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Chucky Review 1.04 – ‘Just Let Go’
Loading...Warning: This review contains spoilers for tonight’s episode. Don’t read if you haven’t watched it yet.
Last time on Chucky: We learned that Chucky was born a killer, as when a serial killer invaded his home and killed his dad as a kid, Charles Lee Ray helped him out by murdering his own mother. In present day, Jake tries to kill Lexy and just can’t do it, so Chucky convinces him to give him to Lexy’s sister and he’ll take care of it. Chucky accidentally stabs Oliver instead but decides to just go with it and kill him anyway. Then later, he tries to take out Lexy but accidentally causes a fire. He stood over her laughing as the episode ended.
Last week started some much needed growth for Lexy, and had an origin story for Chucky that was the best possible one they could do. He’s always been this way. And now that we’re out of spooky season, it’s nice that there’s still something spooky going on for those of us unwilling to give it up right away. Halloween’s corpse wasn’t even cold yet and Walmart already had their ugly Christmas sweaters out and not a single piece of discounted candy. Disgraceful.
Season 1, Episode 4: Just Let Go
Directed By: Leslie Libman
Written By: Mallory Westfall & Kim Garland
Wow, what a roller coaster this one was. Let’s see if I can condense my thoughts into something manageable. First of all, I think this will serve as the real turning point of the season. We spent the last three episodes establishing our new cast and the burgeoning situation with the killer doll, but this is the episode where everything finally gels and we get a better idea of where the story is headed. Chucky is definitely done playing nice for Jake or anybody.
I’ve completely turned around on Lexy, I think. Okay maybe not totally. She still doesn’t quite get that what she did was wrong but she raises good points. Jake got made fun of in school and his response was automatically to say, “this person should die”? Even if Chucky weren’t in the picture messing with his head, he probably should see a psychiatrist at some point. Violence is never the answer unless it’s against a supernaturally possessed doll.
But yeah, Lexy is growing on me. The writing for her is better here, or at least she’s more well-rounded. It’s getting easier to see why she is the way she is and that makes it easier to sympathize. Is she handling things the right way? No, of course not. Not at all. But what chance does she have with parents like those? Plus it’s hinted she’s on some kind of medication, so she’s just better at hiding her mental illness than Jake is. I gotta say, the two of them talking about psych meds and what they’re for hit home with me so much. It’s sad that so many people have to rely on these things to feel normal, myself included, that it’s just part of conversation now. The modern world sucks, is all I’m saying.
Anyway, going back into the world of fiction, Jake and Lexy put aside their differences long enough to go look for Chucky at her mansion, but then things get bad again and Lexy almost falls to her death. Except Jake saves her. And this is when Chucky finally lets the mask drop. After trying and failing to convince Jake to ‘just let go’ (hinting he doesn’t care by wanting to also hurt Junior), he turns on Jake the second he says he’s not a killer. It’s the turning point for this show. Because now Chucky has multiple people against him and he’s no longer playing.
Speaking of the doll, he has a new melted look here. I’d question why the Good Guy doll melts here and burns differently in the original Child’s Play, but that’s just nitpicking. It looks pretty cool, especially since Chucky is still moving around and talking with the damage. I guess if I had my face melted, I might stop caring about messing around too. So Chucky gets his most violent kill of the show so far, severing a cop’s spinal cord and stabbing him repeatedly with needles until he bleeds out. Worse, he actually tries to murder the little girl, or at the very least, doesn’t care if she dies. See, Lexy’s little sister is on a ventilator after the fire, so he unplugs it. Either he was trying to kill her or trying to get an audience for his latest kill. Either way, that’s one of the cruelest acts he’s done in this entire franchise.
The detective he killed was kind of a jerk anyway. Not the kind that deserved to die, but who goes into the room of a child on life support to eat her snacks? Come on now.
So now Jake, Lexy and Devon (he finds out later) are all very aware that Chucky is alive and a threat. The only one that doesn’t know is Devon’s mom, who still doesn’t have much of a personality and is only there to be the cop that doesn’t believe Jake. I hope that changes soon because it’s already old and just delays us from getting to what we want to see.
I should also add that Chucky’s origin story against continues here, sort of. We see him in his teens, as he corrupts children and manages to get another kill. In a funny bit of continuity, he gifts a kid the hand of his latest victim and we learn the boy’s name is Eddie Caputo. Which is a pretty deep cut to reference, since Eddie’s been dead almost as long as Charles Lee Ray.
Anyway, this was my favorite episode so far, and I suspect it’s only going to get better from here. Next week is promising that Tiffany and Nica return, so it seems we’re finally getting to the proverbial fireworks factory. About time.
