NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Lucky Hank episode 2, "George Saunders."
Episode 2 of Lucky Hank shows us that Hank (Bob Odenkirk) was not always the pessimistic miser we met in the pilot episode. He once, albeit briefly, was a recognized author. However, now he struggles to begin his second novel, leering at a fellow writer who types away on his computer with a book on how to write a novel in 30 days, laughing away at his own cleverness.
Making matters worse, an author who came up alongside Hank but managed to have success, George Saunders (Brian Huskey), is coming to campus to speak, with Hank set to interview him. Hank, unsurprisingly, is trying to weasel his way out of it. Then, adding literal injury to insult, Hank has a shot of pain shoot through him. He doesn't trust the doctor telling him it's not kidney stones, but when Lily (Mireille Enos) brings up that the pain could be caused by stress, Hank concedes it could be that, or jealously of how George's career turned out compared to his.
Elsewhere in the English department, the war between Gracie (Suzanne Cryer) and Rourke (Cedric Yarbrough) intensifies. Rourke purposefully honks his horn from his parking spot, knowing that Gracie is teaching a class. One of her students says it's like Rouke is trying to bully her. When she tries to be civil with Rourke to solve their issue, he disrespects her again. As a result, she tweaks her approach — bribing campus security to tow Rourke's car and remove his parking space.
When George Saunders arrives on campus, everyone is fawning over him, students and professors. Bartow (Jackson Kelly) in particular feels like Saunders' softer teaching method is just the kind of thing he needs to flourish into the writer he is convinced he can become. This convinces Bartow, along with some other students who are obsessed with him, to start what he calls the "excellence committee," meant to raise up people who they think are worthy. He takes the idea to Dean Rose (Oscar Nunez), who reluctantly agrees once Bartow says he'll stop demanding an apology from Hank.
Though his students loved having George in the class, Hank couldn't help but feel slighted when asked a question about things that keep Hank from writing. George insists he didn't mean anything by it, but even when he does apologize later, Hank is annoyed by the apology.
We learn that a big reason Hank has a disdain for George is because Hank's father was supportive of him, praising Saunders' writing. Hank, meanwhile, has a feeling that the good review that he got for his book was because his dad called in a favor.
This very bad day gets a glimmer of hope when Lily tells Hank that Julie (Olivia Scott Welch) and Russell have news, which they infer could mean Julie is pregnant. But even while excited, Hank makes a comment about how he now has missed his window to write his next novel, as they'll need to help with the baby.
Meeting that night at a restaurant, it turns out that Julie and Russell are getting a new arrival, just not a baby. They are planning to build a pool and develop an app for a new kind of business. Hank and Lily try to hide their disappointment, but they need another drink. At the bar, Hank talks with his fellow English professor Meg (Sara Amini), who is working her second job. Clearly in need of help, Hank angles for Russell to get a job at the bar.
Rourke does not take the removal of his car lying down. While Gracie went with the big gesture, he instead goes more passive by putting her work up against Walt Whitman and tearing it down in his class. When told about this, Gracie tries to brush it off. She tells her students a story about the old chair that she uses and how her military father used it as a symbol of his approval for his children and how Gracie would work so hard to earn the right to sit in the chair. The students don't see it as an empowering tale though, they call it out for how messed up it is. At the end of the episode, we see Gracie throw the chair into the dumpster.
The night of the talk has come, and Hank is looking for any way out. Lily tells him to just go, another one of the teacher's can handle it. Hank immediately takes his chance and meets Tony (Diedrich Bader) at a field hockey game. When Hank complains about how much of a jerk Sauders is, Tony asks him if he confronted him about it. This inspires Hank to go back and and get George to admit that he doesn't have respect for Hank. Instead, George once again compliments Hank and says that it's a shame he isn't writing. This ultimately convinces Hank to conduct a good interview that the audience thoroughly enjoys.
As he and Lily head back to their car, he has a realization — it doesn't matter if Hank is as good a writer as George, it still would not have been enough to get his father's approval.
New episodes of Lucky Hank release on Sundays on AMC at 9 pm ET/PT, as well as stream on AMC Plus.
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