Back in January, I wrote a review of the HBO series Luck.  It included a mini rant on the frustrations of watching television shows and movies when you can’t understand what the characters are saying…not because of their vocabulary but because of their e-nun-ci-a-tion.  For weeks thereafter, I got hits on my blog when people googled the search terms “unintelligible dialog.” Really.  No joke.

The news just broke that HBO is now going to cancel the series, following the deaths of three racehorses during production.  The circumstances surrounding the first two deaths are shrouded in mystery, as they say, but the third horse was euthanized after rearing and flipping over.  Without knowing more, I have to chalk it up to bad luck.

As sad as it is, there’s something poignant in art imitating nature and having nature exact its revenge, to which art must submit.  I’m only putting this language in here in honor of David Milch, who would understand. He can use it if he wants in his next project.  He’s got a first look deal with HBO that includes works from Faulkner.  How perfect is that?  Summer’s coming up, so you can enjoy your own festival of unintelligible dialog in A Summer of Faulkner:  As I Lay Dying/The Sound and the Fury/Light in August, from Oprah’s Book Club (go, Oprah!).  After reading it, you realize that the concept of “inside leg to outside rein” is actually pretty straightforward, in contrast.

I’ve gotten involved in the characters on Luck, and I’ll miss seeing how they develop.  I had hoped to see Nick Nolte sleeping in the shed row, but I guess I won’t get to see that either, unless they surprise me in the season finale scheduled for March 25th.

What will I miss most?  Chantal Sutherland.  Some may remember her from the Animal Planet reality show Jockeys.  How lucky the Luck people were that she rides at Santa Anita during the winter.  To see her on a horse is to witness something as close to perfection as a rider gets.  Her hands move, of course, but all the other parts of her body absorb the motion of the horse in such a way that they appear still.  Every rider in every discipline can learn something from her.  If you haven’t seen the show, it’s worth catching the racing footage just to see her ride.