Can This Dinosaur Change?

In the opening shot of AMC’s series the camera approaches from behind and encircles a bearded, middle-aged man wearing a tweed jacket, satchel slung over his right shoulder. You guessed it: He’s a college professor. He stands alone, looking across the campus pond—but mostly, it seems, looking inward. This figure, as we learn over the course of the first episode, is William Henry Devereaux Jr., or “Hank” (played by Bob Odenkirk), the chair of the English department at the fictional Railton College. If Hank is in any sense “lucky,” he’s unconvinced of the fact. His career has been a disappointment, especially when held up against that of his celebrated father and namesake: The preeminent literary critic of his generation, Hank Sr. has just announced his retirement from Columbia University, prompting a midlife crisis in his son. (Railton, which Hank mockingly plays over the brief scene at the pond, but if Hank’s an emperor, he’s Napoleon—exiled on Elba and bereft.