Sumith Prasad
The second episode of AMC’s drama series ‘Lucky Hank,’ titled ‘George Saunders,’ revolves around the arrival of renowned writer and William Henry “Hank” Devereaux, Jr.’s friend George Saunders at Railton College for a talk. Saunders’ arrival forces Hank to evaluate his life as a writer, only for him to get disappointed. The author talks to Hank’s students, especially Bartow Williams-Stevens, who has been demanding an apology from his professor for over twenty days. Hank and his wife Lily Devereaux expect “big news” from their daughter Julie Devereaux. The captivating episode ends with several nuanced developments. If you are up for a detailed take on the same, you are at the right place! SPOILERS AHEAD
Lucky Hank Episode 2 Recap
‘George Saunders’ begins with Hank trying to start writing his second novel. Although he sits and stares at his computer for a long period, he fails to write even a word. Dean Rose informs him that the college had invited George Saunders for a talk and asks Hank to interview him. Hank makes it clear that there is a possibility of him being hostile towards the famed author, only for Rose to dismiss the excuses. When Hank tells him that he cannot do it at all, Rose responds that the professor is the only eligible one in the region to interview someone like the Booker Prize winner.
Hank goes to a radiologist with the hope of getting diagnosed with kidney stones so that he can avoid the session, only for the doctor to let him know that he is completely fine. George Saunders arrives at Railton and Hank hosts him. The author talks to the professors of the English department and then to Hank’s students. Bartow reads a short story he wrote to Saunders, who commends the same. Bartow targets Hank by saying that the students had to wait for the writer’s arrival to learn anything new and relevant about the process of writing. During the conversation with the students, Saunders asks Hank why the latter had stopped writing, offending the latter.
Hank shares his distress with his wife Lily, who tells him their daughter has some “big news” to share. They believe that Julie is pregnant. Hank talks about the same to his mother, who gives him an ancestral ring to pass the same to Julie, only for Hank to ask her why she hadn’t given the same to Lily when she got pregnant. Bartow and a few other students form a club of “excellence” to seek the same in writing and life. Paul Rourke disturbs Gracie DuBois and her class with the noise of his car, only for Gracie to make sure that his car is towed away from the parking spot in the name of unpaid parking tickets.
Lucky Hank Episode 2 Ending: Why Does Hank Hate Saunders? Do They Reconnect?
Although Hank and Saunders have known each other for years, the former doesn’t even try to hide his hostile demeanor towards the latter. Hank doesn’t want to face Saunders because of his failure and his friend’s growth as two contemporary writers. Hank and Saunders published their first novels around the same time, only for the latter to become one of the most renowned and acclaimed writers of their time while the former is a forgotten writer in a mediocre college. In addition, Hank is also jealous of Saunders for being the subject of the love and care of his father William Henry Devereaux.
Professor Devereaux hasn’t talked to Hank for around fifteen years. The same man, however, has championed and praised Saunders and his works several times. Hank must have been thinking that the famed writer is more like a son to his father than the latter’s real son. Hank also thinks that Saunders didn’t care to read his first novel, which was an immense failure. These factors combine to make the professor hostile towards Saunders. Hank and Saunders eventually clear the misunderstandings between them to reconnect as friends. The professor confronts the writer about not reading his novel, only for the latter to reveal that he had read the work and admires the same.
Hank may have also realized that it is pointless to hate a third person in the name of his tumultuous relationship with his father Professor Devereaux. The professor tells Lily that his father wouldn’t have loved or cared for him even if he was a great writer. Professor Devereaux had never been able to be a good father amid committing his life to academia. Hank being an acclaimed writer was not expected to change his father, which makes the former realize that Saunders didn’t replace him in his father’s life by becoming a better writer.
Why Does Gracie Throw Her Chair Away?
Gracie always drags an old chair to her class to sit on. Her students ask her about the need of doing the same, only for her to explain its significance. Gracie tells them that the particular chair was placed next to her father’s chair in the dining room while she was growing up. The only way Gracie could sit on the same was by reciting a poem she had written. Her father would allow her to sit on the same only when she had to read her creation. Gracie believes that the chair symbolizes her father’s admiration towards her poems, only for a student to describe the incident as “messed up.”
Gracie then throws away the chair. She must have realized that her father was an inadequate one who demanded something in return for even being attentive toward his own daughter or spending some time with her. The professor may have understood that a good father would have spent his time with his daughter regardless of whether she had written a poem. After these realizations, in her view, the chair must have become a symbol of the love her father didn’t give his daughter. By throwing away the same, Gracie must be accepting the truth about her loveless father than convincing herself that he admired her.
Is Julie Pregnant?
No, Julie is not pregnant. When Julie tells her mother Lily that she has “big news” to tell her parents, the school teacher thinks that her daughter is pregnant. She starts to prepare to become a grandmother, starting with learning how to call one “grandmother” in several languages. As far as Lily is concerned, Julie being pregnant is the “big news” the latter can share with her after her daughter had started to live with her boyfriend Russell.
Hank and Lily meet Julie and Russell for dinner to learn the news, only for their daughter’s boyfriend to start talking about building a swimming pool. The ”big news” Julie wants to share with her parents is that the couple had decided to build a swimming pool with a business model in place. The immature couple thinks that it is “big” enough to explain the same to Julie’s parents, seemingly to get them involved in the same financially.
Read More: Is Lucky Hank Based on a True Story?
