#Chucky Episode 4 Review (TV Series, 2021)
content warning: flashing lights, hospital/surgical footage, grieving, gore, blood
Episode four of Chucky picks up right where episode three left off. The fire is blazing at the mayor’s mansion and all the emergency services in Hackensack are trying to save the students inside. Jake arrives at the hospital to see if Lexy survived Chucky’s attack in his name. Everyone except for Oliver survived the party, but Lexy is the only one to survive being attacked by Chucky so far.
This, right away, creates a powerful new dynamic in Child’s Play. We haven’t seen an enemies to allies plotline like this before. Lexy is furious that Jake gave Chucky to her sister Caroline, but Jake is just relieved that someone else knows. There are now two people who can’t stand each other fighting to take down the murderous doll in a world where admitting the truth puts everyone else in danger.
Devon is also being brought up to speed on the reality of the situation from his mother’s perspective. She reveals to him that Oliver didn’t die in the fire. She’s convinced Jake had to do it, but Devon knows that Jake wasn’t at the party. Devon trusts Jake, so he shares what he knows to keep Jake safe from his mother.
This episode of Chucky is all about different awakenings. The truth is coming to light on many fronts. All the secrets of Hackensack are out in the open and no one knows what to do. Chucky has created the perfect environment of chaos to do whatever he wants. Friends don’t trust friends, parents don’t trust children, and the most popular girl in school is paranoid about being murdered by a doll and can’t say anything.
Meanwhile, Devon’s research brings us further into the past of Charles Lee Ray. The arrival of Tiffany and Nina are foreshadowed in his google searches—a known accomplice, an escaped psychiatric patient—and we get to see teenage Charles cut up in the foster home. Turns out he always had a way with getting younger children to be his friend and assist in his crimes.
The production design gets another great chance to shine this episode. Jake and Lexy break into the mansion, which is now a shell of its former self and a crime scene. The fire destroyed this house, shattering Lexy’s safe haven and her confidence in a blazing inferno. The only thing to clearly survive are photos of her sister, and she’s fighting for her life on a ventilator in the hospital. Caroline is the only person Lexy cares about and she’s in danger because of her actions.
The creature design team did a great job, too. Chucky is pretty much indestructible. We know this from decades of films at this point. This time, the fire at the mayor’s mansion left him half melted. They’re really leaning into Chucky’s human core with this and it shows onscreen. The plastic clearly melted, but there’s a core of gore and viscera you would see in a human burn patient. It’s Chucky’s most disturbing form yet.
Okay. Teenage Chucky training a child accomplice is pretty disturbing too. Visually, this melted Chucky is the most disturbing yet.
Episode four is an exposition episode. The series needed time to stitch important plot elements together and reconfigure the balance of power before all hell starts to break loose. All it took was Jake, Devon, Lexy, and Devon’s mom figuring out a connection between Chucky and the murders for Chucky to become bold enough to start murdering right in front of a crowd again. By the time people suspect the dolls in a Child’s Play film, it’s too late. Chucky, as a series, reached that point by episode four.
New episodes of Chucky premiere on Syfy and USA Network at 10PM on Tuesday nights.
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