No Surrender Cinema: Chucky (Season 1)
(WARNING: this article contains spoilers from the first season of Chucky. If you haven’t seen the whole season yet, skip this NSC and come back later!)
If you told 8 year old me that one day I’d be captivated by a television series starring and named after the three foot terror from the Child’s Play film series, I would have said you were $%&#ing nuts. No, really, I’d have used those exact words, and I wouldn’t think twice about it. So what if I got in trouble? That’s what you get for trying to traumatize me for implying that Chucky would still be around, and that I’d enjoy anything involving him.
Well, here we are, all these years later, and Chucky is not only still a major player in pop culture, but he’s gone from a childhood fear to one of my favorite characters in film history. If you recall, last month I was pleased with the premiere episode of USA/SyFy’s Chucky TV series, calling it a welcome addition to the story of the killer doll that had already stretched through 7 movies. With las night being the season finale, it just made sense to bring you another edition of No Surrender Cinema covering the events of all 8 episodes and what it means for Chucky and co.
Although the initial previews and the first episode made it seem like Chucky would be the lethal protector of the Jake Wheeler character, things didn’t quite go as expected. Although Jake is bullied relentlessly, even by his own cousin Junior, he refuses to be persuaded by Chucky to become a killer. Although he’s tempted by the thought and his state of mind causes him to come close to jumping over to the dark side, Jake’s resilient, and that pisses Chucky off. Realizing that his grooming was all for naught, Chucky gives up on making Jake a murderer in his mold, and instead sets out on creating as much havoc as possible.
Running parallel to Chucky’s latest rampage are flashbacks that expand on his origins. We’re talking young Charles Lee Ray coming of age by self-harming, becoming mesmerized by a serial killer that kills Chucky’s parents, and meeting his partner in crime Tiffany. Though the hook of the whole Child’s Play series is watching the mayhem unfold thanks to the iconic killer doll, it was nice to get a view of what made him so sick and twisted in the first place. These flashbacks are also notable for featuring Fiona Dourif, who has played the character of Nica in Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky, and this very series, portraying the role of twenty-something Charles Lee Ray. I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first time in film and television history that an actress has portrayed a character that her father made famous. It’s an added quirk to a series that’s already full of them, but it goes to show how tight knit the driving forces behind Chucky truly are. This whole thing has been Don Mancini’s baby since the first film hit all those years ago, and to have Brad acting as Chucky’s distinctive voice and his own daughter accepting a major role in the franchise is a testament to how much these people love what they’re doing.
One of the great things about Chucky is that the kill count increases every episode, and it’s not always obvious who’s going to wind up on the wrong end of the knife next. Major characters are killed off not for what I’d call shock value, but it becomes evident that the teenage cast are the true heart and soul of the show. Parents and authority figures are offed in a variety of ways, with the usual obliviousness by the other adults as it pertains to the deaths. Even though Chucky has literally sat and had conversations with the teenagers, his antics fly under everyone else’s radar. At one point, he’s sitting and playing video games with Lexy’s younger sister Caroline, and their parents think it’s nothing more than Caroline’s overactive imagination. If it were only that simple…
So while Chucky’s busy trying to corrupt the youth of Hackensack, there are a few old faces putting in work. Andy Barclay, Chucky’s original victim, has reunited with his foster sister Kyle (you may recall their showdown with Chucky inside the Good Guys factory in Child’s Play 2), and they’re out to destroy all of the existing Good Guys dolls. Since we learned in Cult of Chucky that Chucky has the ability to splinter his soul off into multiple hosts, Andy and Kyle aren’t taking any chances, and it’s not long before they’re in town, trying to put an end to the evil that has haunted them all these years.
Also arriving in town is the Bride of Chucky herself, Tiffany, along with Nica (who now switches back and forth between being possessed by Chucky and being her normal, paraplegic self). Chucky and Tiffany are obviously up to something, and it goes beyond Tiffany just wanting to put down roots by moving into Chucky’s childhood home. In fact, what she’s up to is about to give us all the Chucky we can handle and then some, because if you’ve seen any of the recent commercials for the season finale, you may have notices that there’s a literal army of Chucky’s ready to make their way out into the world and tear things up. Since we spent six out of the seven movies with just one Chucky being too much to handle, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with the truck full of Chucky’s that Andy Barclay escaped with, only to be taken hostage by Tiffany (in doll form), giving us the first meeting between the two most important non-Chucky characters in the franchise.
What I love about Chucky is that it doesn’t rely on the callbacks and cameos from established characters at the risk of overshadowing the new ones. Jake’s story is the driving emotional force of the show, and Don Mancini uses many of the usual horror tropes to describe coming of age angst. Adding to the fact that Jake is struggling with his sexuality and being bullied for it, and we have a tragic figure that you’re rooting for even when he’s about to go psycho and off his tormentors. Chucky initially feels like an antihero, but the show goes to some pretty great lengths to show you just how little he cares for anyone but himself; he might be trapped in that little body, but his ego is bigger than ever. It still doesn’t stop Chucky from having the best one-liners in the series, because he’s out there cracking wise as much as he’s sticking something sharp into somebody he doesn’t like.
The one thing that I didn’t get invested in as much were the flashbacks; I understand why they were there, but they just felt like filler to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen all of the Child’s Play movies many times, or maybe it’s because I don’t think we needed to humanize Charles Lee Ray outside of his initial film appearance. I think it would have served the producers better to clue new viewers in on the events of the past few films, since they were less notable than the original trilogy, or even Bride of Chucky. Not everyone is as obs…uh, educated on what’s going on with Chucky as much as I am, so some people might be confused as to who this wheelchair bound woman who can occasionally walk and calls herself Chucky is.
If you’re a fan of the show like I am, you’re probably as happy as I am to know that USA has confirmed Chucky will be back for a Season 2 in 2022. This 8 episode season flew by, and seemed to get better with each episode. The finale wrapped up some stories and put a twist on others, going off the air with a cliffhanger that will no doubt be paid off next year. There’s still so much to be done, especially with the characters of Jake, Devon, and Lexy, and it will be great to see their journey continue. I’m hoping we get to see it in more than 8 episodes, but Mancini did a great job in keeping things tight and pushing along. 8 episodes doesn’t allow for much lag time, and there’s not one point in these 8 hours where anything felt boring. If you appreciate dark humor with your horror, Chucky delivers on both counts, and it’s really cemented Chucky as a remorseless psycho after the offbeat antics in both Bride and Seed. This show is the perfect example of freshening up an existing product without going the reboot route, and I’m so glad that it’s gotten the love it has, because it’s well deserved. See for yourself and check it out on USA or SyFy On Demand on your cable system, or stream all 8 episodes on Peacock starting today!
