"Lucky" and the many faces of Anya Taylor-Joy A story of heists, chases, and action arrives on Apple TV+ – enjoyable, but not outstanding

Any serialized product from Apple TV+, even when it's not among the most exciting, tends to be consistently good enough. That's the case this time with Lucky, a seven-episode miniseries whose title refers to the protagonist played by Anya Taylor-Joy. Among the producers is Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine which, true to form, draws from a literary source for its adaptation — the story is taken from the novel of the same name by Marissa Stapley, published in 2021. The screenplay is by Jonathan Tropper of Your Friends & Neighbors, also an Apple TV+ production, and rounding out the cast are Annette Bening and Timothy Olyphant alongside Drew Starkey, known from Outer Banks and launched onto the international stage with Luca Guadagnino's Queer.

Lucky on Apple TV+: plot and expectations for the miniseries

All the makings of a successful miniseries were there, as was confidence in the project and its quality aspirations — just look at a collaboration like the one with singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, who wrote and performs the theme song, «Horns of a Bull». Yet it may be the competition from other titles — particularly on the same platform — that prevents Lucky from truly standing out, in a landscape where audiences are now saturated with serialized content and you have to be genuinely brilliant to distinguish yourself from the crowd.

Its cast members all manage to do so. Anya Taylor-Joy plays a young woman who finds herself stranded after her husband one morning leaves her alone and frightened in a Las Vegas hotel room. He has taken with him an enormous sum of money, itself stolen from a dangerous criminal network that the young woman wanted nothing more to do with. To understand what happened and reclaim what is rightfully hers, Lucky will attempt to piece together the events and regain control of the situation. Heartbroken but determined, the protagonist will pursue her own personal revenge and, above all, a way to take back what she's owed — all while trying to evade federal agents.

Anya Taylor-Joy is Lucky: a thief of disguises and revenge

Raised on a diet of theft, Taylor-Joy's Lucky is a sharp and determined young woman who has absorbed as much as possible from the teachings of her criminal father, applying them to survive and showcasing her countless qualities to anyone watching. Forced to run and adapt to every situation, the protagonist will draw on her family's skills — which, in terms of the actress's performance, translate into constantly wearing a different mask, blending into the background, and transforming herself into whoever she needs to be to get what she wants. Lucky is a seasoned thief and a remarkable actress (both the character and her portrayer). And one of the most captivating aspects of the miniseries is watching how she disguises herself at every turn, putting her abilities into practice.

Hot on her heels in the Apple TV+ show is her father, a charming and conniving Timothy Olyphant who raised and shaped his daughter in his own image. Then there's the ever-magnificent Annette Bening, a ruthless counterpart interested only in business and bearing the weight of a life spent in shady dealings whose consequences have finally caught up with her. Two performances that add depth to the psychological complexity of Lucky's characters, in a mirror-play where the parent-child clash is front and center, shaped by the tension between who we are by nature and who we become through how we were raised — or rather, by whom. A human dimension that underpins the exchanges between the protagonists and is reflected in the two generations placed in contrast: Lucky and Cary (Starkey) on one side, young and determined to leave the past behind, and their parents John (Olyphant) and Priscilla (Bening), too deeply rooted in their trade to know who they are without it.

Lucky is a good crime series, but not unmissable

Alongside its character depth, Lucky delivers entertainment through the improbable yet effective solutions its protagonist finds to get herself out of any situation, as well as a steady dose of adrenaline through fights, shootouts, and chases that promise to keep the pace high with each episode. But, as noted earlier, there is only so much the Apple TV+ production can do — compared to the recent Pluribus and Widow's Bay, it lacks that extra spark that would make it truly unmissable and one of a kind. Another solid entry for the platform, if not a masterpiece.