After a couple of cracking episodes on the trot, Chucky now has the unenviable task of having to start roping together all of its threads in order to get shit ready for the climax which is only two episodes away. It’s a fairly tough ask, especially considering that all of Chucky’s protagonists and antagonists are now in play with both franchise veterans Andy and Kyle back on the board, three Chuckys all with different personalities running about the place, a hidden villain now revealed and plot lines finally bringing the faculty of the School of the Incarnate Lord now being brought more into the main story.
It’s a frantic juggling act that’s now accepted as the show’s signature style (Season one was similarly hyper-active with its multiple stories) and while I’ve seemingly spend numerous Chucky reviews pointing this out, “He Is Risen Indeed” finally sees the having to to the necessary thing to keep things flowing.
Someone’s gonna die…
When we last called in at the beleaguered School Of The Incarnate Lord, Lexy and Devon had snuck out in order to finally find out who exactly is in charge of this latest assault by red-headed killer dolls only to find that yet another Chucky variant, a bald one knows as the Colonal, was pulling the strings and has been torturing a captive Andy Barclay for a year and is in league with Dr. Mixter, the psychiatrist who had them and Jake sent to the Catholic school on the first place. After we discover that Mixter was Charles Lee Ray’s child therapist many years ago, she heads off with the Colonal to set his endgame in motion and Lexy and Devon free Andy whom they manage to sneak into the school under the pretext that he’s a homeless man who needs help (not technically a lie, I guess). Meanwhile the group of Nica, Kyle and Glenda are on route to continue the plan cooked up by Nica and the Chucky spirit lurking in her head in order to have it transferred out into another Chucky doll, but the availability of said dolls is steadily running out, especially since the Colonal went native and slaughtered all the other Chuckys. But while Glenda gets a text from their sibling concerning the Glen doll their mother bequeathed them for their birthday, the Colonal continues his mission to wipe out his rogue Chucky soldiers starting with Strong Chucky who recently revived in front of the devout Sister Ruth who now believes he’s the risen Jesus.
But with all this going on, the main issue remains the curious enigma that is the brainwashed Good Chucky and the fact that, despite Jake and Nadine’s faith, there may be signs that Devon’s fears may be grounded and his gentle demeanor isn’t as permanent as everyone hopes… a mistake that yields tragic results.
So once again we have a lot to unpack from this most recent episode, but if we’re being picky, Episode 6 is merely doing the same trick Season did by furiously connecting the dots with its sprawling cast of characters – however, what is different is the lengths the script goes to pare down the many disparate characters by finally bumping a few off. It’s something that’s been noticably absent from this season so far as the lion’s share of victims this season have been primarily background characters such as a random nun here and a small child there, while not forgetting to mention actors Meg Tilly and Joe Pantoliano. However, the episode firstly whittles down the Chucky variants by taking both the Strong Chucky and the Colonal out, which proves to be something of a double-edged blade. Taking out Strong Chucky anti-climactically with some poisoned communion wafers may free up valuable real estate in the greater plot, but it feels weirdly premature – especially considering his plot thread involving the delusional Sister Ruth believing he’s Jesus (right down to her anointing his bare feet) barely had time to take flight. Elsewhere, the episode surprisingly wipes out the Colonal too which is also a shame considering Brad Dourif’s thinly veiled Marlon Brando impersonation was possibly one of the most out there things the franchise has intended which, considering some of the shit this series has pulled, is definitely saying something. Still, it’s a great death, with the Colonal having an inexplicable ‘Nam flashback and whispering a Kurtzian “‘the horror” after taking a knife to the back of the skull thanks to Andy. While this does leaving the path clear to make Dr. Mixter and her plan to find a suitable doll host for Chucky Prime, the part of Chucky’s soul that resides within Nica, the whole idea of Chucky variants with wildly differing personalities was one I was hugely enjoying.
Still, that still leaves Good Chucky and this is where the episode makes up for its enthusiastic need to clean house as the episode ends with a legitimately shocking death as the adorably trusting Nadine bites the bullet as the good, Good Guy Doll briefly switches back to his bad old ways and causes the schoolgirl to tumble out of a window to her death. Maybe I’m getting a little gullible in my old age, but I truly believed that Nadine, with her unflappable nature, had a strong chance of not only making it to the end of the season, but maybe even becoming a regular cast member is we a blessed enough to get a third season, thus her out-of-the-blue defenestration hits surprisingly hard. Whether wiping her out proves to be wise in the long run is something that’ll remain to be seen, but it does it job when it points a gigantic finger of uncertainty at one of the show’s most interesting concepts and it’s going to have intriguing effects on whether Jake can forgive him even for this.
As the show busies itself with pulling the old Angel of Death routine on the cast, a lot of the other details are somewhat forced to the side. Everything involving Father Bryce and the kindly Sister Catherine is currently feeling like filler while everyone not at the school are on pause-pressing car pools until the show finally sllows them to be of use with Glen and Glenda’s quest to uncover their past taking the biggest hit.
Sacrificing the magnificent balance of the previous two episodes for some understandable pruning, you maybe get the feeling that maybe it should have been one of the core cast to go instead of Nadine (Jake, Devon and Lexy are mostly bystanders to the craziness at this point – while Andy and Kyle feel mostly like fan catering at this point), but while we’ve lost some cool Chuckys, it’s all ultimately successful in pushing focus entirely on the saga of Good Chucky’s stability and the fact that everyone will be no doubt fighting over him for the next two episodes.
So farewell to Nadine, Strong Chucky and the Colonal, then; all sacrificed in order to bring the plot clearer into focus while delivering some legit shocks. Chucky season 2 continues its run of high quality episodes, but here’s hoping that its nasty risks all pay off for the greater good (guy).
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