It was festive, it was gory, it was campy, and it left the door open in the likely event Chucky gets a season three. The Christmas-themed “Chucky Actually” wrapped up a satisfying season two for Don Mancini’s horror comedy, but if the show does return, it’ll be without several of the show’s core characters so far.
The reason for that, of course, is season two’s outrageous body count, which knocked out quite a few major cast members. The most spectacular death scenes were reserved for Father Bryce (Devon Sawa), who exploded mid-exorcism; Jennifer Tilly (as “herself,” albeit with her soul trapped in a Tiffany Valentine doll), who was splattered by a truck; and the chainsaw-bisected Mayor Michelle Cross (Barbara Alyn Woods, real-life mother of Chucky cast member Alyvia Alyn Woods, who plays Michelle’s daughter Lexy). Amid all the carnage (and those listed above were just a handful of the corpse parade this season), there were also multiple resurrections, most notably Glen and Glenda (Lachlan Watson), who made a life-or-death decision to return their souls to the doll we first met in Seed of Chucky (voiced by Billy Boyd), newly rechristened “G.G.” — and, well, Chucky himself (voiced by Brad Dourif), whose gotcha! return in the final scene was just as cheesy as it needed to be.
The penultimate episode, “Goin’ to the Chapel,” devoted itself to tying up most of the plot threads we’ve been following all season, culminating in the characters facing off at the Catholic school run by Father Bryce (RIP), where Lexy, Jake (Zackary Arthur), and Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) were compelled to enroll after being blamed for one of Chucky’s early-season kills. The season’s biggest set piece was the existence of multiple Chucky dolls with a shared soul but different personalities, including a vaguely “Good” Chucky, an alarmingly buff Chucky, and a Chucky moulded after Marlon Brando’s character in Apocalypse Now, and yes Dourif did a Brando imitation in his Chucky voice for that one. “Goin’ to the Chapel” streamlined all the Chuckys — including the one squatting inside of Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) — into a single soul once again, and gave us a sweet, Childs Play 2-inspired send-off for fan-favourite characters and staunch Chucky survivors Andy (Alex Vincent) and Kyle (Christine Elise). It also got all the kids out of the school and back home to Hackensack… just in time for Christmas.
As “Chucky Actually” begins, the characters all believe Chucky is dead — though the audience knows he escaped the Catholic school thanks to the nefarious Dr. Mixter (Rosemary Dunsmore), who just so happens to have a pristine Good Guy doll tucked away in her office. As the episode counts down the “chopping days” until Christmas and the confrontation we all know is coming, we see Lexy emerging from a successful stint in rehab and reuniting with Jake and Devon to celebrate the holidays at Mayor Michelle’s aggressively festive McMansion. There’s finally a sense of moving on, as “Jevon” rekindles their romance and all three teens begin to realise Chucky isn’t the only thing they have in common — though Lexy raises the concern that they’ll end up like Andy and Kyle, spending their entire lives paralysed by “a complete obsession with all things Chucky.”
Honestly, it’s something to worry about… especially as “Chucky Actually” roars forward to remind us that no sense of closure in the Child’s Play universe is ever permanent. After seeing her mother in pieces on Christmas Eve, Lexy pounces on “the last Chucky standing” and rips him to pieces. But any catharsis she feels from that evaporates when her younger sister Caroline (Carina London Battrick), who had some Bad Seed vibes in season one but has been mostly absent from the story this time around, emerges with her own sinister agenda. Early in season two, Dr. Mixter gave Caroline a “Belle” doll — the exact same type of doll that played host to Tiffany Valentine before she transferred her soul into the human Jennifer Tilly. Tiffany-Jennifer wants to return to doll form, and — since the doll containing Jennifer Tilly’s soul got smashed by a truck — she needs Caroline’s Belle. Lexy, Devon, and Jake watch in horror as Caroline willingly leaves with Tiffany-Jennifer, her Belle doll in tow. But they’d be even more horrified to learn, as we do in the final scene, that Belle is actually yet another Chucky doll in disguise, and creepy Caroline’s been Team Chucky all this time. Not only does Tiffany not get to transfer her soul into the doll, it’s implied that Chucky’s finally gotten vengeance against his double-crossing bride. And it goes without saying, his killing spree is absolutely back on track.
With some huge questions left unanswered at the end of season two, it seems a third season is definitely in order. Is Tiffany really dead? Will pint-sized maniac Caroline help Chucky get revenge against the Hackensack kids, as well as the wandering G.G.? How will Lexy, Jake, and Devon survive this latest round of trauma? What will happen to Nica? Will Kyle and Andy ever be able to leave all things Chucky behind? What new role will Mancini cook up for Devon Sawa, who’s now died three times on Chucky as three different characters? Can any future instalment top a season finale that included Chucky reciting not only his own version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” but singing us out with a “12 Days of Christmas” that tallied up every single one of season two’s gruesome kills? Honestly, it’s doubtful. But we’d sure love to see where this wild, hilarious, sometimes incredibly earnest, other times incredibly blood-soaked ride goes next.
Chucky seasons one and two are now streaming on Peacock and Syfy.com.
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