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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
The world is an amusement park when you are the one who controls the plays. Don Mancini’s Chucky has more to offer this week, as Child’s Play fans have expected. The fifth episode of USA Network and SYFY’s hit horror slasher series is titled “Little Little Lies”. Series executive producer Harley Peyton serves as the co-writer of the episode alongside Rachael Paradis (Psych), while Leslie Libman returns for the director’s chair.
In this review, I will be discussing and deconstructing Chucky‘s fifth episode. There will be spoilers to follow, as the title of this article suggests. Please read ahead at your own discretion, or forever be doomed with some revelations.
Plot Summary
1980s’ Hackensack
Following the flashbacks from last week’s episode, young Charles Lee Ray has grown into an adult (Fiona Dourif; voiced by Brad Dourif). At a club one night, he watches a woman named Delilah (Samantha Brown) sexually harass a man named Dwayne (Neil Babcock) on the dance floor. He then offers her a cigarette and tries to take her under his wing, stating, “I promise you, I’m not like anybody else”.
Charles and Delilah soon spot a young red-headed woman (Blaise Crocker) in the club. They take her to a hotel in the town. In a room, Charles watches Delilah and the woman on a bed. He walks up to the woman with a knife in his right hand. She begs him to kill her, but he hesitates. Charles then stabs Delilah to death instead, letting the woman join in on the kill. The woman introduces herself as Tiffany (voiced by Jennifer Tilly). She nicknames him “Chucky”, and Charles suggests that she dye her hair blond.
Hackensack – Prologue – Present
In her hospital room, Caroline Cross (Carina London Battrick) comes to. Her father, Nathan Cross (Michael Therriault), tries to comfort her, but she demands the Chucky doll. Nathan takes the doll out from a closet and shows it to his daughter. However, upon seeing how disfigured he has become, she screams. As a result, Nathan drops the doll into the hospital’s garbage. There, Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif), gets a high off the used needles that stick to him.
Alexandra “Lexy” Cross (Alyvia Alyn Lind) sees what her father has done. She, Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), and Devon Evans (Björgvin Arnarson) go down to the hospital’s basement, where the former two dig in the trash for the doll, with Devon on the lookout. Jake slips back, and Devon catches him. When they find their efforts useless, the three teenagers sanitize.
Perry Middle School – Few Days Later – Present
The teenagers’ biology teacher, Miss Fairchild (Annie Briggs), consoles her class in the aftermath of their peer Oliver Hayden (Avery Esteves)’s murder, that whatever emotions they may be feeling is normal. She is called out of the room by Devon’s mother, Detective Kim Evans (Rachelle Casseus). Lexy, Jake, and Devon discuss Chucky’s whereabouts as well as bring Junior Wheeler (Teo Briones) in the matter. Suspicion grows in him, and he asks them if they’ve seen Westworld.
In the hallways, Jake tells Devon that Oliver’s death was his (Jake’s) fault, but Devon says, “Pain’s a lot easier if you let someone feel it with you”. Jake closes his eyes and pictures himself running from what has been happening and cannot do anything about it. Devon holds his hand and reassures him that they will go through the predicament together.
The Cross Home – Afternoon – Present
The Crosses take Caroline back home, where Mayor Michelle Cross (Barbara Alyn Woods) tells her family that their home will be repaired using the townspeople’s tax dollars. Lexy says that this is stealing and lying. However, Michelle berates and grounds her for what happened to their household. Nathan tries to reason with his wife and tells her to show compassion, but she does not favor this side of him.
Later in his wife’s office, Nathan gives Caroline a new Good Guy doll – this time named Tommy – that he bought online. Lexy sees the doll, takes it from Caroline, and beats the doll to kingdom come. Her parents break apart the fight, and Lexy takes a picture of her sister with the doll before leaving the room.
The Wheeler Mansion – Evening – Present
The sky flashes with lightning followed by sounds of loud thunder.
At the Wheelers’ dinner table, Logan Wheeler (Devon Sawa) announces that he has gotten Junior into nationals for cross-country. When Junior says that it would not be fair as he missed regionals while in the hospital, his father argues, “In life, when you get advantages, you have to take ’em”.
Their conversation is interrupted when Jake receives text messages; Junior sees that Lexy has been speaking to his cousin and ignoring him. Bree Wheeler (Lexa Doig) asks her nephew to hand over his phone, but he refuses. The two cousins fight, but Logan grabs his son by the arm and demands him to let go of the phone. The boys leave the table, and Bree tells her husband that “it’s not the best time to have an extra son in the house”. Meanwhile, Jake sees that Lexy sent him a picture of her sister with Tommy.
The Cross Home – Evening – Present
At the Crosses’ home, Caroline sings “Itsy Bitsy Spider” as Chucky watches from outside through a window. Later, Nathan finds Chucky in Caroline’s bedroom as his daughter is sleeping in bed with Tommy. He passes through the kitchen, where Lexy and Michelle see he plans to dump the Chucky doll in the trash. Michelle believes Lexy planted it into Caroline’s room as a joke, which Lexy insists it is not; Lexy texts Jake and Devon to come over. Michelle berates Nathan for not being enough of a man, and he tells her she can only be either a mom or a mayor, not both.
Outside, the teenagers remove the Chucky doll from the trash can and destroy him, breaking it to pieces. When the boys as Lexy about the Tommy doll, she claims that he is harmless. Jake and Devon bike away to share a kiss by the crucifix-like structure overlooking the town, believing that what has remained has returned to normal.
Secrets Hackensack Doesn’t See – Day – Present
At therapy, Bree discusses her secret with her therapist (Rosemary Dunsmore). She has Stage IV Cancer that she has not told her family about but plans to do so because she is alone in this.
Elsewhere, Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) and Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) – the latter possessed by Chucky’s soul – are having sexual fun in a hotel room. A young man (Eric Tzogas) is gagged and bound to a chair, while another man lies dead on the ground. Tiffany tells Chucky that she is hungry, to which an argument ensues over Tiffany’s supposed obsession with eating. She leaves the room. Chucky confides in the man (whom Tiffany and Chucky refer to as “Little Fella”) about how his “love is strange” relationship with Tiffany. He makes a cut on the man’s head with a knife.
At the sight of blood, Chucky drops to the floor, reverting to the consciousness of Nica in her own body. Nica asks the man what date it is and if a Good Guy doll is present in the room. She briefly tells him about the pain and psychological torture that it caused herself and her family (see Curse of and Cult of Chucky, duh). Nica tries to free him from his restraints, but he slaps her in the face, bringing Chucky back to take over the body. Tiffany returns into the room so she can go out to eat with Chucky, who slits the throat of Little Fella – a witness to Nica’s revelations.
Perry Middle School – Epilogue – Present
A town meeting is held in the middle school auditorium. Caroline tells her father that the Tommy doll is missing. Meanwhile, Jake tells Devon and Lexy that they should tell the adults about Chucky. This idea fails when Lexy tries to do this to Junior, who disbelieves her and finds it “just embarrassing”.
On stage, Michelle tells the people in the room that the town “has never been safer”. A parent in the audience (Joseph Daly) that she is an idiot. Detective Evans then tells the audience that a curfew will go into effect immediately. Among them, she sees her son holding hands with Jake. She calls on Principal McVey (Jana Peck), however, after a moment of silence in anticipation of the woman, her head rolls through the curtains and onto the stage. Chucky (now in Tommy’s body) opens the curtains to reveal the rest of McVey’s body, showing that it has been decapitated.
It is revealed that Chucky came into Caroline’s room at night to transfer his soul into the Tommy doll.
Discussion
“Little Little Lies” is a fascinating episode of Chucky, with Ken Ramos returning as the editor; and I have to commend Peyton and Paradis (as well as the writers’ room) for such a well-written teleplay. What I love most about the episode is its Gothic theme of the double. We obviously see this with the Tommy and Chucky dolls, which best represent good and evil, non-living and living. However, this seems a bit too easy to discover.
We also see a juxtaposition between Michelle Cross and her husband, Nathan. As parents, they both possess some amount of power. One is a symbol of recklessness, while the other represents reason. Their small debate on fatherhood and motherhood, femininity and masculinity, et cetera seems interesting as it allows and showcases for this type of discourse to occur with adults.
The episode also features some parallels. While Lexy does beat on the Tommy doll similar to how Tilly did to her nanny at the end of Seed of Chucky, I refer to something about the television series as a whole. Logan is rough on his son, Junior, in the same way that his twin brother, Lucas, was with Jake. Although he claims he is dissimilar to his brother, deep down we all know he is lying.
Performances and Character Developments
I love the character development between Arthur and Arnarson’s characters, Jake and Devon. Is their gay kiss the first one in the horror genre? Perhaps not, but the build-up leading to their becoming a thing was well-done, letting this transformation in their dynamic be well-deserved.
Sawa and Woods once again prove to do great, only adding to their performances from last week’s episode. Logan and Cross both parallel as parents who possess conceit and hubris. I also love the small focus on Doig’s character, Bree Wheeler, as well as the secret she harbors.
It was great to see Tilly back in the role of Tiffany Valentine from… (The timeline can get confusing because wasn’t the character’s soul transferred into the fictionalized version of THE Jennifer Tilly in Seed of Chucky?) Anyways, we also beg the question(s) of what has become of the Tiffany doll and the Glen/Glenda characters.
Fiona Dourif’s role as both her father’s character, Charles Lee Ray (human form), and victim Nica Pierce is lovely. As both characters, she has the ability to portray the dualities of which I’ve discussed, including the beauties and horrors of Mancini’s franchise. I thought of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when I saw her as both Chucky and Nica. Alongside her is Lind, who is marvelous as Lexy Cross. Most especially is her scene in her mother’s office with the Tommy doll, as I said parallels Tilly’s performance in the 2004 movie.
I have a feeling that Ray and Valentine might just transfer their souls into more bodies. I mean, there needs to be a reason why some characters could be spared from being killed by Chucky – Junior, Bree, Michelle, Fairchild, etc. It’s only a matter of time until we see what becomes of them as the series progresses.
Final Thoughts
The writers eerily bring Westworld and “Itsy Bitsy Spider” into the episode, suggesting that more secrets will be manifested in the final three episodes of the season. (Say it ain’t so, Mr. Mancini! I was under the assumption that we had five more episodes left…) Many things are a lie, kept in the darkness… That is until they are not. This is what is to be enjoyed and savored in “Little Little Lies”. The smallest details and information about the story and its characters matter.
This fifth episode of Chucky paces in a moderate manner, and the narrative only gets spicier and trickier to follow as more faces enter the fray. As this week’s episode begins the midseason, it is only necessary that we see a turning point for the story. Similar to how Stephen King’s It involves a homosexual romance and belief in true evil, such evil is not gone.
Chucky is on SYFY and USA Network!
Have you seen this week’s new episode yet? If you have, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know! For more adaptation, horror, and television-related news and reviews, give The Cinema Spot a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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