Drama
The Five-Star Weekend
In Peacock’s ‘The Five-Star Weekend,’ Hollis Shaw invites four friends to join her for a girl’s weekend in Nantucket as she grieves her late husband.
Luciana Armstrong is lucky. Also, that’s her nickname.
Alright, you may say it’s pretty unlucky that her husband, Cary, seemingly abandoned her, taking with him a suitcase full of cash they stole—$10 million connected to a “mob-related biodiversity scheme” that’s about to get both the mob and the FBI on her tail.
You may even say Lucky’s rather unlucky in that it was her jailed father, John, who brought her into the criminal life—especially since he’s the whole reason why she had to get the money to begin with.
But escaping Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas while dozens of FBI agents search for her? That’s pretty lucky.
And the goons who ran down the FBI agent who held her at gunpoint and tried to arrest her? Another lucky break.
And when those goons throw her into their trunk, hoping they’ll be able to torture the suitcase’s location out of her? Well, turns out everything she needs to escape is conveniently right there in the trunk.
Yes, Lucky might be stuck in the middle of the hot Nevada desert with everybody and their uncle searching for her or trying to kill her.
But you’ve gotta admit, it’s been a pretty impressive streak of luck thus far.
As lucky as Lucky is, we can’t say the same for viewers of Apple TV+’s Lucky.
For a crime drama, this show sure takes its time. Unfortunately, it’s not in that “slow burn” kind of way. It’s just slow in the “this could’ve been an email” way. That’s strike one for any series claiming to be about both crime and drama.
Alongside the story, Lucky’s content issues could use some work, too. Violence is, as expected in this genre, the biggest problem, including a scene of a man getting stabbed in the head with a screwdriver. Heavy language enters into the mix, too. And the main character runs around in a shirt that is revealing.
Typically, shows have some merits based in the plot or overarching messages. But with a show like Lucky, there’s just not much we can say in its favor at all.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
After waking up to find her husband and the money they stole gone, Lucky must dodge FBI agents and mobsters alike as they seek to bring her to justice—however that may look to them.
It’s apparent Lucky is not wearing a bra under a white tank top throughout much of the episode. Elsewhere Lucky wears a dress with a very short skirt, and when she falls to the ground, it rides up her thigh. Lucky and Cary kiss many times.
A man’s arm gets set on fire with a flare. He presumably dies in a car crash. Another man dies when stabbed through the head with a screwdriver. A man punches and kicks Lucky and tries to strangle her. A man gets struck by a car. (We learn in a subsequent episode that he survives, but he’ll no longer be able to get around.) Lucky lies to a man about being in an abusive relationship to garner his sympathy.
A man has a cross tattooed on his neck.
Lucky and Cary take some shots of liquor, and they chug glasses of champagne. When Lucky wakes up, she seems hungover. Whether from the alcohol or from stress, Lucky vomits.
We hear seven uses of the f-word and one of the s-word. We also hear “a–” and “d–n.” God’s name is used in vain five times, including three instances paired with “d–n.”
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
In Peacock’s ‘The Five-Star Weekend,’ Hollis Shaw invites four friends to join her for a girl’s weekend in Nantucket as she grieves her late husband.
Prime Video’s ‘Elle’, a prequel to ‘Legally Blonde’, gives us a peek at squeaky-clean Elle Woods when she attended a less than squeaky-clean high school.
Prime Video’s ‘A Band Called LoveSong’ gives us an in-depth documentary examining one of the most influential Christian bands in history.
Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ is a wholesome watch that tastefully hints at its content concerns rather than show them onscreen.