Hugh Laurie plays Eldon Chance, a forensic neuropsychiatrist who gets dragged into a violent, dangerous world of mistaken identity, police corruption and mental illness. That premise sounds grim, and Chance mostly delivers on it. The series ran for two seasons on Hulu, 20 episodes total, and it earns a 7.5 out of 10.
Eldon Chance and the World He Walks Into
Laurie is the reason this show works. His Chance is a man who wants to stay professional, detached, and calm — a psychiatrist who deals with trauma for a living but refuses to let it touch him personally. The problem is that his patient Jaclyn Blackstone drags him into her own nightmare. She is being abused by a corrupt police detective, and Chance decides he cannot sit idly by while the law fails to protect her.
The show spends its first season building that tension. Chance is semi-willingly pulled in, but he is not a hero who charges in with a plan. He is a man who sees something wrong and cannot look away, even as he knows the danger will follow him home. The show leans into the irony of a doctor who treats mental illness being forced to confront it directly in his own life.
The supporting cast helps keep the chaos from spinning out of control. Ethan Suplee plays Darius, a furniture restorer who moonlights as a quasi-mercenary. He is smart, violent, and unapologetic, a man who believes that force is the answer to most problems. Greta Lee plays Lucy, and Stefania LaVie Owen plays Nicole Chance, the doctor’s daughter, whose own mental health struggles run parallel to her father’s. Clarke Peters plays Carl Allan, and Brian Goodman plays Detective Kevin Hynes, the morally ambiguous cop who gives Chance and Darius low-key assistance in their vigilante endeavor.
Paul Schneider plays Ryan Winter. Together, these characters form a small, tightly wound unit that fights corruption on its own terms, outside the official channels that failed Jaclyn Blackstone. The show does not pretend this is a clean fight. It is messy, violent, and morally gray, and it holds onto that ambiguity throughout both seasons.
Season One and the San Francisco Setting
Season one was filmed in San Francisco, and it received support through the “Scene in San Francisco Incentive Program” administered by the San Francisco Film Commission. The streets feel lived-in, gritty, and real, which grounds the show’s more fantastical elements in something tangible.
The show’s central relationship is between Chance and Jaclyn Blackstone. She is the patient who triggers everything, and the show treats her abuse seriously without ever turning her into a prop. Her story is not a simple arc; it runs through the whole series, and it shapes how Chance sees himself and his own family.
Season Two and the Dark Turn
The second season takes a darker turn. Detective Hynes blackmails Chance and Darius into hunting a software tycoon who may secretly be a killer. That storyline adds a layer of corporate power to the corruption already present in the first season, and it forces Chance to confront the idea that the wealthy and powerful can hide crimes just as easily as the street-level criminals he has spent his career chasing.
The season also explores the question of violence as a solution. As the show progresses, Chance finds himself drawn more deeply into Darius’s view of violence as a solution to problems. This is not a simple shift; it is a slow, painful erosion of his professional detachment. The show does not offer easy answers, and that refusal to simplify is one of its strengths.
Nicole’s continuing struggle with mental health problems, which she may have inherited from her father, runs alongside the main plot. This thread connects the family drama to the larger narrative about violence and inheritance. It is a subtle, effective way of showing that the problems Chance thinks he has left behind are following him anyway.
Where the Show Falls Short
The show is not perfect. Some episodes lean too heavily on coincidence and plot contrivance, especially in the second season. The pacing can drag in the middle stretches, and there are moments where the moral ambiguity feels less like a deliberate choice and more like a lack of direction. These are minor complaints, but they are worth noting because they keep the show from reaching greatness.
The show also struggles with its tone. It wants to be a gritty, realistic drama about corruption, but it also wants to be a tense thriller with action set pieces. These two impulses do not always sit comfortably together, and some viewers may find the mix confusing. The show is at its best when it commits fully to one or the other, and at its worst when it tries to split the difference.
Final Verdict
Chance is a strong, flawed series that deserves more attention than it got. Hugh Laurie gives a career-best performance as a man caught between his professional duties and his personal convictions, and the show’s exploration of violence, corruption, and family ties is handled with a rare degree of honesty. The second season, in particular, pushes the show into darker territory that rewards patience.
The show is not for everyone. Its moral ambiguity can be exhausting, and its plot can be messy. But for viewers willing to engage with its questions, it offers a rewarding experience that few shows attempt.
Key Facts Box
- Creator: Kem Nunn and Alexandra Cunningham
- Star: Hugh Laurie
- Network: Hulu
- Episodes: 20 total, 2 seasons
- First aired: October 19, 2016
- Last aired: November 29, 2017
- Cancelled: January 9, 2018
Ranking the Seasons
- Season One — Strongest, sets up the core relationships and the central conflict.
- Season Two — Darker, more ambitious, but also messier in spots.
- Overall — A solid, uneven series that peaks early and coasts through its conclusion.
The show is worth watching for Laurie’s performance alone, but the full package holds together better than it has any right to. It is a flawed masterpiece, and it is worth your time.
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