Hello, fellow Chancers! Is that a good name for us? I thought it might be, but now that I see it, I'm regretting my decision. Regardless, we shall now remain Chancers until I (or you) think of something better! I've been fairly out of commission for the past few weeks with work and other goings-on, but I'm back now to look at our second three episodes of the season. Don't worry, I'll have episode 7 ready in a timely manner this go around so you won't have to wait for episode 9 to hear from me again. I still haven't seen it yet, though, so no spoilers please! Now, let's take a look at what Chance has been getting into!
Patient History
As our season opened, we got to know a very different Eldon Chance. Though he has moved forward in life to begin helping victims of abuse at a level one trauma center, we quickly learned he is more willing to go that extra mile now by having D target the sources of the patients' problems. While he doesn't fully condone the lengths D goes to, he doesn't really do much to stop them either. Chance's world spun further out of control when Hynes blackmailed him into helping with a series of murders Hynes believes was perpetrated by Ryan Winter, a very rich tech guy. Chance's first step? Attack Winter from behind in a parking lot within the vicinity of the trauma center Chance works at to ensure Winter becomes a patient. Always going that extra mile, Chance! After Winter attended a group therapy session, one of Chance's patients was brutally murdered and posed in a way that led Chance directly to the conclusion that Winter was responsible. Determined to prove Winter's illness, Chance set out on a quest to mess with Winter's mind to force him to keep coming to therapy and gaining enough trust in Chance to confess to him.
Also important: D met Winter's housekeeper and a bit of a spark was formed, while Nicole's stalker past was revealed to everyone at her school by her "best friend", Pepper. D offered Nicole some advice on how to handle the situation which resulted in her decking Pepper in the face in the library with the complete works of William Shakespeare.
This Session
The Coping Mechanism
After a morning spent trying to get Winter's clinic donation given back and dealing with the immediate aftermath of Nicole's assault on Pepper, Chance gets a visit from Hynes regarding Winter's childhood story about a boy being pushed on the train tracks. Hynes has discovered that the incident did in fact happen, but the boy survived and was never claimed by anyone, naturally leading to the understanding that Winter was said boy. Hynes has located the woman responsible, and the two pay a visit to the hospital she is currently in. Turns out, ever since Winter was born, his mother had been told by "God" that she needed to kill him. After resisting for many years and even attempting to commit suicide, she eventually gave in and pushed him off the station platform. Armed with this information, Chance invited Winter out for a beach walk so they could talk more about Winter's coping mechanisms. Chance chose a time when he knew the tides would be coming in so he and Winter would have to swim back to shore, betting that he would have to help Winter back, thereby saving his life and earning more trust. Back at Winter's house, Chance says he knows Winter is the boy in the train story and says that their sessions cannot continue until Winter learns to trust him more. This made Winter unhappy, which is exactly what Chance was hoping for. Done with Winter for the moment, Chance focused on finding a way to speak civilly with Pepper's family (not super successful), and then revealed his dark history to Nicole in order to explain why she is going through what she's going through. Obviously upset that he's been keeping this from her, Nicole becomes a bit peeved and dismissive. He also gets some blow-back from Hynes for his stunt with Winter. All around just a bad time for Chance.
D spent some time getting to know Winter's housekeeper Lorena, and even scored a date with her. They both seem to be pretty into each other and I'm completely rooting for it! Carl likes her as well after she comes with D to rescue Carl from a bad situation. Winter's assistant, Lyndsay, gets some decent screen time this episode, too, as she expresses concerns about things going on in Winter's life, particularly the "harassment" by Hynes. Against Winter's wishes, she files a report against Hynes and earns herself a nice smack in the face, which is definitely not ok but she's sticking around anyways. Also pretty important: Winter and Lucy officially met, and Lucy is 100% into him. She even gets his phone number. Oh, and at the end of the episode they're getting ready to go on a date and it looks pretty menacing!
The Collected Works of William Shakespeare
We open the next installment with D being suspicious of a female customer with a hidden gun, and Chance heading to speak with Winter. As chance approaches the house, he's on the phone trying to contact Lucy, who has not shown up to work today. As he gets in the house, Lyndsay berates Chance for his tactics, saying that Winter has never been this way before and that she doesn't trust him. When he finally gets to Winter, our psychopath is perched on a table in the corner of his very dark room. He says a few menacing things about Chance not caring what might have happened when he left after telling Winter he knew the truth about the train story. They also talk about his crazy mother momentarily, and that's as far as they get before Winter kicks him out. As Chance drops Nicole off to volunteer at the Speakers Bureau, we learn the Lucy is there alive and well, and that she unfortunately had a great date with Ryan Winter. Gross. D and Hynes are surprisingly bonding over historical knowledge in the warehouse when Chance shows up with a paper showing winter's location in the foster care system until he turned 18. They begin doing research to find murders in that area that could have possibly been Winter's first victim, while Winter is out doing research on Lucy's daily schedule. And by research, I mean stalking and taking notes. That's the same thing, right? Our guys come across the murder of a man named Stevie who was suffocated by rocks stuffed into his mouth and the pieces all line up; Winter said "this is how Stevie felt" that first night in the hospital, and he went absolutely mental after D stole Winter's rock from his house. This was his first victim. Hynes speaks with the detective who worked on the case and discovers that there is DNA evidence from the scene which he can run against Winter's DNA, which is later procured by Lorena and passed on to D. D, in the meantime, is at Chance's house because the warehouse has been compromised by new PI's sent out by D's father. The next night, Chance, D, and Nicole have dinner together, and Nicole mentions that Kirsten had been asking her about how Chance is really doing since he was attacked by Wade Pardo. Though caught off guard, he acts normal as Christina calls. D and Nicole chat for a bit, and Chance later convinces D that he should seek out his father and try talking to him. Chance confronts Kirsten the next day and claims that he hadn't told her about the attack because he didn't want to overshadow Josefa's murder. She seems to accept, but calls a detective as soon as he leaves to check on Pardo. Hynes has a pretty awful few days as he is suspended from the force, and later learns that the DNA is not a match for Winter's DNA, destroying any chance he had of getting Winter quickly. D breaks into his father's house to prepare to talk to him, while Winter is out on the streets ready to make another kill. Though it first appears as though he is murdering Lucy, it turns out to be a random girl we don't know about. After the attack, Winter calls Chance over to confess that his coping mechanism isn't working anymore, and that he has hurt people. Boom.
Treasures in Jars of Clay
This episode opens with Winter finally telling chance about his coping mechanism: murder. And I must say, even though Chance already knew he was a murderer, but he's taking it all very well. Winter asks to go for a drive, but as Chance tries to escort him through the house, our favorite pain, Lyndsay pops in and puts a halt to things. Chance pushes to try to get Ryan to go against Lyndsay, but when she threatens to call the police Chance walks out. During this endeavor, D is at his father's house staring him down and daring his father to shoot him. He doesn't of course, and D explains why his father is a horrible person before making him promise that he'll stay out of D's life from now on, and that they'll never see each other again. His father agrees and holds out his hand to shake on it, which D does after a moment of pondering. The next morning Chance and Hynes discuss these new revelations and decide that Winter is to be brought to justice instead of killed, while Kirsten gets a full report on Wade Pardo, including information that a large bald man beat him up and that he is now living away from the city. Hynes calls in some favors check on details of Winter's real first victim, Catherine, and also for a background check on Lyndsay. His contact isn't happy about it, but he reluctantly agrees. Speaking of Lyndsay, Chance is forced to chat on the phone with her when she answers Winter's phone just to say stop calling. She again threatens to get the police involved, but Chance challenges her this time, saying he'd love to know what secrets they uncover about her. She hangs up, and Chance then walks into a chat with Kirsten who confesses to looking in on Pardo. She's clearly digging for something from Chance, but she certainly isn't getting it. When Nicole sees a couple steal a dog from a crying homeless man because they didn't believe it was being taken care of, she decides she wants to do something about, but D warns her that no matter how much she plans something, it's not going to go the way she thinks it will. Regardless, she does a ton of research and locates the residence of the thieving couple. She hangs around the house for a while, and when they go for a bike ride, she breaks in and steals the dog. Before returning the dog, though, she makes sure to key their car really well. Of course, when police show up with her mother later, she assumes this is why, but instead the police have come to get here because Pepper's parents are pressing charges. Uh oh! Hynes contacts Lyndsay and sets up a meeting for them to settle things, but this is really just to get her away from Winter. As Hynes explains Winter's history to Lyndsay, D and Chance are let into the house by Lorena so they can grab Winter and drag him to D's fighting dojo thing. Chance attempts to convince Winter to turn himself in, and he certainly seems to be considering it, but when he leaves there's no way to tell what his plans are. In bed, Hynes gets a call from his contact, Frank, saying Winter called for someone to head to his house to talk about things that he's done. Frank says he's already on the way over, but that Hynes should be there if this is actually going to be a confession. It's not everything Hynes was hoping for, though. Once inside Hynes finds Winter alone at his desk, and begins asking where Frank is. Winter points to Frank, and Hynes definitely finds him. About as quickly as two bullets from Franks gun find Hynes's chest. Hynes collapses and things are looking pretty tragic.
Final Analysis
Wow. Where to begin here? I guess first of all, I'm very happy for the continuing development between D and Lorena. D deserves to be happy, and Lorena seems perfectly content with who D is. He's not just gonna find that everywhere. It's also been fun learning a bit about Carl's past. I'm excited to see the reunion with his ex-wife and kids after so many years apart. A lot of shows tend to try to show their support for these types of stories by throwing them in your face so you know they're ok with it, but this show is just letting us watch a human live his life and confront his past. It's not about sex or attempted edginess, it's just a very human story and I love it. Also love the fact that Lucy isn't dead. They've scared me with that twice now, and I'd very much appreciate it if they didn't do that anymore! It's also been a treat to watch Nicole learn that her actions have consequences. She wasn't thinking when she hit Pepper (which I'm still a little on board with cause that girl was extra rude), and when her parents confronted her about it, she didn't seem fazed at all. Then she went and re-stole a dog and keyed a car (which, again, pretty much okay with cause those people were awful), all without thinking anything would happen to her. Now that she's being arrested, however, she may start rethinking that. I hope they aren't able to get her out too quickly before she's able to learn her lesson!
Now, of course, the big story: Ryan Winter. Winter has been a wild ride! Far more menacing, threatening, and exciting than Blackstone from last season. I think part of the fun is never fully knowing who has the control. Last season, Blackstone clearly had all of the cards for most of the season, but it's been shifting back and forth this time. Chance gains an upper hand every time he chips away at Winter's psyche, but ultimately Winter can put up a block whenever he feels and immediately take the power. It's a constant power struggle, and it makes every episode enthralling. I'd say he certainly has most of the power now as Frank appears to be in on things. I haven't seen the next episode yet, so don't tell me if I'm right or not, but I'm thinking Frank's been involved since the beginning, and his DNA is the DNA found at Stevie's murder. Maybe there's a familial relation here? Is Frank old enough to be his dad? Also, could Lyndsay be his sister? They both seem to share the same menacing look when they're upset? Shots in the dark here. Again, don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, I'll be watching the next episode tomorrow so I can have the review out by Tuesday!
How are you feeling after that roller coaster? If it hasn't been revealed yet, what do you think of the family theory? Would you stop watching the show if they killed Lucy?! Sound off in the comments below!
