• HBO.com
• I am Son of Delphi, and Father I shall avenge thee!

I want to rename this series "Mumble, Grumble, Whisper, Moan." I don't know how you guys watching it live are doing it - last week a commenter brought up the difficulty of understanding the dialogue, and a co-worker mentioned closed captioning. I cannot convey to you enough what a great idea this is for certain shows. Yes it's distracting, but it's also distracting to be wondering "what the heck just happened?" after every scene. In this vein, I will attempt to translate (both literally and in the larger context of the show) what I can by playing my screener disc back two or three times for a few of these scenes (*this actually happened). These first few reviews may be a little more play-by-play than usual for me, but I'm hoping it will help sort through some of more cryptic and dialogue-dense scenes. And before we begin, let me also direct you to this handy cheat sheet I used this week to call everyone by their proper names (it matches names to faces, huzzah!)

Last night's episode focused on some of the repercussions of the most explosive plot points out of the pilot. The Son of Delphi, that super-fast 3-year-old who Rosie rides into warp speed at the track, has proven himself as a possibly Derby-caliber contender. Our Pick 6 winners all found ways to start spending their cash, and Ace, back in the proverbial saddle (someone had to say it) is not wasting any time getting involved again in a Trojan horse scheme. After a wildly expansive first episode, "Luck" settled down this week and narrowed the focus to fewer names and occupations the sprawling character list: owners and jockeys, mainly, with a side-dish of gambling. We saw three different perspectives of a jockey's life, from Rosie lobbying to ride what she knows is a fantastic horse (that could make her career), to Ronnie being coaxed back out of his drunken haze for this same special horse, to Leon trying to navigate stable politics and overcoming his fear of getting hurt - or his horse getting hurt - in a repeat of his last race. So far Rosie's story looks to be the most interesting of the three - seeing how a young, female jockey can navigate this Old Boys Club (even Walter Smith, who likes Rosie and seems like a decent guy, wants Ronnie to ride his horse because of their Kentucky connection). Walter, looking out for Rosie, does pass her card along to the agent Joey Rathbun, but whether or not he will do right by Rosie we have yet to see.

On the owner's side, we learned a little something about Claims. To wit, if a horse is available to be claimed, one must put the money down before the race (which is why it is essential to have an experienced trainer with you to help navigate what looks like a decent horse or not, and hopefully outwit some of the tricks like Escalante pulled by bandaging the horse's front legs as if it had an injury). If more than one person has put a claim in on the same horse, after the race there is yet another gambling game with dice, letting fate decide the winner. In this case, one of our gambling guys, Renzo (the most easily likable of the bunch so far) attempted to put his horse racing winnings on an actual horse, to share with his friends, though heart-breakingly lost in the final gamble.

But his friends appear to have other plans, anyway. Marcus wisely lays low and keeps quiet with his earnings, while Jerry bets the house and finally wins in a high-stakes poker game. Jerry is the only one of the group who seems to really have a gambling addiction. He's good at it, but also wildly risky in his behavior. I see some further uncomfortable moments with his Asian rival in the future, though hopefully it won't turn out as badly as Lonnie's night. I'll admit that I didn't get the whole scoop with Lonnie beyond that he was sleeping with two women who were also tied up in some kind of insurance fraud. He either reneged on the deal or conned them in some way, but these ladies are the kind who are not afraid to bludgeon you to death with a dildo while shouting "suck my titties!" because they've taken out an insurance policy on your life. I was starting to get lulled into a light nap during this episode, but I can assure you, this scene shocked me awake with its complete and utterly over the top naked antics that lead a beaten up Lonnie being deposited at Renzo's front door. The antics were salvaged a bit when Renzo and Marcus attempted to drag Lonnie into Marcus' room and Jerry pulls up in his car. There was something in that scene that so perfectly encapsulated these guys and what they are all about that it actually defies description. It was just a feeling in that moment, the choreography of the scene and the way each man behaved in a way that so aptly defined them that was just excellent.

Now onto the mumblecore moments - we learn via Rosie's lurking that Walter wants Ronnie to ride his horse, but there's more to it than that. Walter is on a bit of a revenge-by-looking-good mission against those (and who were "they"?) who took over the stable that housed the magnificent Delphi, squandered all of its money and then cashed in on a $30 million insurance policy on Delphi by breaking his legs. This sounded like a comic book conceit to me - I can imagine Son of Delphi neighing wildly, "I shall avenge thee, Father!" with Walter in a kind of Obi Wan Kenobi role, leading him to victory. So far, Walter represents one of the "good guys" at the track, who's really there for the love of horses. It's unlikely that his journey will be an easy one, but it will be interesting to see if he becomes corrupted by the dirty dealings of the track, or exacts sweet revenge on those doing the dealing.

As for Ace, he notes to some investors in his nefarious scheme that there has been a "compression of the leisure dollar." So why buy a race track, especially one that requires so much money for cosmetic upkeep? Ace explains, "in California, horse racing is legal, but casino gaming isn't. The horse track is desperate for new revenue, and is the perfect Trojan horse to bring in slot machines." I don't know how this is the case, but the other men appear convinced. In the next scene, Ace fills Gus in (Gus is the Hurley of "Luck" - he is there to ask questions that we the audience are wondering about, and does so with a more upbeat manner than any other character so far). There is a man called Mike that we haven't yet met, who is a former business partner of Ace's. The two broke ties at some point, with Mike keeping their plane and Ace keeping the co-op (or condo, for those of us who do not live in New York). Mike found a way to stash a huge amount of cocaine there (why? "if you try to see his perverse logic, you'll go blind"), while Ace's grandson was "swinging from the chandelier" as he stayed there during his time at NYU. Eventually the neighbors called the cops, and they raided the place. Gus figures they must have already known or suspected there were drugs there, and when the grandson said they weren't his, Ace took the fall for Mike, even though he knows Mike would have never returned the favor. "I've never ratted out anyone in my life, and I'm not about to start," he says.

One can only presume that the scheme Ace is setting up is going to figure into a revenge plot against Mike. And let's not forget about Escalante, who Gus refers to as "an open debt," even though Escalante doesn't know (yet) it was Ace who provided the way for his big break. The story lines are starting to come together … if only we could hear what they were saying!

Musings and Miscellanea:

— "Because I'm a fucking felon, anything else you want to explain to me?" - Ace tells it like it is.

— More beautiful racing shots, both with Walter's 3 year old and Leon's race, where he got boxed in (that squeeze, where horses and jockeys are close enough to bump into each other, can be extremely dangerous), but lead this horse around for a stunning win were such beautiful scenes. I can find no flaws.

— Because I'm watching screeners I'm curious if this has also been true during the live show week to week: whenever someone walks away from a conversation, no matter how banal, the music swells really loudly and dramatically, and occasionally abruptly ends when someone else starts to speak. This mostly happens with the Gambling Gang. It's quite unintentionally comical, and certainly unnecessary.

— "I won $200 on this race, don't ever knock this fucking country to me!" - Gus

— "Deadwood" alumni spotted: Dan, Al Swearengen right-hand, was the man who won the claim over Renzo, and Jewel from the Gem, was seen in a new incarnation next to Marcus during the race. I hope they both have recurring roles!