Everyone in this episode has an issue. There is not a smile to be had. D is off trying to save Lorena. Winter is nutty as a fruitcake and is in prison, being held. I wonder what's in it for Frank other than saving his butt. What did he hope to get from Winter. Does he get all the money? Then there's Nicole, in one of those outward bound places, being punished for being a victim and smacking that girl. Mom is a coward and a reactionary and doesn't look into her own issues. Chance has handed over possible DNA evidence that may implicate Frank. This Roller Coaster is about to come down. The whole thing is so dark. I really look forward to the final two episodes.
3 Reviews
All About Hubris
hilaryjrp16 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
"An Infant, a Brute or a Wild Beast" refers to the three types of sentient beings who'd have no idea of the consequences of their actions in criminal court. Lambert says it to Winter, when, either at his lawyer's behest or on his own initiative, the confessed serial killer plans an insanity defense. At one point in this incredibly economical episode, one character reminds another of the wisdom of the old adage that the person who sets out to get revenge should dig two graves: one for whoever wronged him or her, and the second for one's self. Oh, do "Chance" fans *ever* see how sound this advice is in season 2's eighth episode. In fact, though, nearly every character, including Winter, really IS an "infant, a brute, or a wild beast" when it comes to acting on impulse rather than reason. Nicole at reform-school-camp puts on a "Yes-Man" act for her wholesome captors, only to skedaddle into absolute wilderness. D decides that Lorena's decision to skip town isn't the best idea, and it's better for him to confront an entire entourage of the gang leader who impregnated her. And Chance. Oh, Chance. His idiotic boss at the clinic, hell-bent to find the thug who has gone around maiming and almost killing the rapists, murderers, and assailants who have hurt the clinic's victims, not only makes certain Lambert and Gilyard get the sketch-artist's rendition of D. She accidentally sees D leave Chance's apartment. She fires Chance. Then he's arrested. But before he's arrested, he gives maybe his best explanation of why he is the way he is (and why, for that matter, all his friends and his daughter are the way they are): they want revenge. They want relief. They want justice. Thank God, the writers don't redeem Winter, because in deciding to plead insanity, he shows that he's not sorry for all his butchery. He's so infatuated with Chance, he wants to make him happy--which is also a way of making himself happy rather than of being penitent. As you can see by all the various characters I've referenced or whose scenes I've described, this episode is chock full of exposition--and I haven't covered half of it in this review. It's not an episode you hurt from at the end because of one particular character's story arc. In fact, there's enough material so that the producers easily could have spread it out over two episodes. But with the exception of Greta Lee, every actor has great scenes; and, most importantly, every character's actions and decisions prove that each is acting "under diminished capacity," because each wants revenge, relief, and justice. And none of them get any of those things.
"Chance" is THE show to watch this autumn. It also addresses the "business" of psychology or psychiatry, and shows how unbearable the stresses of counseling one victim after the next can be. Nearly every episode this season gets a "10" from me; the series is a modern morality play, very very somber, but oddly more inspiring than, or equally inspiring as, a religious sermon, because of how it shows that no one escapes the darkness.
"An Infant, a Brute or a Wild Beast" refers to the three types of sentient beings who'd have no idea of the consequences of their actions in criminal court. Lambert says it to Winter, when, either at his lawyer's behest or on his own initiative, the confessed serial killer plans an insanity defense. At one point in this incredibly economical episode, one character reminds another of the wisdom of the old adage that the person who sets out to get revenge should dig two graves: one for whoever wronged him or her, and the second for one's self. Oh, do "Chance" fans *ever* see how sound this advice is in season 2's eighth episode. In fact, though, nearly every character, including Winter, really IS an "infant, a brute, or a wild beast" when it comes to acting on impulse rather than reason. Nicole at reform-school-camp puts on a "Yes-Man" act for her wholesome captors, only to skedaddle into absolute wilderness. D decides that Lorena's decision to skip town isn't the best idea, and it's better for him to confront an entire entourage of the gang leader who impregnated her. And Chance. Oh, Chance. His idiotic boss at the clinic, hell-bent to find the thug who has gone around maiming and almost killing the rapists, murderers, and assailants who have hurt the clinic's victims, not only makes certain Lambert and Gilyard get the sketch-artist's rendition of D. She accidentally sees D leave Chance's apartment. She fires Chance. Then he's arrested. But before he's arrested, he gives maybe his best explanation of why he is the way he is (and why, for that matter, all his friends and his daughter are the way they are): they want revenge. They want relief. They want justice. Thank God, the writers don't redeem Winter, because in deciding to plead insanity, he shows that he's not sorry for all his butchery. He's so infatuated with Chance, he wants to make him happy--which is also a way of making himself happy rather than of being penitent. As you can see by all the various characters I've referenced or whose scenes I've described, this episode is chock full of exposition--and I haven't covered half of it in this review. It's not an episode you hurt from at the end because of one particular character's story arc. In fact, there's enough material so that the producers easily could have spread it out over two episodes. But with the exception of Greta Lee, every actor has great scenes; and, most importantly, every character's actions and decisions prove that each is acting "under diminished capacity," because each wants revenge, relief, and justice. And none of them get any of those things.
"Chance" is THE show to watch this autumn. It also addresses the "business" of psychology or psychiatry, and shows how unbearable the stresses of counseling one victim after the next can be. Nearly every episode this season gets a "10" from me; the series is a modern morality play, very very somber, but oddly more inspiring than, or equally inspiring as, a religious sermon, because of how it shows that no one escapes the darkness.
Episode 208
bobcobb30119 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
It looks like Chance is going the True Detective route of almost everyone dying this season. Killing off Ryan was a mistake, but the developments this episode had with D and Nicole make me curious to see how the season will finish.
This has been a good year for the show and while this was just an okay episode, it was better than most TV this week.
This has been a good year for the show and while this was just an okay episode, it was better than most TV this week.
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