In the new installment of the Chucky franchise, everyone’s favorite little nightmare makes his way to the TV screen and back home to where it all began. Creator and original writer Don Mancini once again manages to create a new and interesting setting for the possessed doll to play, and doesn’t hesitate to involve the greater universe storyline from the get-go, but makes sure to keep it palatable to new viewers just getting into the franchise.
This show takes place after the events of Cult of Chucky and follows bullied middle schooler Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur, Transparent) who buys Chucky (Brad Dourif, Halloween) at a yard sale with the intent of using his parts in his current art sculpture which is truthfully more horrifying than anything Chucky himself could ever hope to achieve.
As far as justifications go, it’s actually brilliant, as it gives a more concrete reason than simply Jake being the kind of artsy grunge kid who finds unsettling vintage toys cool; though, with all due respect, he does clarify he’s into retro, not vintage, but the point still stands.
Not only that, but this takes place in the hometown of Charles Lee Ray, the serial killer that possessed Chucky decades before. This direct tie back to Ray and his childhood may be the reason why Jake and Chucky’s relationship is far less antagonistic than previously seen with characters such as Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent, Child’s Play) and Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif, The Blacklist).
The entire episode, Chucky seems to be acting as Jake’s protector and avenger, and while it’s most definitely a set-up in order to manipulate Jake into joining in on the murder, as well as a ruse to get close enough to possess his body, there is a protective aspect to Chucky’s actions; whether it’s manipulation or Ray’s own childhood bullying trauma, Chucky clearly has a vested interest in helping Jake get even with his tormenters.
The most pivotal scene showcasing this—as well as the most pivotal scene in the entire premiere—was the talent show scene.
While not unexpected considering the typical trope of bullied students getting revenge on their peers during some large assembly as they’ve been pushed to their limit—Carrie, anyone?—it didn’t make the scene any less impactful, though it was hard to take fully seriously when reminded that these students are all in middle school, and there’s no reason why the person wielding the spotlight should be able to know exactly who and where a person is right as their name is said.
Portrayal of modern day youth aside, the scene was a major turning point for multiple reasons. In connection with Chucky’s protectiveness over Jake, the entire reason that they even got so far was because he started heckling unrealistic mean girl Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind, The Young and the Restless) from the audience. He didn’t need to speak up in public, he could’ve easily just killed Lexy in secret with none the wiser, but he made a point to get Jake onstage to get back at the people who were using that same platform to humiliate him.
Chucky even makes a point at the start of their “act” to tell Jake that he’s made his intentions clear and that they’re going to be friends, and while he does force Jake to agree, he’s begun to sink his claws into Jake by inserting himself into role of best friend, which clearly gets to Jake when he later defends Chucky’s actions by saying that everyone he humiliated deserved it, as Chucky was the only one who actually acknowledged his pain and did something about it. Even if he doesn’t like blood and isn’t as violent or vindictive, there was a part of him that wanted to the satisfaction of getting even, which he will most likely lean further into as the series continues; even at the end of the episode, he had argued with Chucky over his father’s death rather than just taking a blowtorch or knife to the murderous doll.
This grey area is a very interesting aspect that is illustrated in various cases, such as with Jake’s cousin and Lexy’s boyfriend, Junior (Teo Briones, Ratched), who seems torn between laying off his cousin or sticking with his girlfriend. Even Jake’s father, Luke (Devon Sawa, Somewhere Between), wasn’t always bad, or so Jake claims. Seeing how Chucky takes advantage of Jake’s loneliness and resentment will be really interesting to see, as it could deteriorate to a point where Jake could even actively work with Chucky, though it doesn’t seem that it’ll get that far, but only time will tell.
While the episode overall was strong, setting up a solid protagonist, setting, conflict, and side characters, there were aspects that made the episode fall flat.
The acting, at least at the beginning, is one of the somewhat big issues. It wasn’t that the acting was bad necessarily, and this could even be due to the editing rather than the actors themselves, but that they seemed to have delayed reactions. Verbal and non-verbal reactions and responses always came a second too late and made it all feel rather stilted, which may be the result of editing—especially in the dinner scene when Junior was upset at hearing he would need another extracurricular—but was still frequent enough to notice. Zackary Arthur was given a difficult task for any actor, which is to realistically depict various levels of distress, which he did well, but due to the delayed reactions in the other scenes, he was set up for far more scrutiny when it came to him being emotional. Despite that, the acting was still good, and will hopefully shine through in the later episodes, as pilots are notorious for being the worst episode of the series.
As for other aspects, the middle school scenes go without saying. While not the most horrendous depictions of youth, and the bullying did go further than just calling someone loser out of the blue or tripping them, it was still rather mediocre all things considered—not to mention cliche and unrealistic, what with Lexy outright stating the power her family has over the school faculty, as well as her having an entire platform to humiliate Jake publicly; it was funny, though, to hear an 8th grader threaten to have her family sue the school, as it’s exactly the kind of thing a child in her position would think was possible.
That being said, the bullying wasn’t entirely horrible, and actually portrayed interesting variations of long standing issues in a more modern setting, which deserves acknowledgement on the part of Mancini as he’s managed to keep Chucky within the modern day setting over the decades.
Most of the bullying and overall mistreatment didn’t actually center around Jake being strange and “not like the other kids”, but actually his sexuality, though they were actually rather hidden, the only person coming right out to say it actually being Jake himself who used a slur to refer to himself when confronting his father. All the other instances had ways to mask them in order to skirt around the truth.
The first instance was the entire dinner scene, starting when Junior tells Jake that the Eagle Scouts are “taking gays now,” and even argues to his parents that it’s a good thing. While it is objectively a good thing, the intention behind his words being to pick on Jake and make him feel uncomfortable. Junior’s parents, Bree (Alexandra Doig, Arrow) and Logan (Devon Sawa, Somewhere Between) even added to the homophobic atmosphere, albeit unintentionally, by calling Jake’s sexuality a “non-issue.” While they are correct that it’s just a part of who Jake is and he shouldn’t feel ashamed of himself, they said so in such a way to minimize the importance of it as a whole to Jake’s identity, the fact he’s being bullied, and with the implication that his sexuality is something that shouldn’t be openly discussed, whereas that would not be the case if Junior talked about his relationship with Lexy.
Of course, this led to the final straw in the form of Luke throwing his glass and shouting that Jake is too young to know what he is, then later destroying Jake’s sculpture. At the beginning of the episode, he shows disapproval of the art, but with the reasoning that Jake needs to go out and make friends and stop being weird. But, rather than this rather cliche and uninspired reasoning being the truth, it actually stemmed from his revulsion to the idea that his son is gay, as his final words to Jake after destroying his property—which is one of the first red flags of domestic abuse, in case the physical violence seemed to come out of nowhere, even though it very much didn’t—were, “No more dolls,” which calls to the various examples of fathers lashing out at their young sons if they don’t meet their toxic standards of masculinity.
Then toss in the peer harassment with Jake’s classmate, Oliver (Avery Esteves, The Oak Room), referring to Chucky as Jake’s “boy toy,” and Lexy using Jake’s crush on Evan as a way to humiliate and essentially out him to the majority of the town, and it’s clear that Jake’s counterculture interest in art and his loner behavior are not the reason why he’s being targeted; rather, this targeting is what made him retreat to his art and solitude, which makes his character far more interesting than the typical “no one understands me because I’m different” kid that could have easily been in Jake’s place.
This is important, not only in terms of the message to the audience and the accurate representation of a middle school boy feeling even more ostracized after coming out, but when it comes to the story itself, as Jake’s crush Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson, The Seventh Day) wanted to do a series on his podcast about bullying and refers to them as crimes which is true, especially in Jake’s case as they can be referred to as hate crimes. If delved into, this could make for some very interesting commentary that may influence the narrative and outcome of the story; there are so many possibilities and only time will tell what the show decided to go with.
This use of specific detail to heighten the otherwise standard and cliche tropes went beyond just the bullying plot line.
During the dinner scene, after bragging about Junior’s various accomplishments, his father tells him that he needs to add another extracurricular, as Harvard is going to want three, much to Junior’s chagrin. While rather cliche—and somewhat uninformed considering college applications don’t consider middle school activities unless they continue on through high school—it was made interesting by the fact that the actors for Junior and Bree are part Filipino—which deserves praise in of itself as they intentionally made sure to have the actors be of the same ethnicity as they’re family, which is far more rare than it should be—while Logan is white.
If they were all white, it would have only been a means to show the difference between Logan and Luke’s families and for Luke to show off. If they were all Filipino—or even just Asian—it would have fed into the expectations of super strict, education focused parents. To see Junior be pressured by his white father, while his Filipino mother seems to place more importance on what makes him happy and the actual work he does, rather than what it can get him in the future, was a very interesting dynamic that added to the show; even if it’s never actually explored, it’s small things that make shows stand out and separate from all others.
The boy with the killer doll being scrutinized by the local police officer isn’t anything groundbreaking, and it’s not even groundbreaking that the police officer is the parent of the love interest. But that the love interest is another boy who has a true crime podcast and a police officer mom, that makes things far more interesting with all the potential ways to delve into all of these specifics; a black boy paying close attention crime rates has to have a conflicted relationship with his mother’s profession, which is already interesting before you introduce the killer doll.
Overall, this episode was very well done, setting up the world and new characters while still making multiple callbacks to previous players, as well as hints to the future and what roles they could potentially play; while the obvious example would be the scene with young Charles Lee Ray (David Kohlsmith, Shazam), whom the show will also be following, the most interesting would have to be Andy Barclay’s phone call warning Jake, as he and various other characters have been confirmed to make appearances within the show, which will keep audiences at the edge of their seats; the phone call was also a great way to get the battery checking scene right out of Child’s Play, so that in of itself warrants praise.
With a strong start and promises for more, Chucky gave a solid series premiere which will hopefully lead into more intrigue, answers, and graphic murder scenes; fans were worried that they would censor the violence for television, but with the tease at the end with Luke’s dead body, as well as the frog mutilation, the show seems to be promising more gruesome imagery for human kills to come; Rest in Peace: Binxie Wheeler.
Rating: 9/10
