Chucky (Brad Dourif) has been a long-standing villain within the horror style, courting again to 1988. He’s typically included among the many most well-known and iconic horror villains — not like his villainous counterparts although, Chucky has gone via many modifications all through his years within the horror style, from being a starkly critical killer in his early years to a close to parody in later ones. However with the Chucky TV collection simply wrapping its second season, we’re seeing extra sides to the character than ever earlier than. Certain, he’s nonetheless the identical cold-blooded, wise-cracking little terror we all know and love, however the collection has introduced with it much more sides to the character than we’ve ever seen earlier than.
A Lengthy-Standing Historical past
Chucky first started terrorizing audiences again in 1988 with Little one’s Play. The movie after all went on to spawn a number of sequels — and most curiously, a number of variations of the titular character. His character arc all through the primary three Little one’s Play movies is a gradual upwards-slope to the extra campy and lewd persona he’s develop into recognized for. Bride of Chucky took each the character and the franchise in a completely new path, each by bringing in Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) and by introducing the tacky, wise-cracking Chucky that we all know and love.
Bride was adopted by Seed of Chucky which solely expanded upon the ludicrousness that had been beforehand launched, and even gave us Chucky as a father. It’s a foolish arc within the franchise, however there’s no denying the cultural affect the 2 movies had in increasing the character. Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky adopted Seed (albeit, Curse got here out 9 years later) and curiously returned the franchise to its extra strictly horror roots. This pair of movies was moodier, targeted extra on the characters and story and opted for a extra critical strategy, very like the unique movie.
A Return to Kind
Chucky can now be seen terrorizing the small display, a transfer that was sensible and performs to the character’s strengths of being a bit of terror on a regular basis. Eight episodes of Chucky simply messing with folks? That’s proper up his alley, and it’s completely entertaining. Whereas he’s positively gone via many modifications and developed all through the movie franchise, he particularly shines within the two seasons (to date) of the collection and is consistently displaying extra sides to him than we’ve ever seen earlier than.
The primary season of the present begins with Chucky having the same dynamic with Jake (Zackary Arthur) as he did with Andy (Alex Vincent) — appearing candy and like nothing is out of the bizarre. That’s till Jake checks his battery pack and realizes he doesn’t have any. Thus ensues a twisted little thoughts recreation from the doll, who acts as if he needs to guard Jake however, after all, we all know that’s not the case. He’s fast to brainwash Jake, saying how he solely kills individuals who deserve it and who harm Jake — even briefly convincing him to kill Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind). It’s a traditional Chucky thoughts recreation, attempting to get others to do his soiled work for him, and it’s attention-grabbing to look at play out given the truth that his unique confidant is way older than Andy was and is due to this fact much less simple to steer and mess with. Not from a scarcity of attempting although.
There’s additionally a second Chucky that’s revealed in a shock twist, having been hunted down by Andy and Kyle (Christine Elise) all the way in which in South Carolina. It’s not the primary time we’ve handled a number of variations of the doll, and because the present would quickly show, it wouldn’t be the final both. Tiffany (posing as Jennifer Tilly) reveals to the city of Hackensack that she has 72 Good Man dolls able to be donated to hospitals throughout the nation. With the (unbeknownst) assist of Junior (Teo Briones), Chucky is ready to full a voodoo spell that brings all 72 of the dolls to life.
Talking of Tiffany, she’s holding Nica (Fiona Dourif) captive since she was beforehand possessed by Chucky again in Cult and continues to be below his spell. Fiona Dourif’s work portraying each characters is phenomenal, and she or he effortlessly flips backwards and forwards between Nica and Chucky. This additionally would be the most threatening model of Chucky within the season, as he has management of a human physique, and that’s actually all he’s wished everything of the franchise. There’s far more at stake whereas in Nica’s physique, and till now we had seen little or no of a human Chucky and what that might entail.
An Abundance of Chuckys
Season 2 of the collection proved to be a doozy as we have been correctly launched to 3 of the 72 Good Man dolls revealed in Season 1. Andy drives off a cliff to successfully put an finish to Chucky’s reign of terror, however after all, that’s to not be, and the aforementioned three dolls survive the crash. Apparently this provides us three distinctly totally different variations of the character.
Scout Chucky
Firstly, there’s “Scout” Chucky, who is distributed to Incarnate Lord the place Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson), Lexy and Jake have been despatched. After one of many nuns passes away from a Chucky-induced coronary heart assault, the youngsters notice that Chucky is on the free within the college and got down to monitor him down. They quickly uncover that this Chucky is simply there to gather info on them, thus gaining his nickname of Scout. To get stated info out of him they brainwash him. Sadly for the youngsters this solely wipes his recollections, and he’s unable to offer any info, nevertheless it does give us an unlikely facet of Chucky that has by no means been explored earlier than.
Scout Chucky is childish. He cuddles, tells candy jokes and sings songs — he’s precisely what the Good Man dolls have been initially supposed to be. His innocence is short-lived nonetheless, as he quickly begins to have an identification disaster of kinds after Devon blames him for the demise of his mom and the remainder of the victims in Season 1. Jake, nonetheless, sees the nice in him and opts to baptize him with the assistance of Nadine (Bella Higginbotham). However as soon as once more, as a result of his roots that stem from pure evil, he finally slips again into the habits at his core and kills a fly with none opposed response. He’s nonetheless conscious that his existence stems from evil, and after complicated Nadine’s phrases, he pushes her out a window to her demise. Whereas short-lived, that is simply probably the most dynamic variations of Chucky that we’ve seen. It’s additionally one of many funniest, because it’s straight-up bizarre to see him act so candy and feels utterly unsuitable for the character. Naturally, his time on the present isn’t lengthy, nevertheless it’s an attention-grabbing and never-before-seen angle on Chucky that was enjoyable to see explored.
Buff Chucky
A second Chucky is delivered to the college however not like the primary, this Chucky is muscular and burly, with a deep, taunting voice. He’s fast to construct up a sufferer tally with each Father O’Malley (Ian D. Clark) and Trevor (Jordan Kronis) — killing the latter of the 2 by punching a gap straight via his chest, thus displaying his scary super-strength. He’s quickly poisoned by Colonel Chucky, however there’s no denying Buff Chucky was a enjoyable addition, regardless of his minimal display time. Chucky has all the time had unnatural energy provided that he’s a doll, however we’ve by no means seen him so strong and highly effective. He’s achieved lots in earlier movies that you simply kind of simply should droop your disbelief with, however this model of the doll feels far more in step with a few of his previous antics. Plus his look is simply so not like something we’ve seen within the franchise.
Colonel Chucky
The Colonel is the final model of Chucky we meet, and he’s the meanest and most grotesque of all of them. After surviving the crash, he enlisted the remaining Chuckys to deliver Andy again to a secluded cabin close to the college. Finally, he killed all of the remaining Chuckys and scattered their items across the woods. He spends a yr torturing Andy — eradicating items of his flesh little by little all whereas he’s nonetheless alive. Colonel Chucky is revealed to be the one who despatched Scout Chucky out to gather info, and he was additionally the one who despatched Buff Chucky after he may now not get in touch with Scout. This model of Chucky actually performs off the sadistic methods we’ve seen him dabble in, however by no means fairly to the extent at which he messes with Andy this season. We’ve by no means seen Chucky torture somebody for such a prolonged period of time, and to see it now’s horrifying.
With Every New Chucky, We Get a New Piece of Charles Lee Ray
With each new model of Chucky revealed, it looks like a unique piece of Charles Lee Ray’s soul has been cut up between each — as if every Chucky represents a singular piece of him that has by no means been absolutely expanded on. Scout holds the sweetness that the Good Man dolls have been supposed to have, and in addition the friendliness he confirmed Andy at first. Buff Chucky exhibits off the brutality and love for violence that has been distinguished for the reason that starting however has constructed all through the movies. The Colonel appears to signify the pure evil that overwhelmingly makes up Chucky as a complete.
For a way off-the-wall the idea of a number of Chuckys initially appeared, the collection performed it brilliantly and expertly gave us so many new sides to the character that bode effectively and supply thorough leisure and intrigue. The movies are classics after all and can eternally be beloved, however the TV collection could be one of the best model of him we’ve seen but. It has helped to evolve Chucky right into a extra modernized model of himself that appeals to new audiences whereas nonetheless staying true to his roots and increasing upon them. It solely proves that Chucky is all the time going to be a mainstay of the horror style.