Review by C.J. Bunce
Nearly a decade of episodes of the compelling medical mystery drama House, M.D. inspired a generation of doctors in the same way Law & Order inspired a generation of lawyers. For the medical mystery genre nothing has filled the void after Hugh Laurie’s brilliantly flawed Sherlock Holmes left the air. But did you know Laurie returned four years later in a series called Chance? In Chance, Laurie plays a neuroscientist plagued by his own neuroses, which results in a journey where he becomes a unique kind of vigilante. You can’t always differentiate Dr. Chance from Dr. House–at one point it even appears like Chance adopted House’s trademark limp. Wish you had more episodes of House, MD? This is as close as we’ll likely get.
If you missed this show, never fret–you can get caught up on it now. The two seasons of Chance are streaming on Hulu, and the best part is that it’s all a complete tale that doesn’t leave you hanging at the end.
But it’s not only a nostalgic return of one of TV’s best characters, or at least a spiritual sequel to House. The two seasons of the series take entirely different paths. The first season is a compelling, modern cousin to Hitchcock’s Vertigo. That’s right, it’s a San Francisco pulp noir tale told like a modern Hitchcock thriller–probably the best attempt yet to emulate Hitchcock’s unique brand of noir. Complete with Gretchen Mol as a Grace Kelly-esque damsel in distress (or is she more a sultry Kim Novak-esque femme fatale?), the stylish thriller introduces Dr. Chance as a man who has been known to get too close to his patients in the past. Does he care too much, or is there some deeper psychological element driving him to repeat the past?
The second season starts off with a bang and a surprise: it’s a superhero story. Greg House, M.D. episodes always felt to me like the best kind of Batman story–the superhero without the cape–especially when the character on the series went dark. Dr. Chance is practically the same character, only House at his most dark, his most dangerous, his most self-destructive. Plus viewers meet an entirely new kind of superhero via Ethan Suplee’s neuro-troubled friend named D, the kind of friend we all wish we had.
D is a phenom. He has his own sad origin story but from there this troubled guy built himself, he trained and forged himself, honing his skills to become the ultimate shifu, an enlightened, Renaissance philosopher who is also a warrior. D surrounds himself only with one man, Carl, played by Clarke Peters, a soft-spoken antiques dealer who also has his own worldview.
Dr. Chance stumbles upon D and Carl when he is forced to sell an antique desk. Dr. Chance’s home life is falling apart. His ex-wife, played by Diane Farr, would be out of his life if not for their daughter Nicole, played by Stefania LaVie Owen. Nicole is the fifth key character in the series. Dr. Chance and Nicole have chemistry as dad and daughter, very similar to Case Histories’ Jackson Brodie (Jason Isaacs) and his daughter Millie. By the time the second season rolls around D and Nicole have some discussions that sets Nicole off into her own world as high school badass.
Unlike House, Chance is half medical show, half crime show. It turns out D and Carl restore antiques and then sell them as untouched, which is fraud. Does Dr. Chance want to make a lot more when he sells his desk? Once Dr. Chance steps into their world, he learns that D does more than rehabilitate furniture. He’s a tough guy who is willing to solve any problem for money.
Dr. Chance reviews patient files and makes recommendations back to doctors based on his experience. When a colleague (played by LisaGay Hamilton) wants him to review the file of her patient, Dr. Chance begins to get too involved. Gretchen Mol plays Jaclyn Blackstone, a woman who has blackouts where she returns briefly to her abusive husband. Like all good doctors, Dr. Chance wants to protect her. But here that means protecting her from herself and her ex-husband. This is where the episode writers and directors and showrunners Alexandra Cunningham and Kem Nunn put on their best Hitchcock. Dr. Chance obsesses on Jaclyn like Jimmy Stewart on Kim Novak in Vertigo, and a lot of the story mimics that film’s framework (more than the underlying source novel). He’s fixated like Dana Andrews on the painting of Gene Tierney in Laura.
Beginning to end, the first season is an expert study in noir.
By the second season Dr. Chance accepts a life as vigilante. And like Dr. House, his latest fixations come at a high price. His relationships nearly land his daughter in jail. His wife sends his daughter away for some bizarre flavor of conversion therapy. D almost dies. Carl gets into trouble. And Dr. Chance is blackmailed by a former cop when his antics are finally spotted.
Powerful supporting roles and performances make the series a sure-fire winner. Brian Goodman plays the former detective. Parks and Recreation’s Paul Schneider is a disturbed patient in the second season. Elizabeth Rodriguez plays Chance’s new girlfriend, who hosts a rehab facility for survivors of violent crimes. Ginger Gonzaga plays D’s girlfriend. And Tim Griffin plays the assistant district attorney.
Put this series up there with the twisty crimes handled in the TV series Medium. And consider it a top medical mystery series, a masterful suspense thriller without the big production value. Hugh Laurie is always so much fun to watch, it begs the question of whether he’d make (or would have made) a good Doctor on Doctor Who. Check out more about Laurie as director, actor, comedian, musician, sci-fi movie star, and writer here at borg. Don’t miss the two seasons of Chance, now streaming on Hulu.
