NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Lucky Hank episode 5, "The Clock"
In a cruel bit of irony, while Railton College is slashing its budget and proposing staff cuts, it gives the English department money every year to host a dinner party, put on by Hank (Bob Odenkirk). You can guess how well that goes each year. But this year's dinner party, which makes up the entirety of Lucky Hank episode 5, may take the cake.
Before the festivities begin, Hank has a flashback about the grandfather clock in his father's office when he was young. Now that the clock is in the pod with the rest of his father's stuff, Hank has a desire to keep the clock, telling Lily (Mireille Enos) that he always felt a connection to the inanimate object that adorned his father's domain.
The episode is broken up into different courses of a classic meal. The hors d'oeuvre kicking things off is Lily getting the job at the school in New York. Lily tells Hank and he is proud of her, but immediately mentions this will give her great leverage to make demands at her current school. Lily goes along with that, but now that she has an offer, she is starting to wonder why she shouldn't take the job.
The rest of the English department arrives and even as they get away from the school, their animosity toward one another is just barely covered up through pleasantries. Rourke (Cedric Yarbrough) constantly brings up how he wanted to buy Hank's house years ago, and still wants to, much to his wife Joanie’s (Alison Araya) annoyance. Gracie (Suzanne Cryer) screams when she finds out she is getting published in The Atlantic and then can't stop talking about it; and Tony (Diedrich Bader), who shows up initially to help Hank move the clock, gets involved in an awkward situation with Teddy (Arthur Keng) and June's (Alvina August) open marriage.
But when word starts to spread about Lily getting the job offer, everything hovers around that. Everyone says its an opportunity she can’t pass up (though definitely part of that is likely another chance to oust Hank as department chair). Hank is unconvinced though, believing they already discussed she wouldn't take the job and that nothing has changed. But Lily is starting to become more assertive that this is something she is interested in.
Hank gets a bad feeling as to why when he sees a text from Tom (Chris Diamantopoulos) about his and Lily's kiss. Hank confronts Lily about it. She apologizes for not telling him initially, but assures him it was nothing. Hank says he believes her, but he's not totally convinced. In a bit of retribution, he calls Julie (Olivia Scott Welch), saying Lily is "leaving" them.
That brings us to the main course. Hank decides to make a toast to Lily, saying he is proud of her for getting the job and it is something that they’ll discuss. But the rest of the department keeps prodding just what they are going to do, further frustrating Hank. When Julie arrives, Hank believes he may finally have the upper hand again. After she and Lily talk outside, Lily comes back to dinner with a new agenda, confirming she is planning on taking the job. In fact, Julie may even move to New York as well. Again, everyone else pushes while Hank and Lily make point and counterpoint for staying and going, until Hank finally admits that even if Lily does take the job, he is not moving to New York.
Lily decides to play a game she calls "what percentage of happy are you," taking inspiration from Hank's comment back in the first episode that he is 20% happy. Lily asks him point blank what lower percentage, if any, he would have to hit to actually make a change in his life.
Hank apologizes to Lily and says he is willing to do a long distance situation. This gets others talking about their own experiences with long distance relationships. Teddy and June say long distance actually strengthened their relationship, while Rourke gives a lovely example about how a long distance relationship with his first wife actually allowed him to meet and fall in love with Joanie. However, when people bring up the fact that is more of a breakup story, it starts the argument between Hank and Lily again, as he brings up Tom.
Lily tries pull Hank away from the table, but he isn’t moving, even when Rourke and Gracie are on the same side for once that he needs to talk with his wife in private. Lily asks why he feels he has to stay, to which Hank says his life is here, but Lily quickly pokes holes in that argument; he may live in Railton, but he is not living a life. She then tries to assure him taking this job is not some kind of condemnation on Hank, but he doesn't see it that way.
That's because of what happened with his father. With flashbacks, we realize that Hank sees his father's abandonment and Lily's potential departure as similar instances. He breaks down crying and we learn from the flashback that as his father was leaving, Hank tried to kill himself. But the light fixture in his father's office he was using broke from the ceiling. His father finds him, but doesn't say anything or offer any comfort.
The department leaves Hank and Lily to figure it out. They silently wash the dishes, while Hank speaks about how when his father found him he simply called Hank's mother to take care of it. His mom said that they'll never speak of it again. It looks like Hank may be opening up and telling this to Lily and the two embrace, but that is just Hank’s imagination, as he keeps it all to himself in an internal monologue.
As the episode ends, Lily says, "let's go to bed," and they walk off, silently holding hands.
New episodes of Lucky Hank air on Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC. They are also available to stream on AMC Plus.
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