‘Chucky’ first impressions | The new season should expand the mythology and revive the horror

When it launched last year, the Chucky series surprised many with its “gritty” version. At the time, promotional material talked about the killer doll’s relationship with its new owner, Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), a gay teenager, whose life was hell because of high school bullies and his family’s prejudice. . Thus, it was sold that Chucky would be some kind of anti-hero, who would kill anyone who bothered the boy. Luckily that didn’t happen. I mean, more or less. He did kill everyone who harassed Jake’s life, but at no point did he take on that anti-hero role. In fact, it was all a plan so he could take as many kills as possible while arming his puppet army for world domination with a host of beloved characters featured in the franchise’s other films.

Ending with this surprising Chuckys military hook, the first season left in the air that fear of what he would be capable of with so many dolls at his disposal. At the same time, she also invested heavily in the backstory of Charles Lee Ray (Fiona Dourif) through flashbacks and stories from her childhood at the orphanage, to becoming a young serial killer. Now, in the second season, past and present collide as they take the protagonists to a Catholic boarding school built on the very site of the orphanage in which Charles committed his first murders.

Doing this “Chucky: Homecoming”, the second season should explore a little more the past of the psychopath through the new dolls and his memory lapses. After all, they remember some things from the original Chucky, but they manage to activate memory triggers through visual stimulation. In other words, taking them back to where it all began should be able to create a series of memories of cape doll homicides and trauma.

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Speaking of trauma, the trail of blood Chucky left behind in the final season is already reflected in the human protagonists. Especially with Jake and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind), who each manage the psychological after-effects in their own way. However, who should have these more explored consequences is precisely Lexy, who went from “Prom Queen” to “Young Addict”. Not just for what drugs can do to him in a hostile environment, but also for the horror streaks Chucky can create when hallucinogenic.

Jake and Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson) must suffer more from being an LGBT couple to exist inside a Catholic boarding school, where priests and nuns treat their relationship as a sin, a disease.

Speaking of that boarding school, the mere idea of ​​having her on the show is already promising enough. Since its creation, Chucky has been an unholy doll. Its origins have to do with black magic and demonic summoning. Throughout the films, he killed people by the most diverse means, had sexual relations, became pregnant, smoked, drank… Everything that goes against Christian dogma.

And religion, it seems, will carry a lot of weight in this second season, as it explores grotesque ways of killing young internees, priests and nuns. In the trailer itself, there’s already a very interesting suggestion of what to expect in this regard, which will work on points of politically incorrect humor, but should also tie the production in with the horror.

Whether through simple but well-constructed scares, or through the use of cameras more characteristic of television horror productions, this season seems more willing to return to “roots” horror, even if it doesn’t give up its moments of naughty and grotesque humor. And that commitment is already made in this first episode, showing that the killer doll has returned completely ruthless, ready to kill all kinds of people and even her ex-boyfriend Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), who has been a bit absent, but who will be still do a lot.

This is because the trailer showed the return of the couple’s children. And with the split between Chucky and Tiffany, Glen and Glenda will be returning to this universe for the first time since 2004. And as you may recall, they had a strong relationship with their mother. Another interesting point of this episode, since we are indirectly talking about the Son of Chucky, is the metalanguage of certain dialogues, which treats the franchise itself as a series of films that exist in this same universe. It’s a little confusing, but it has potential, especially if they work properly. This is a golden chance to unify all chapters of this franchise.

Anyway, if the season follows the directions of this first episode, we can expect another Don Macini hit in this television format. It’s a season that has everything to give more of that grotesque and metalinguistic humor that we love, but without giving up the unscrupulous horror that has terrorized millions of children since the 80s.

New episodes of Chucky premiere every Wednesday on Star+.

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