Fear Itself (TV Series) Chance (2009) User Reviews

The Doppelganger

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 10 March 2015]

Chance Miller is a loser with a lousy job, married with Jackie and owing money to a loan shark and to his landlord. One day, Chance brings an ancient vase to the antique shop owned by Walter Markham expecting to sell it for US$ 45,000.00 but Walter offers only US$ 5,000.00. Walter tells that Chance has misunderstood their conversation in a party and shows an ancient mirror to him. Chance stares at his image and has an argument with Walter, killing him. Soon Chance meets his doppelganger in the beginning of a tragic night.

"Chance" is so far the weakest episode of "Fear Itself". After a promising beginning, the plot is confused and forgettable. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Chance"

Still trying to figure it out.

[Darkphoenix1988 · 4/10 · 15 February 2009]

Alright, first off, apparently Chance Miller is schizophrenic, and psychotic. Either that or he's possessed by something that came with the vase he was so desperately trying to sell. Either way, this one has so much loose ends and unexplainable concepts, that it became tedious. The acting was good, though. It's always a treat to see Ethan Embry on TV. He has a smile that melts my heart, but even he couldn't save this little ep. Why did Chance have those nightmares? Why was his reflection distorted in the beginning but not in the end? My thoughts are that he probably made peace with his bad side at the end, but that is just the point, they are only thoughts. There is no clarity, not even on if he really did everything he did throughout the 40 minutes. This was one of the weaker episodes to me. Oh well, better luck next time?

simple but good episode

[trashgang · 6/10 · 2 June 2010]

John Dahl, the man from Joyride but also some episodes of Dexter, much acclaimed, and True Blood, better than Twilight, gives us this weird tale. My main mystery is how comes that the so called ghost of himself appears? He looks into a mirror and then things happen, it is never explained but it doesn't matter because you never see that mirror again. The story evolves into a kind of killer story. But again, I liked it, not to bloody but it is the brutality of the killer that works. And again like the episode before it has a real ending. Is it because those two were made by directors used by doing series? I can't tell.

A Complete Mess

[ricardovs27 · 2/10 · 19 July 2011]

The combo of John Dahl, a fine director of crime and suspense tales and Lem Dobbs, who created the incredible "Dark City" and "The Limey" could not miss, right? Wrong! This piece of crap reaches the top level of turd. The main character, played by Ethan Embry, is the epitome of idiocy. The events unfold in a fast pace, but makes no sense. Every action of his makes things worse and worse. You, as an audience, just wants him to die.

The main problem is that the supernatural element feels totally fish-out-of-water and doesn't work at all, taking away all the interest in the story.

Without the forced element of the doppelganger, it would have worked as a study on desperation. With it, it is just stupid and annoying. And the ending... Oh, God, please!

Middling episode

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 10 August 2012]

Meek and ineffectual down-on-his-luck nice guy loser Chance (a fine and likable performance by Ethan Embry) finds himself confronting his evil double after an antiques deal goes terribly awry. Director John Dahl delivers a few startling moments of brutal violence, but alas crucially fails to generate any necessary tension and spooky atmosphere. Moreover, the trite script by Rick Dahl and Lem Dobbs not only doesn't cover any fresh or surprising ground with the standard doppelganger premise, but also culminates in an obvious, predictable, and dissatisfying twist ending that one can see coming from a mile away. Luckily, the sound acting from the able cast keeps it watchable: Embry really sinks his teeth into his juicy duel role, Vondie Curtis-Hall contributes an engaging portrayal of shrewd antiques dealer Walter Markham, Christine Chatelain likewise does well as Chance's sweet long-suffering girlfriend Jackie, and the striking Ellen Stephenovna Ewusie puts in a memorably sexy appearance as Walter's hot wife. While John Spooner's restless cinematography provides plenty of crackling vitality and Jeff Rona's ominous score hits the shivery spot, overall this episode nonetheless still sizes up as a pretty blah and mediocre outing from this decidedly uneven anthology series.

choices...

[Fernando-Rodrigues · 4/10 · 22 November 2020]

A cool concept limited by TV format. It's weak, but the protagonist is charismatic.