NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Lucky Hank episode 7, "The Count of Monte Cristo."
This is the second time Lucky Hank has opened with Hank (Bob Odenkirk) and Lily (Mireille Enos) in their driveway waiting for a car to pick her up as she heads to New York. But a lot has transpired since the first time we saw it in episode 4, and whether they want to admit it or not, it has taken its toll on each of them.
Lily is officially moving to New York, but the plan seems to be for Hank to visit when he can. When she goes to kiss him goodbye, he instinctively gives her his cheek, but passes it off as him having morning breath. As Lily drives away, Hank shouts — perhaps in jest — that she’s too happy as she's leaving.
Hank, unsurprisingly, is miserable and takes the opportunity of Lily being gone to laze around the house like a slob. Even a visit from Julie (Olivia Scott Welch) asking if he's seen Russell (Daniel Doheny), who didn't come home the previous night, doesn’t stir Hank. Tony (Diedrich Bader) has to basically drag Hank out of the house.
Hank admits the reason he’s in his funk is after realizing he couldn’t have the cathartic conversation with his dad Henry (Tom Bower), who is suffering from mental decline, he doesn’t have an outlet to direct his years of frustration. Tony tells him he needs to focus on one thing and get a sense of accomplishment from it. Hank decides it should probably be his leaky kitchen sink.
As fate would have it, as Hank spots Henry walking alongside the road, defiantly on his way to town after Laurel (Anne Gee Byrd) refused to let him drive. Hank picks him up, but Henry doesn’t want to be taken home, so Hank has to take him to the university.
More problems await Hank in the English department, as Rourke (Cedric Yarbrough) has been told by the union rep that a teacher strike is not going to happen. He blames Hank for not properly supporting them. With the threat of staff cuts now very likely, the other teachers ask Hank how he may be leaning, but he deflects, only saying he needs to fix his sink.
He then gets a call from Julie, who still can’t find Russell. Despite Lily’s earlier warnings to stay out of their marital problems, Hank can’t help himself. He brings up the idea of Russell having an affair and poses the simple solution may be that he hasn’t come home because he doesn’t want to. This understandably makes Julie upset, who gets her own barb in by saying she gets why Lily would want to leave Hank.
Hank carries this argument into class as he wonders why a character in one of his student’s stories wouldn’t call her father for help. Bartow (Jackson Kelly) at first tries to argue with Hank, but funnily enough, the more they discuss it, even though they’re coming from different angles, they reach the same conclusion. Perhaps why Hank dislikes Bartow so much is he sees a little of himself in the young writer.
Convinced he should continue to search for Russell, Hank calls Meg (Sara Amini) at the bar asking if Russell has shown up for work. She says no, but when she hangs up we see that Russell is in fact there, hiding.
Back in the English department, Hank finds Henry holding court, praising the work of Charles Dickens. This just shows Hank how much his dad has fallen, as Henry wrote books criticizing Dickens throughout his career.
Meanwhile, Gracie (Suzanne Cryer) is called to Dean Rose’s (Oscar Nunez) office to discuss "a sensitive topic." Assuming she is going to be fired, she goes in raging, but Rose actually wants to tell her he is finally getting a divorce and they can now be together. Gracie, newly confident from being published in The Atlantic, says no. Though when he recites one of her poems she is intrigued.
Up in New York, Lily looks at apartments with her realtor. No matter what kind of place he shows her, she isn’t sure, worried about how it would work with Hank and Julie. He asks her to imagine her perfect day. When she does, he notes she doesn’t mention Hank or Julie.
Meeting up later with Ashley (Jennifer Spence) for coffee, an awkward situation gives Lily some clarity. When Ahsley goes to the bathroom, the couple next to them spots the woman’s husband coming into the restaurant. In a panic, the man sits at Lily’s table and tries to pass off that they are a couple. Lily isn’t having it though, saying she wants a divorce. But after insulting him a bit, she goes introspective and says she wants a divorce because she feels that she has grown and they aren’t in sync anymore and she’s not sure they ever will be again. It is clear she is talking about her and Hank.
After school, Hank goes to Meg’s house at first to apologize for nixing her classes but he soon catches Russell in her bed. He throws him in the car to take to Julie, but Henry throws a wrench in those plans, having Hank stop at a car dealership so he can get a car of his own. Russell tries to make excuses for why he cheated on Julie with Hank, but Hank’s not buying it.
When a salesman reveals to Hank that Henry has no money (in what was certainly the fastest credit check in history), Russell uses the distraction to run away. When Hank tells Julie this, she refuses to believe that Russell is cheating on her, slamming the door on Hank.
While at the hardware store, Henry says cheating isn’t that big of a deal because people can feel suffocated in marriages and need to find ways to prosper as individuals. Though he admits he has regrets. Not about being a bad father, as that was just not something he was made for, but about how harsh he was on Dickens. Ticked off, Hank finally gets some revenge on his father, leaving him stranded and confused in the hardware store.
Hank returns to Julie’s. She at first doesn’t want him there, but he just silently makes her a pot of tea and the two are able to share a quiet, consoling moment together.
The Lucky Hank finale airs on Sunday, May 7, on AMC. Previous episodes are available to stream on AMC Plus.
