chase davenport character analysis i wrote four years ago that i just rediscovered
Part 1 here
This might be a little bit of a reach, but I just say he hides it extremely well, and his siblings actually do think he’s full of himself. I do think there are some points in the show where he genuinely believes he is superior, but it kind of goes back and forth, it’s not one or the other. They go into a little more detail about this struggle in Elite Force, but they give his main conflict to Bree instead. Chase, not Bree, is the one who struggles with his whole identity around his abilities and feeling insignificant next to people. They made Bree feel insignificant next to Skylar about only having a couple of bionic abilities next to Skylar’s multiple super powers, leading her to touch the Acturion. However, Bree was never concerned with her abilities in Lab Rats, she instead strived for normalcy. It would make more sense for Chase to be insecure about his own abilities and do something rash like that instead of Bree. I do like the tunnel scene with Chase and Skylar, where he admits his insecurities after being shown up by Skylar when he misses a mission. Where he says he built his whole identity around being the mission leader, and he doesn’t really know who he is without it. Skylar ends up keeping the secret of him locking her in the lab, which was really nice of her. At the end, Chase ends up denouncing his mission leader position, which was really amazing to see him come that far, and not hold his whole identity by that status. His arc pretty much concludes in that episode but whatever.
Another thing that Chase struggles with is his alter-ego Spike, who is basically the exact opposite of Chase. In all four cases of Spike showing up, it’s usually his siblings triggering it by either embarrassing him or making him angry. As a result, as soon as he snaps out of it and sees all the damage Spike did, he feels hurt and betrayed. The impact Spike has on Chase is rarely shown due to that plot happening only four times. But Chase is shown to be extremely upset at Adam after he ruined the study session with Sabrina. Chase wasn’t shown being outwardly angry at Leo after Principal Perry beat him up, but I’d assume once they got home, Chase would be pissed off at him. This most definitely takes a toll on him and further contributes to his need to be seen as strong and worthy, especially given the fact that Spike is seen as a "cooler version" of himself who he can never live up to.
Chase may appear as an arrogant prick at times, but he's honestly such a sweetheart. His comedic yelling is so funny and he cares about his family so much. Personally, I think his abilities are the most impressive, but that’s just me. He has this habit of touching his face which is really funny. If you look at him any time when the other characters are talking, chances are he’ll be touching his face, especially in the fourth season. Chase is often the one to get panicked about certain situations and the others have to tell him to chill out. I can’t tell you how many times the phrase “Relax, Chase.” has been uttered on this show. I've headcanonned him as bisexual as he’s pretty obviously queer-coded throughout the entire series, but it was obviously never really explored due to the constraints of the show. Watching his interactions with Marcus (before he found out he was evil, an android, and Douglas’ creation) and Sebastian (before he turned evil) solidified it for me. People can explain it off as them just being friends all they want, but I think not. Chase is shown to be especially nervous around Marcus and wanting to hang out and impress him. Also, after they had a truce, Chase and Sebastian became close for those two episodes before Sebastian turned on them. Adam says something about Sebastian breaking Chase’s heart later on, how could that be any more obvious?? Also, at the dance with Jake while he was in a cyber cloak as Bree. Despite being shown to resent the whole experience, after the cyber cloak is turned off, Chase says “Thank you for a magical evening”. I don’t care if it was for a cheap laugh. I will die on this hill. Overall, I think he's such a complex and interesting character and I wish there was more to go off on than just a children's sitcom where everyone appears so one dimensional and flat on the surface.