Chance Season 2 Episode 9 Review: A Madness of Two
Kassie King
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On Chance Season 2 Episode 9 Chance comes clean about his crimes with interesting results, Nicole ponders her next move, and D goes all out to protect Lorena.
After being taken into custody, Chance decides to plead guilty to the assault and own up to the decisions that he's made -- a move almost the antithesis of everything he has done so far.
When explaining this decision to D, Chance talked about the lack of regret he had for his actions, but how he still felt okay about taking responsibility for what he did. This is possibly most self-aware and mature I've seen Chance act in the two-season run of this show.
D, never one to back down to the long arm of the law, of course, thought this move is pretty stupid and even tries to guilt Chance into running away by mentioning how jail time will separate him from Nicole.
Chance: Honestly, I don't regret it. I don't regret what I've done or what I've asked you to do on my behalf. I'm guilty of it. I'm going to take responsibility for it. That's probably the best thing I can do for Nicole right now.
D: Pretty stupid, getting locked up and leaving her over a fuckin' moral abstraction.
Chance: Is it? An abstraction, I mean. Because it feels real to me. I felt guilty because I wasn't able to do more. So, I did more. And I reinforced the cycle of fallout that we're all trapped in because I wanted to have control. But I didn't have control because no one has control.
D: So, why you did it doesn't matter? All intents and purposes, you and Matty Willis are the same? And Wade Pardo and Lambert? Because you're not.
Chance: Everyone's got to take responsibility for what we're doing, for what we've done to each other. I can't ask of other people something that I won't ask of myself.
This strategy didn't make that much sense to me because if Chance was caught skipping bail, he'd be given more time and would be away from his daughter longer, he didn't even know where Nicole was at this point, and she wasn't very eager to speak to him either.
Yes, Chance believed that taking ownership of his behavior would set the best example for Nicole and that I could understand. For a moment it seemed that Chance's fall might be the one thing that could set Nicole on the right path.
She, of course, wanted to stay at the runaway teenage hangout -- which looked pretty cool, if a little grimy.
Christina: We don't know where [Nicole] is. And you just got out of jail?
Chance: Well, I think maybe I understand what she might be thinking right now.
Christina: Right, no, you understand. You keep telling her that the dangerous, furious way that she's acting is -- it's natural. It's chemical, it's not even her fault, because... she's exactly like you.
Rather than sending her back to her mother, Chance left Nicole in Lucy's care which was a surprisingly smart idea. I hope that these two strong young women might be able to help each other work through the crap that they've gone through over the course of Chance Season 2.
It's clear how much Lucy cares for Chance and the loyalty she has for him -- especially when she went as far as to post his $8,000 bail. You don't spend your entire savings to help someone out unless you feel like you owe them something.
We also FINALLY got a bit of an explanation regarding that random painting that Chance bought with Nicole back on Chance Season 1 Episode 2. Gifting it to Lucy to repay his bail was a sweet gesture.
Chance: Besides the occasional lapse in judgement, I think you could really help people. You deserve that. I think you should go back to school, you should get your degree and get out there, and you can be for patients what you've always been for me.
Lucy: Yeah, okay, I will.
Chance: Good.
Lucy: And I want you to figure out how to be in the world in a way that doesn't hurt you. You deserve that.
D covered a lot of territory throughout this hour, taking out gang members from San Fran all the way to Tijuana, Mexico, and all in the name of love.
I find it incredibly sweet how much D cares for Lorena and is willing to put himself at risk again and again to protect her.
As one of the most complex and interesting characters I've seen on screen, D's probably the only person that could stab a bunch of guys with number 2 pencils and then profess his love with a romantic gesture and be believable in both scenes.
Lorena: This is crazy, you and me, whatever. I don't even know what this is. It feels like a story or something, it's not even real.
D: It's as real as it gets.
It's clear that Lorena's care for D is reciprocated, particularly when she agreed to try to take Hector out despite the danger of the gang. D trusted her enough to sacrifice himself to Cesar in her place, and to tell her his real name -- a very personal and painful thing for him to do.
D: My name is Darius Pringle.
Lorena: Apology accepted.
Chance certainly cares for D as well, skipping bail to go to Mexico and see D after he was badly wounded killing Hector. But he also had ulterior motives...
At first, I was pretty pissed to see Chance go on the run after everything he touted to both D and Nicole about taking responsibility and doing the right thing. It was incredibly hypocritical and reminded me how everything with this guy had been one step forward and two steps back.
He did, however, have an explanation: Frank Lambert. Chance managed to get Sid on his side regarding Frank's involvement in the Winter murders and the even had his DNA to prove it.
Frank's a smart guy, though, and he was able to talk himself out of being arrested and confronted Chance directly about throwing him under the bus.
It was a shock to me when Frank insisted that he had a backup accomplice now that Winter was out of the picture, and it clearly shook Chance to his core -- enough to give up on "doing the right thing" once and for all.
It seems that Chance fled because he discovered that Frank is going to continue killing, and I'm sure he'll want to take him down. Easier done from Mexico than a state penitentiary, I'm guessing.
To me, Frank declaring he's not going to stop killing just reiterates that there will always be another monster that needs to be taken care of. And Chance's belief that he is the man to do it proves that he still hasn't learned anything from the mess he's created around him.
Frank: When something feels that good, does a person ever just do it once?
Chance: No. Especially if it's part of a shared psychosis.
Frank: I'm sorry. What'd you call me?
Chance: Folie a deux. Madness of two people. One individual is psychotic, is dominant. The other one is suggestible, susceptible. They're both operating under the same delusion. Winter's madness drove him, but you exploited it, you captialized on his trauma for your own purposes. He wanted to get out of it, but you made sure that he wouldn't. Couldn't. All the way to the end.
Frank: Why would I do that? Hmm? Why would I do any of that?
Chance: Because you wanted to. Because you like it. Because you're entire neural network is conditioned to that now. When you were entrenched with Winter, your reactions, sexual and psychological, were all responses to power and terror. Now he's gone. So you're alone with you desires, your responses. You're going to be staring down the barrel of the rest of your life without anyone to help you achieve them. What a thing it is, in life, to find even one person who understands your darkest heart, let alone two.
Frank: You're right. He is gone, but I'm not alone. I wouldn't do that to myself. Come on, Doc. You think I don't know how to plan for contingencies? You know, if there's one thing that I've learned from my job, it's how to prepare. It's how to play the long game, right? He is gone, but I'm not alone.
With only one episode left in the season, it seems like everyone is at a crossroads and there's no good prediction for where it might go next.
Who do you think Frank's new accomplice might be? Should Chance have gone on the run? Is Lorena safe? Comment your thoughts below!
Catch up with the latest episodes when you watch Chance online!
Kassie King was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in December 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
