Lucky puts its cards on the table too early.

The new Apple TV limited series, starring and executive produced by Anya Taylor-Joy, kicks off with its titular protagonist (Taylor-Joy) on the run from an FBI agent. Sporting a bleached bob and a Caesars Palace jacket, she scrambles through a maze of parked trucks, desperately crawling under wheels and slamming around corners until her fate finally catches up with her. It’s a fairly thrilling action sequence, but soon, all too predictably, Lucky flashes back to the fateful hours leading up to this high-octane chase.

The move is an all-too common one in film and TV, meant to give viewers a tantalizing taste of what’s to come. Often, though, it feels like titles that use this tactic aren’t confident that viewers will buy into their story without the promise of action. With Lucky, that unfortunately proves to be the case. A crime drama bursting with clichés, Lucky works best when its characters are getting out of serious scrapes, and less so when they’re actually talking.

What’s Lucky about?

Anya Taylor-Joy in “Lucky.”
Credit: Apple TV

As we learn in the first of Lucky‘s many flashbacks, the woman on the run in the show’s opening is Lucky Armstrong, con woman extraordinaire. Together with her husband, Cary (Drew Starkey), she’s just pulled off a $10 million heist that should have her set for life. The pair spend a sweet night celebrating in Las Vegas, but by the morning, Lucky wakes to find herself alone, penniless, and at the top of the FBI’s most-wanted list.

So begins one of Lucky‘s most tense sequences. As the FBI descends on Caesars Palace, she must use all her wiles to escape from a seemingly impossible trap. It’s an electrifying cat-and-mouse game, following an increasingly desperate Lucky through crowded casino floors and winding hotel rooms.

The Caesars Hotel sequence is just the first of many thrilling set pieces throughout Lucky‘s run, including shoot-outs, car chases, and one desert-set escape that sees Taylor-Joy channeling the same fierce drive to survive she weaponized so well in 2024’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. In all these scenes, Lucky is operating at her most desperate, which means we get to see her full bag of tricks, learned from her imprisoned father, John (Timothy Olyphant), at work. As she manipulates mark after mark, Taylor-Joy brings an effortless cool to Lucky. Sometimes, though, that cool can be overpowering, and we lose the fear and anger that’s driving Lucky in her quest to set things right. (It doesn’t help that, even after going through hell, Lucky’s bob remains chic as ever, making it hard to buy into the character’s gritty struggles.)

Outside of these sequences though, Lucky loses its steam. Its overreliance on flashbacks leads to some extremely on-the-nose moments, like when Lucky pulls a con at a birthday party, all while remembering a conveniently similar job she and her father pulled years ago. Elsewhere, story beats feel oddly familiar. At one point, Lucky pretends to be drunk while meeting a man at a bar, leading to a scene eerily reminiscent of one in Promising Young Woman.

Annette Bening is an ice-cold scene stealer in Lucky.

Annette Bening in “Lucky.”
Credit: Apple TV

Lucky weaves a larger web of crime and shady syndicates that pales in comparison to the more immediate drama of Lucky’s smaller cons. However, there’s one huge saving grace to that more overarching crime tale, and that’s Annette Bening as fearsome mobster Priscilla Masterson.

Always rocking the coolest glasses and coats the show has to offer, Bening’s Priscilla takes over every scene she’s in with an icy power. At times, she’s calculatedly nonchalant, with even her most casual comments oozing with threats. At others, she’s a laugh riot thanks to her dry disdain for everyone around her. She makes a great foil for Taylor-Joy’s often-harried Lucky, as she’s almost always in control. When she’s not, it’s because she’s under the thumb of the menacing Wayne Whittaker (William Fichtner). You can imagine that as Lucky grows older, she could find herself in a similar troubling situation: still living a life of crime, still expected to take the fall.

Lucky hopes to examine how Lucky could get off that path, the one her father set her on when she was a child. Its conclusions and twists along the way are fairly predictable, but it offers up some slick summer fun in the meantime. When you’re done, though, Lucky‘s impact is like that of a good con man: gone before you even know it.

The first two episodes of Lucky premiere July 15 on Apple TV, with a new episode every Wednesday.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

From the very beginning, the strongest aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was its casting. Without the talent of performers like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, the public would never have embraced characters like Iron Man and Captain America. MCU guru Kevin Feige is well aware of this, and he often takes a personal hand in casting. That’s especially true with films like Spider-Man: Homecoming, which involve some of Marvel’s most popular comic characters. In that film, Tom Holland made for the perfect onscreen hero; the challenge was finding someone suitable to be an equally perfect onscreen villain.

Michael Keaton got the job, and he absolutely nailed the role of the Vulture by channeling his experiences as both Batman and (fittingly enough) Birdman. As it turns out, though, this former Caped Crusader wasn’t Marvel’s first choice for this character. Feige personally offered the role to the last person you’d expect: Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the insanely popular musical Hamilton. Had he squared off with Spidey back in Homecoming, it’s fair to say the MCU would never have been the same.

He Threw Away His Shot

This shocking revelation comes to us straight from Lin-Manuel Miranda. Recently, the Hamilton star appeared on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast. According to the musical legend, Kevin Feige personally offered him the role, so no audition was required. Had he said “yes,” Miranda would have gotten a healthy payday and very likely have become a mainstay of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, he declined the offer, and he did so for a reason many who are reading this can understand: he wanted to keep his wife happy!

In speaking with Horowitz, Miranda admitted he “would have been so miscast.” He made up his mind about the offer, asking when filming for Spider-Man: Homecoming would begin. Feige’s answer was, “Basically, the moment you step offstage in Hamilton.” Miranda replied, ‘Well, I love these movies, but I would really like to stay married, so I cannot do this.’” He is married to Vanessa Nadal, and they have two children together. Miranda had been looking forward to spending more time with his family once he stopped playing Hamilton, but playing the Vulture in Homecoming would mean being insanely busy for another year while being contractually tied down to future Marvel appearances.

Yes, Father. I Shall Become A Vulture

Looking back, Miranda has no regrets about his decision. He told Horowitz that he “needed a vacation so badly” after Hamilton and reiterated that “I would’ve been deeply miscast.” It’s hard not to disagree with this assessment. Part of why Michael Keaton was so great in the role is that his Vulture practically oozed menace whenever he was onscreen. By contrast, Miranda has spent a lifetime positioning himself as an affably goofy music guy. His Vulture would likely be a comedic character, and that wouldn’t work; since Spidey himself is so silly, it’s important for him to have a genuinely scary villain to bounce off of.

Lin-Manuel Miranda became a household name thanks to the success of Hamilton. He could have pivoted and become a Marvel icon, but he was very happy to “throw away his shot” at starring in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In retrospect, this was the right decision, and Miranda is the first to admit that he would’ve made a terrible villain. At least, a terrible onscreen villain. To everyone who ever got sick of their family blaring the Hamilton soundtrack at all hours of the day and on every single road trip, this guy will always be an archenemy for life! 

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 22 seconds ago

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” This is something of a miracle episode, one which smashed together two very different ideas and had to be assembled by four different writers over Thanksgiving. Understandably, they thought it would be a disaster, but it wasn’t. In fact, “Yesterday’s Enterprise” went on to be one of the best (if not the best) episodes of the entire series. It never seemed like a story that needed any improvement. Nonetheless, the original script reveals a huge missing opportunity at the heart of this episode.

“Yesterday’s Enterprise” is about how a change to reality put Starfleet into a brutal war against the Klingon Empire. In the changed reality, Worf is nowhere to be seen because his people are bitter enemies of the Federation. Interestingly, the original script called for Worf to provide the voice of a Klingon commander attacking the Enterprise-D. That didn’t happen in this Next Generation episode, but Deep Space Nine capitalized on this missing opportunity in a big way. In the wildly sexy DS9 episode “Shattered Mirror,” we see Worf as the galaxy’s absolute kinkiest Klingon commander!

Today Is A Good Day To Dom

The plot of the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” is that the Enterprise-C accidentally travels to the present day. Originally, it was destroyed defending a Klingon outpost, which helped the Federation broker peace with these warlike aliens. The ship traveling to the future changed reality, plunging the Federation into a bitter, losing war with the Klingons. Interestingly, the Klingons are mostly a faceless menace in “Yesterday’s Enterprise:” we see the brutal attacks of their ships, but we never see any of their commanders. We simply hear an anonymous Klingon towards the end of the episode, demanding that Captain Picard surrender his ship.

The shooting script for “Yesterday’s Enterprise” suggested that we have a very familiar Klingon voice demanding surrender. This section of the script has a note that reads “Possibly Worf?” Obviously, the writers thought it would be a fun revelation that the Worf of this alternate universe had become a very successful Klingon warrior. Sadly, the episode opted against doing so; years later, though, Deep Space Nine picked up the slack. The DS9 episode “Shattered Mirror” revealed that Worf was a bloodthirsty regent in the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance of the Mirror Universe. He is frightening and effective, but in one way, he is very unconventional.

I’m Sensing Great Freakiness, Captain

You see, Deep Space Nine chose to portray most of the Mirror Universe as outlandishly horny. This is most notable with Kira Nerys, whose alternate reality counterpart is a sexually voracious domme who prances around in a catsuit. Just when we got used to her walking bisexual disaster, “Shattered Mirror” introduced a version of Worf who keeps Garak chained down on the bridge. Like, the Cardassian has an actual collar, complete with a short leash that Worf frequently tugs on! It’s the weirdest petplay this side of Euphoria, and it pops up like a jump scare in the middle of an otherwise family-friendly sci-fi show.

Some Star Trek fans find the Mirror Universe episodes of Deep Space Nine a little too silly. If you don’t mind over-the-top goofiness, though, these stories are a little slice of sci-fi shlock perfection. Plus, one episode, “Shattered Mirror,” deserves extra props for finally showing us Worf as a brutal Klingon commander. His voice was written into the “Yesterday’s Enterprise” script, but Michael Dorn never got to speak the lines. Years later, Deep Space Nine showed us what a human-hating Worf would look like, all while making him the kinkiest Klingon this side of Risa.

Picard’s old buddy collaring a submissive Garak in front of the entire crew? That’s what I call 50 Shades of Earl Grey!