a day where you go, “Wow!
Nobody else in the world perceives this as what I’ve perceived it as my whole life.
And I guess I have to let it go.
I don’t know who I am if I let it go.
I guess I’ll have to find out.”
How long will viewers have to wait to see Henry Sr. [Tom Bower]?
That’s a good question, huh?
You’re going to be really surprised.
You’re not going to f—ing believe it.
I can’t believe the journey they go on in eight episodes.
What can you hint about episode 2?
I mean, Brian Huskey as George Saunders is a great revelation…
It’s like if LeBron James came to play in a European League game.
The show’s first trailerindicates you might have a showdown with a goose in an upcoming episode.
How formidable is that goose?
The goose is the deus ex machina!
It’s God’s hand interacting with his world.
I believe the geese inLucky Hankare angels sent from above to harass and provoke Hank.
[Laughs] They’re being sent to tell him, “Move on.
It’s time to migrate.”
I’m not kidding.
I mean, they’re like a magical voice speaking to Hank, and he won’t listen.
They have to f—ing peck the s— out of him.
