As Chucky preps for next week’s season finale, the stakes have never been higher.  The series began by introducing new characters and easing us back into this world of possessed killer dolls, but the last two episodes have brought back a lot of characters and elements from before, all culminating together in what will hopefully prove to be a kickass finale.  This penultimate episode did everything it could to set that up.

Lost Souls
After Chucky’s double homicide last week, we see Jake’s recent grief shared by his resentful cousin Junior and his new boyfriend Devon.  While Junior lashes out physically (especially after being upset by Tiffany showing up and kissing his dad), Devon’s response is all the more heartbreaking to Jake.

Unable to look at Jake without thinking of his mother’s death, Devon expresses that he must leave town and start a new life.  Naturally Jake is devastated and thus, this is the most alone we’ve ever seen him this season.  After all he’s been through, it’s honestly tragic to see Jake continue to lose everything.

Pieces Moving
Between flashbacks of Chucky and Tiffany’s struggling relationship in 1988, we also catch up with Andy and Kyle.  Andy knows the stakes and decides to go on alone, ditching Kyle at a gas station.  On the surface, it’s frustrating to see him do that, but the fact that he does just demonstrates how concerned he is about the outcome.

For Andy, Chucky has been a lifelong adversary.  So it makes sense that he would feel it’s his solemn duty to face off against him alone.  Especially considering how many people close to Andy have died as a result.  Although it is admittedly kind of a dick move to leave her at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

All along, we’ve seen snippets of Chucky and Tiffany moving back to Hackensack, and buying his old childhood home.  This episode finally began to reveal just what they’ve had in store. As Devon foolishly investigates by himself, he gets himself captured by Tiffany and bears witness to an entire army of Chucky dolls, thus continuing the plot of Cult of Chucky.

Thus far, Chucky has existed as multiple subplots that were only mildly connected to each other.  This episode was a lot of fun because it was the first time that many of them started culminating together into one plot moving forward.  Honestly, the only disappointment is that there aren’t more episodes left at this point.

Jake, Lexy, and Devon definitely would have benefited from Andy and Kyle’s knowledge.  Plus, who wouldn’t have wanted a few episodes just dedicated to Andy and Kyle traveling the country hunting down Chucky dolls.  It made for a kickass cold open last week, and left audiences just wanting more!

New Recruit
All season long, Chucky’s been trying to get someone to do his dirty work for him.  Like a mini Emperor Palpatine perpetually trying to recruit a new sith apprentice, Chucky’s attempted to get Jake, Lexy, and Caroline all to kill for him.  Something which Jake and Lexy finally realize seems quite strange.

Chucky’s perfectly capable of killing on his own, but clearly some component of the ritual he’s trying to do involves one of the children committing murder.  Most likely, it’s either an attempt to take over their body, or ultimately use them as a sacrifice to give life to an army of Chucky dolls.

Where Chucky failed with Jake and his friends, he very much succeeded with the easily manipulated Junior.  Jake’s seemingly more successful cousin was much more susceptible to influence, especially given the enormous pressure put on him by his father.

When children are violently pushed into perfection, it’s easy for them to feel like a failure when they can’t live up to that perfection 100% of the time.  And where Junior’s father pushed him into hopelessness, Chucky played him like a fiddle, getting Junior to do his bidding.  Thus resulting in Devon Sawa getting killed for the second time in this series.

Between this, Chucky’s impending ritual, and Andy’s final confrontation with Chucky, this season is running at full speed to what will hopefully be a satisfying conclusion.  The Chucky series has definitely been a breath of fresh air for both the character and the franchise, and hopefully, we’ll get a second season to continue the story after next week!

What did you think of this episode?  What do you hope to see in next week’s season finale?  Let us know in the comments!

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