Bob Odenkirk as Hank in a scene from “Lucky Hank.” Sergei Bachlakov photo/AMC

After my initial exposure to AMC+ new series “Lucky Hank,” starring the great Bob Odenkirk, (“Better Call Saul”) the studio released three more chapters of the series, and late last night, I sat through one new chapter “The Clock,” twice.

SERIES INFO

Comedy, Drama
An English department chairman at an underfunded college, Professor Hank Devereaux toes the line between midlife crisis and full-blown meltdown, navigating the offbeat chaos in his personal and professional life.
Rating: Mild violence and gore, frightening and intense scenes, with moderate profanity.
Creators: Paul Lieberstein, Aaron Zelman
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Arthur Keng, Haig Sutherland
Streams: AMC+

“The Clock” centers on a towering antique timepiece from Hank’s childhood, that has, with a massive collection of his father’s home, just been dumped in front of Hank’s garage.

In accepting help getting it into the house, he mumbles something about “Lily’s fantasy.” Hold onto that.

In a flashback from Hank’s boyhood, we watch a startling, emotionally draining event that almost ends young Hank’s life and this series. Stay with that, more draining is coming.

Back to the dinner part segment, we see Hank’s wife Lily (an amazing Mireille Enos) getting ready to go to an interview for a stunning new job at a school in New York.

If she’s accepted, we all, including the entire staff at Railton, take it for granted that Hank will move with her, and find a position in New York. Really?

In a flashback, we watch Lily in New York, having dinner at a posh restaurant with her new to-be boss, supercilious, naughty old boyfriend Tom (Chris Diamantopoulos).

Something happens here at a restaurant phone booth that changes this series from the sitcom we watched on its debut to a full out drama involving all the players that breaks open their hidden, darker and unexpected colors.

Flashing ahead, Lily has returned home, and we’re at the Devereaux’s big annual dinner party for the staff of the English Department at their lakeside home.

At their table, with more good wine, tons of food, and joyful conversations about Gracie DuBois’s (Suzanne Cryer) Atlantic Magazine acceptance of her curious poem, gradually, fueled by merlot, hidden doors in multiple hearts crack open, spilling secrets across the stew and biscuits, and out to the porch. This is why such writing is called art.

At this table, “Lucky Hank” suddenly recalls a play by the late Arthur Miller.

It brings to mind the fateful dinner table scene from Miller’s 1947 “All My Sons,” where a father’s long buried secret destroys a family.

I’m wondering if writer and executive producer Richard Russo, whose novel “Straight Man,” is the source of “Hank,” and writer Paul Lieberstein held that thought.

“The Clock” is so far, the best of the few segments offered, but, I would not be surprised if more like this come along before the show wins its first Emmy.

We are the lucky ones who can afford the cost of AMC to spend an evening with these artists.

“Lucky Hank” streams on AMC+.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.