No Surrender Cinema: Chucky (S3 Ep1) “Murder at 1600”
It’s been 35 years since the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray found its way into a Good Guys doll and began a reign of terror that has spanned seven feature films (eight if you include the reboot/remake) and two seasons of a hit TV show. Tonight, that show returned for Season 3, and that means that I get to continue a No Surrender Cinema tradition that’s taken place for the past few years. Join me for Chucky coverage once again as I take a look at the season premiere of Chucky!
(As always, I’ll do my best to stay away from major spoilers, but the following review will mention plot points and events from tonight’s episode. Read on at your own risk!)
The last time we saw the pint-sized terror, Chucky had managed to bounce his evil essence into multiple hosts with all the ease of a superball. There was “Good Chucky”, “Colonel Chucky”, and the gory visual of an exploding priest when the sinful soul attempted to make the Father’s body its new home. By the time Season 2 came to a close, Chucky’s bride Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) kidnapped Lexy’s little sister Caroline, but her attempt to do a little soul-swapping of her own took a turn for the worst when it was shown that the doll she had was actually the Chuckster in disguise! With that kind of a cliffhanger, one would think we’d pick up where we left off, but since this is Chucky all bets are off, and it’s time for something completely different.
Part of Chucky‘s charm can be credited to its absurdity, and the latest plot twist might just be the craziest we’ve seen in three seasons; the storyline takes a detour (more like a sharp left) away from Chucky’s attempts to make life miserable for Jake, Devon, and Lexy in favor of one that will make life miserable for a whole lot more people. Chucky seems to have outgrown terrorizing neighborhoods and Catholic schools, so he’s thinking a bit bigger this time around. It’s been a year since the events of the previous season, and he’s earned the trust of a new little boy named Henry, disguised as a regular ol’ Good Guy doll named “Joseph” so that he can infiltrate Henry’s home…which just so happens to be the White House!
Series regular Devon Sawa, who has played a variety of different characters including Jake’s dearly departed father and the aforementioned exploding priest, is back for Chucky Season 3 as President Collins, father to Henry and TikTok streaming, pot-smoking Grant. Moments into the first episode we see the President in supposed danger when the power to the White House goes out, although every other building in Washington, D.C. seems fine. This appears to be nothing more than Chucky have a bit of fun with his new family/future victims, maybe as a bit of a recon mission to figure out how to carry out whatever plan he’s cooked up. He’s already done a good job of screwing with poor young Henry’s psyche, telling him about the “ghosts” that live inside the White House, and those fears don’t sit well with the First Lady, who tries to brush off her son’s state of mind as nothing more than an overactive imagination. If you’re watching Chucky then the odds are good that you’ve seen the first Child’s Play film, and we all know how well that worked out for poor Andy Barclay’s mom.
As Chucky gets comfy in his new surroundings, our trio of young heroes are trying to maintain some semblance of a normal life. Jake is back to doing his (still creepy) doll art, but now streams about it and has a ton of followers. His relationship with Devon is going well, something that is well-deserved for a kid who has felt the brunt of Chucky’s wrath and was forced to spend his formative years trying to figure out how to kill a doll before the doll got to him first. Lexy is also doing videos (or “thirst traps” as she calls them), but it’s not like she wants the attention; she’s just trying to catch the eyes of someone, anyone, who may have info on the whereabouts of her sister. Ms. Fairchild, the kids’ teacher who also found herself pulled into the chaos, is doing her best to provide some structure to their lives. Since it wouldn’t be much of a season if the kids spent Chucky Season 3 live-streaming, Chucky puts himself back in their sights with a taunting phone call that leads the kids to deduce that he’s hiding out in the White House. Oh, and did I mention that they’re able to figure that out thanks in part to the murder of a Secret Service agent, a rather gruesome kill when Chucky uses the agent’s own gun to off him in the only kill of the episode.
The return of Chucky felt a bit slow, which I’ll attribute to the need for establishing the new setting and characters. It led to Chucky feeling more methodical in his actions, although I’m sure as the show goes on there will be splatter effects aplenty multiple times an episode. It will be interesting to see if the story of President Collins and his family is intertwined with any of our established characters, or if they’re here simply to be fodder for our overall-clad plastic sadist.
Chucky remains one of my favorite shows on television, and franchise creator Don Mancini has done an amazing job of making the little bastard feel fresh 35 years removed from when he was unleashed upon the world. Chucky in the White House is a scenario that gets my vote, and it will be interesting to see how the unanswered questions that carry over from Season 2 are wrapped up within the 8 episodes that Season 3 is set for.
Chucky airs every Wednesday at 9PM (EST) on USA and Syfy, and can be streamed on Peacock
