Tag: Gretchen Mol

Chance: Fluid Management – A Real Sh*t Show (Review)

Hugh Laurie as Eldon Chance

The season finale of Chance “Fluid Management” walks the viewer into the Blackstone meeting backwards. We start with Eldon being found alive but unconscious on the beach and end with the doctor’s life changing into a, presumably, more violent version of his old one.

At long last we learn about the life altering event that caused Jaclyn to develop her alter-ego Jackie. Along with this information comes the realization that the other psychiatrist’s murder was committed by Jackie.

Raymond cleaned the crime scene up and he too “fell” for Jaclyn/Jackie’s messed up lies and mental issues.

Other revelations include learning that Detective Hynes is, in his own way, as corrupt as Blackstone and that Carl is much more than an antiques dealer.

D can be almost be seen as a sort of violence prone Pied Piper of Hamlyn. Not only does Chance almost blindly follow the man’s advice on all things lethal, so too does Carl.

“Thing you got to love about Carl… You ask him to crash his car, he just does it… no questions, no hesitation. Let’s face it… The guy’s got balls.”

D says this to Chance, neither as a recrimination nor a reprimand, it is just a matter of fact to the big man.  There is little doubt that D trained Carl as well and he is to be joined by Eldon as another changed member of society.

Not having read the books that Chance the series is based upon, there is no indication where this will head next. At the end of this episode, Eldon brings his trainer a cheeseburger, and a malted. He also brings one for himself.

The implication being that the two will re enact what they did to Blackstone but this time it will be Hynes on the receiving end of that blade.  Eldon Chance is over his initial squeamishness and horror at the things D taught him. Just as he has accepted the facts of D and is comfortable with the knowledge that his friend and mentor is just as mentally screwed up as he is.

This is the final message of Chance. Everyone in the show suffers from some sort of mental aberration.  Jackie/Jacklyn are two sides of the same coin, a personality split caused by the death of her baby when she was a child.

Eldon has an obsessive personality and he has passed on this trait to his daughter Nicole.  D lost himself to violent fantasies that he learned to make real by researching military men who served in Iraq and Afganistan.

Raymond Blackstone was, in essence, a control freak who responded well to Jaclyn’s preprogrammed brainwashing drill. The same one she pulls on Chance later. The same one, presumably, she used on Blackstone’s predecessor.

At the end of the season, Jackie/Jaclyn has left for points unknown after revealing the truth of what really happened to her first therapist.  Eldon has returned to D to reveal that another bent cop is thinking of leaning on him for money.

The circle is still turning. This time, however, it appears that Eldon is a willing participant in the upcoming “sh*t show.”

Hugh Laurie knocks it out of the park as Dr. Eldon Chance. After years of playing Dr. Gregory House in House, the English actor can not only play an American flawlessly, he convinces all too easily as a doctor.

Ethan Suplee was the standout performer on this series. His “D” was creepy, deadly and downright un-nerving. He came close to stealing the show from his co-stars.  It is necessary to point out that Laurie clearly had no problem with this as he facilitated the actor.

Laurie also allowed Gretchen Mol the freedom needed to make her damaged dove more than believable. Mad props also go to Paul Adelstein for his portrayal of Raymond. Bad guys with this many layers are hard to pull off but the actor managed it easily.

Show creators Alexandra Cunningham and Kem Nunn really knocked this one right out of the park. This was a fascinating, gritty drama that quickly became required viewing.

Chance, based on the book by Nunn, is streaming on Hulu. Take a moment and watch this one from the start. You will be glad you did.

Cast:

Guest starring Derek Webster as Detective Newsome and Clarke Peters as Carl.

Chance: The Unflinching Spark – Shocker (Review)

Hugh Laurie as Eldon Chance

Chance: “The Unflinching Spark”  sees everything fall apart for Eldon.  The episode picks up right after the accident. Not only does Chance find out that Jaclyn has been playing him, but his daughter seems to have inherited some of his mental issues.

Raymond did not die from the knife wound and he is in hospital recovering from the knife that D put in his chest. Eldon learns that the other man killed by D was not a cop.

At the home front, Chance questions his daughter about the boy she is supposed to be stalking. Nicole downplays the incident and says her former boyfriend’s parents are over protective.

Eldon is let go from his recent job as psychiatric expert when the file containing information about his breakdown is delivered to his employer. Raymond is obviously behind the gesture.

Jaclyn arrives at Eldon’s office and they talk. She tells him that the black knight chess piece was found at a thrift store. “It reminded me of you,” she says. Later Chance will find another black knight at Raymond’s place.

The two go to his apartment and have sex. Jaclyn tells Eldon that they should not see each other again. Later he learns that Nicole lied to him about what she was doing with her ex boyfriend.

D and Eldon enter Raymond’s apartment. D plants some evidence to thrown the cop off the trail. He spray paints the symbol for vengeance on a painting. It is here that Chance finds the other chess piece.

After the break-in, he and his ex meet with the parents of the lad that Nicole is stalking. It turns out that she was obsessively sending him texts. After being blocked off his account, she then created false names so she could continue her smear campaign.

After D killed the goon outside Raymond’s bordello and then threw  the knife into Jaclyn’s husband, things have spiraled out of control.  Nicky apparently takes after her father with obsessive behavior and Raymond is clearly moving against Eldon.

Chance goes home and hears men’s voices in his apartment. He heads back downstairs and finds two more men waiting outside his building. Eldon hides in a neighbor’s apartment as the men in his flat leave.

He goes to D’s and finds the door open. As he cautiously enters the room, he stumbles over D laying on the floor. It appears that the big man is dead, killed by the same men who were waiting for Chance in his apartment.

If that is the case, then Raymond, who is in the hospital with a collapsed lung, is orchestrating the retaliation from his bed.  It looks like Jaclyn has been playing both men off one another.

The appearance of the other black knight chess piece seems to indicate, at the very least, that she lied about the thing. Chance’s reaction to finding the piece suggests he had no idea she is not genuine.

Eldon is clearly obsessed with Jaclyn so it may not matter in the end if she is not as she appears. What will matter is D’s death, if he is indeed dead.  After helping Chance escalate things against Blackstone, the doctor will be hopelessly out of his depth if D is gone.

Chance airs Wednesdays on Hulu.  Tune in and get hooked on this gripping thriller.

Cast:

Guest starring Sal Lopez as Jean-Babtiste.

‘Laggies’ Keira Knightley Proves Growing Up Is Hard to Do

‘Laggies’ Keira Knightley Proves Growing Up Is Hard to Do

In Laggies, Keira Knightley proves that growing up is hard to do, especially if you are a step or two behind your 20 something friends who all have their lives seemingly sorted out. Directed more than capably by Lynn Shelton (Touchy Feely, Your Sister’s Sister) from a screenplay by Andrea Seigel, in her first effort, the film looks at Megan, who at 20 something still stops by to be her dad’s “sign girl.” She has also developed an inability to connect with her oldest and dearest friends.

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