Chucky (TV Series), A Review

The Country is Chucked.

The TV series of Chucky follows the titular killer doll (Brad Dourif) as he this time reeks havoc on a series of three teens- Jake (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind)– after Jake purchases him at a local yard sale. Beginning in small town Hackensack where Chucky actually grew up we then follow the trio from a Catholic Boarding School all the way to the White House as they try and stop Chucky’s scheming whilst also trying to survive themselves. Along the way we run into plenty of old faces from the past, both friend and foe, as Chucky attempts world domination again and again.

So I actually only started watching the Chucky films last October when I binged the entire franchise during Halloween and I have to say I was seriously missing out. I definitely think compared to other horror franchises like Halloween or Scream the Chucky/Child’s Play franchise doesn’t get the recognition it always deserves and I really love how consistent the films have been all the way from 1988 to now. It’s not often that a franchise keeps the same writing team and actors for it’s entire fun and despite some of the changes in tone or character focus along the way The Child’s Play franchise consistently remains strong. And now onto the TV show…

Season 1 kicks things off in small town Hackensack, introducing us to our three new leads as well as Chucky’s connection to the town. Here we see Chucky trying to corrupt an innocent in order to reanimate an army of dolls in his likeness and on the whole this was a great introduction to the show and all of our new characters. Jake made for a great protagonist and I loved his inner struggles with the death of his Father (Devon Sawa) as well as these crazy new situations he found himself in. The family dynamics were all really nice here and it made for a great kickstart to such a iconic series of coming events.

Season 2 took us to the Catholic School of the Incarnate Lord and I just loved seeing Chucky and the gang going toe to toe with a bunch or priests and nuns, it was an immediate recipe for disaster and absolutely iconic. Here we see the trio sent away for their sins as well as the introduction to Nadine (Bella Higginbotham) and ‘Good Chucky’- two of my favourite series characters to date. Things definitely took a turn for the weird here and I love the villainous role of Dr. Mixter (Rosemary Dunsmore), her role in everything and the various different dolls we met along the way, the multiple different version of Chucky were all hilarious here.

Season 3 took us all the way to the White House with Chucky now posing as the First Son’s (Callum Vinson) new favourite toy, resulting in even more hilarity and potential world domination and nuclear war. Here we see Chucky taunting the trio from afar as he begins to cause political scandal and I really loved this new elevated location for the killer doll, what other horror icon can say they’ve killed The President? I will admit the second half of season two got a bit heavy on the supernatural and a bit farfetched even for this show but I still loved this crazy new location and with that shocker of an ending I’m excited for whatever comes next.

One thing I’ve really loved about this show (and the franchise overall) is just how bat-shit crazy and often very meta the writing can get. Across the three seasons we’ve gotten so many clever references and call backs to other horror films (that scene of Chucky watching M3GAN was amazing) as well as an increasingly high body count with each kill getting crazier and wackier than the last. The entire Jennifer Tilly/Tiffany Valentine situation also never fails to make me laugh and just love the direction they’ve gone with the character and how hard it went here, even guest starring several of Tilly’s own friends and family. Chucky is a franchise and character that never ever holds back, never taking itself too seriously and always being completely fun in every way possible.

Jake, Devon and Lexy make for such a wonderful trio and I’ve really loved their development both as friends and ‘final girls’ across the three seasons. Starting off really at odds with each other the trio soon came together to defeat Chucky and have really found their family in each other, admittedly because Chucky has killed all of their other relatives but it’s still been nice to see. The relationship between Jake and Devon is both adorable and some really solid LGBT representation and then coupled with Lexy and we get this really strong trio that now seem just as connected to the franchise as Andy (Alex Vincent), Kyle (Christine Elise) or Nica (Fiona Dourif) do.

Overall I’ve absolutely loved watching these three seasons of Chucky and it’s definitely elevated the franchise for me into one of my favourites of all time. Following Jake, Devon and Lexy in their crusade against the killer doll from small town Hackensack all the way to the White House has been absolutely crazy and the kills along the way have been nothing short of horror perfection. Chucky is truly a series that holds nothing back and I’m so excited to see what’s next for these characters whether it be a fourth season, a new film or something else entirely.