Baywatch - Season 02, Episode 21 - Game of Chance

Firstly, Some Random Thoughts on Baywatch

- The Baywatch.fandom.com site is often disappointing with how little it has on it, also the episodes section is in alphabetical order, not number order, which is silly. All of this is further evidence of how very few care about this show, which is understandable. I'm just weird.

Game of Chance

What is this, an actual review?! Shocking! I'm going to do it, finally.

Game of Chance is the twenty first episode of season 2, so one away from the end of the season. I was a little more lax with avoiding spoilers back when I started watching Baywatch a month or two ago, so I did see that at least two of main characters, namely Eddie and Shauni, leave around this time. I read that they leave in season 3 but I can't remember if they meant at the end of season 3 or at the beginning. So there is a chance that after 'Game of Chance', I only get to see my favourite characters one more time. I'm pretty sure they are also in season 3, though. That fact still irks me though, I'm not sure if I'll still enjoy the show afterwards. Not just because of their departure but because it'll mean almost all season 1's cast will be gone by then. Anyway, let's talk about the actual episode.

The Review

We start with the 'B' plot which focuses on Mitch and Harvey teaming up, a rare thing in the show and possibly the only time it happened. It's almost definitely the last, since Harvey leaves the show in the next episode. I've mostly avoided looking up spoilers for this show but after Harvey barely showed up in his debut season, I looked it up. Since I guessed he wouldn't be in it for long and decided I wouldn't feel sad seeing him go. Now don't get me wrong, I don't dislike him, he's just middle of the road. Harvey is a one note character - He's the comic relief guy.

Mitch comes to get Harvey off a boat where he's gambling lots of money on a card game, why, you may ask. Harvey was half an hour late for his shift, you see. Harvey convinces Mitch to let him finish his last game since he's going to win big, he does but some dude in a hockey mask and a shotgun turns up and robs them all. Harvey later references Jason from the Friday the 13th movies when describing the criminal.

Mitch and Harvey investigate the crime for rest of their story, it's pretty good but it's a short and simple one. I think most episodes start off with the 'A' plot but this turns out to be the shorter 'B' plot for Game of Chance, despite it being what the title is referring to. It ends with a pretty good chase sequence which features a car boat hybrid, I feel like this story almost focuses around this vehicle because of how cool it is. Which I'm alright with. This plot ends the episode with a reference to Knight Rider which I was pleasantly surprised with. In case you don't know, Mitch is played by the actor who starred in Knight Rider, another very popular, very old show.

In classic Ben fashion, he is in one scene for a few seconds and that's it. Harvey's problems with money was a trait of his that was brought up early in the season and then rarely mentioned again.

The 'A' plot is all about Shauni and Eddie even though it's not as action orientated as the other one. Basically it's about Shauni's father, Robert McClain, not accepting Eddie, he wants his daughter to be with a man who's got a better job. By the end of it, Eddie, of course, rescues Shauni's sister from drowning. The ever terrifying, most dangerous villain in Baywatch is water, by the way. This is one of the swimming pool episodes, so keeping away the beach won't help.

It's surprising that Robert felt this way, since there was an earlier episode where he felt the same way about Shauni, he wanted her to get a job he felt was better than life guarding. In fact I think that was the first episode he was in. Shauni rescues someone in that older episode and Robert see's that being a life guard is important because... ya know, you save lives. Come to think of it, the premises of these episodes are very similar, they are executed differently though, in their defence. There is one difference though - Robert still doesn't like Eddie at the end, which was odd. Because of this, Shauni moves out to go live with Eddie. Perhaps episode orders were moved around a bit because there's at least one earlier episode where Shauni says she's already living with Eddie.

Almost all of this plot takes place at Shauni's parents fancy house, other parts aren't important to the story and I think they're all montages. I like them but it's been a while since I've seen montages in Baywatch that pretty much have nothing to do with the story. They could be taken out and you'd still understand what's going on, this plot would probably be the same length as the 'B' one if they were deleted. I'm just pointing that out, I'm not saying that they should have been.

The most random, completely unattached montage is Shauni riding a horse on the beach, sometimes shes even laying backwards on it. The other montage is Shauni and her sister shopping for clothes, Shauni even looks at the camera one time which I don't think I've seen since a fantasy scene way back in season 1. These parts of the episodes are great, Shauni probably gets the most screen time so I'd say this is essentially a Shauni episode. A rarity. I guess these montages could be filler but at the time, the creators of this show probably were always looking for excuses to shoot Erika Eleniak looking gorgeous. Every time I see montages though, I wonder what the original music for them was. I'm watching the remasters which changed some of the music.

Overall this was a good episode, not the best but pretty good, having it focus on Eddie and Shauni is a plus for me. There's been quite a few good episodes in a row here.