No Surrender Cinema: Chucky (S1 Ep1) “Death by Misadventure”
Sorry Jack, Chucky’s back… and so am I with a special edition of No Surrender Cinema!
Everybody’s favorite killer doll is on the loose once again, so join me for a recap of the premiere episode of Chucky!
Since we’re less than 24 hours removed from the series debut and some people may have not had the chance to watch yet, I should let those of you reading know that there are some spoilers included in this review. If you’d rather have Chucky take you by surprise, then you can hit the back button on your browser and come back once the episode ends!
OK, now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way, let’s get down to business. The last time we saw the three foot terror, Chucky had found a way to dispense his soul into multiple bodies. 2017’s Cult of Chucky saw Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) unable to stop the onslaught of several different Good Guy dolls that were all Chucky-fied, leading up to the Chuckster successfully transferring his soul into the body of his paraplegic target Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif, the daughter of Brad Dourif, aka Chucky). The possessed Nica rode off into the sunset with Chucky’s infamous bride Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), leaving Andy trapped inside of the mental hospital. Based on the trailers for the new series, it’s important to know that information since this series does continue the events of the original film series, but there’s plenty for newcomers to the Child’s Play franchise to latch onto here in the first episode.
Chucky begins in present day Hackensack, NJ, and wastes no time in linking Chucky up with a new protagonist. Jake Wheeler is an angsty teenage boy coping with constant bullying from the kids at school, extended family, and even his father. It’s established that Jake’s mom died some time back, and that incident combined with Jake’s sexual preferences have put a strain on the relationship between him and dear old dad. To avoid all of the bullshit in his life, Jake spends the majority of his time in his room crafting sculptures out of old dolls. It’s not your usual “kid overcomes tragedy by leaning into something positive” story; Jake clearly has a passion for art, but he’s going heavy on the dark and morbid themes. In fact, Chucky looks downright lovable compared to Jake’s masterpiece of amputated doll parts.
Jake’s screwed up, but when you see what this kid has to deal with, it’s no wonder why. His dad is a drunk who verbally and physically abuses him. His cousin Junior continuously berates him for being gay (which appears to be an obvious set up leading to a reveal of Junior’s own repressed sexuality). Junior’s girlfriend Lexy is a two-face who looks down on him and manipulates Junior to do her bidding. Out of all of the kids at school, the only one who is somewhat approachable is Devon, a budding true crime podcaster whom Jake has been enamored with. Not only are we, the audience, exposed to just how shitty the people in Jake’s life are, but so is Chucky, which leads to the villainous toy taking the anti-hero route and giving Jake a hand in getting even with his enemies.
The interesting thing about that plot point is that rather than copycat the original Child’s Play formula where it wasn’t completely clear if it was Andy or Chucky as the one responsible, Chucky reveals himself to Jake and has him follow his lead. There’s a nod to the famous scene from the first movie, when Karen Barclay discovered that there were no batteries inside of her son’s Good Guy doll, and Chucky sprang to life and tried to kill her. When Jake discovers that there are no batteries inside of his doll (after receiving a call from someone unknown to Jake, but who we know to be Andy), his immediate reaction is to stuff Chucky in a trash can. Since Chucky functions like a normal living being and could easily escape such a predicament, it’s not long before Chucky is popping up by his side, which Jake seems to be remarkably OK with. I get it, he’s a kid with issues and the people in his life all suck, but if three feet of plastic started talking to me unprovoked, I’d probably be screaming, running, and shitting myself simultaneously.
There’s not a lot of slaughter to be seen in the first episode of Chucky; in fact, one matter of vengeance is handled by Chucky in a much more intellectual fashion than you’d expect to see. Everything else in the episode does exactly what it should; it puts all the pieces in place so that Chucky can carve his path of destruction throughout the town. The only kill in the episode is saved for the climax, and while I won’t give it away here, I loved it for the fact that it consists of Chucky going full Garbage Pail Kid in order to get the job done. Though the gore has to be dialed down a bit because of the series being on basic cable, the series maintains its trademark dark humor, and this particular kill scene is no exception.
Episode 1 ends with Jake fully aware that the Good Guy doll he bought for ten bucks comes with a lot of bloody baggage, and now he’s going to have to contend with Chucky’s sinister urges. Will Jake become a reluctant ally to the pint-sized killer? Will Chucky continue to use his murderous impulses to protect his new friend? How will the franchise’s established characters all fit into the story, since we know by the previews that they’re not too far behind? Chucky‘s premiere episode left us with a lot to think about, and I personally love the fact that it’s unpredictable. While there are some plot points that seem to be fairly straightforward, I’m interested to see what type of journey series creator Don Mancini plans to take us on. We have Jake’s story to tell, the arrival of Chucky’s friends and foes yet to come, and what looks to be a glimpse at the formative years of one Charles Lee Ray via flashbacks. That might seem like overload to some, but Mancini has said in interviews he has plans to tie it all together, and knowing how much he loves this blood-soaked world he’s created, I have no reason not to believe him. The Child’s Play franchise has been one of my favorites ever since I got over my childhood fear of that damn doll, and I found tonight’s episode to be a welcome expansion of Chucky’s universe.
Chucky airs on SyFy and USA, and repeats will be airing frequently in addition to being available On Demand. Do yourself a favor and find Chucky before he finds you!
