‘Chucky’ Season 1 Finale Spoiler Review – “An Affair To Dismember”

“Yaya con Dios.” (Go with God.)

Don Mancini’s hit USA Network and SYFY horror slasher series Chucky, sticks the landing with its first season finale. This episode is titled “An Affair to Dismember”. Executive producers Don Mancini and Harley Peyton serve as the writers for the episode, while executive producer Jeff Renfroe sits on the director’s chair.

In this review, I will be discussing and deconstructing Chucky‘s final episode to its first season. 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

The Wheelers’ Mansion – Night – Present

Following immediately after the events of last week’s episode, Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) rings the doorbell. Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) has Junior Wheeler (Teo Briones) answer it. Junior invites Andy in and is somewhat truthful to the man’s questions about the whereabouts of his parents and his cousin, Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur). The boy then brings Andy up to his bedroom, where the man searches the closet. However, neither Junior’s father nor the doll is anywhere to be found.

He tells Andy that his father is “out with his girlfriend”. Andy tells Junior to call his father’s phone, which rings in another room. The two walk into the bathroom, where a bubble bath has been made. Andy digs through but nothing is there. Before leaving, he tells Junior to have Jake call him and to stay away from the doll.

Chucky comes out of a closed-lid toilet and tells Junior he hid because Andy had a gun – an Achilles heel. (Others include “axes, fire, and those big, industrial-sized fans”.)

The Cross House

Jake and Alexandra “Lexy” Cross (Alyvia Alyn Lind) surmise Chucky’s plan to kill in Hackensack has to deal with other Good Guy dolls, such as one that Jake found at the bus station and took to her house. That doll prepares to enter the living room and attack the two teenagers. However, Andy’s foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise) arrives on the property and shoots the doll through the head.

Kyle introduces herself to Jake and Lexy while they drink cups of coffee. She tells them that they need to kill all the dolls, then explains Chucky’s ability to transfer fragments of his soul into other Good Guy dolls because “it has to be an identical vessel”.

Kyle also tells the two teens that Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) is a “poor girl at the asylum” who got possessed by Chucky. She states, “If Chucky can corrupt an innocent, if he can get just one kid to kill someone, he can make an entire army”. Jake and Lexy then drift into unconsciousness due to the drugs Kyle planted in their coffee.

The Ray Household

Tiffany Valentine’s Jennifer Tilly (Jennifer Tilly) arrives in the Ray household to find Nica on the floor of the living room. However, as she nears the body, it is revealed that Chucky is currently in control of the woman’s body. Chucky’s Nica overpowers her and prepares to stab her with a knife, but Tiffany’s Tilly says Chucky needs her. Junior and his Chucky doll intervene before this can happen, and Tilly hugs that doll as if a mother hugging her son.

Tilly, Chucky’s Nica, Junior, and the Chucky doll go down into the den, where an army of Chucky-possessed dolls and Devon are present. One soldier doll asks if there is an age limit on their victims, to which Chucky asserts, “No babies. We’re not savages, and they make better stooges anyway. … Let’s just say nobody under the age of five of six”. Another doll asks about twins, and they all have a laugh about it.

Control – Continuous

After Tilly sends the 72 packages of Chucky dolls away in a delivery truck, she watches the Chucky doll and Chucky’s Nica bonding and grows jealous. She says neither of them is considered “a man”, then slaps the woman, who is taken over by Nica. The doll commands Jennifer to kill Nica, that his soul fragment in her does not matter to him. He realizes that Tilly is more afraid of losing Nica than him. Chucky demands Junior to kill Nica, but Tilly decapitates the doll and takes control of the room. Tilly tells Chucky that their relationship is over. She reiterates that Chucky needs her, then puts Nica to sleep with a needle full of some type of substance.

Tilly whips out a suitcase that “my darling Glenda” gave her; she says “they have exquisite taste”. It is revealed that the suitcase is a bomb. She activates it, then drives away from the scene with Junior and a new Chucky doll in the front seat and Nica unconscious in the back.

Devon is left behind. The beheaded Chucky commands his body to get up and kill the boy. However, Andy arrives and bashes it with a piece of wood, then frees Devon from his restraints. Kyle arrives shortly after; she hears Chucky’s Good Guy doll voice (Nick Fisher) call out to her, opens the front door, and triggers Tilly’s bomb as Andy warns her to stop and Devon escaping out a window.

Chicago – Late-1980s

It is revealed that after Young Tiffany Valentine (Blaise Crocker; voiced by Tilly) and Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray (Fiona Dourif; voiced by Brad Dourif)’s argument, Tiffany makes a phone ctifall to Detective Mike Norris. She makes a report on the location of the Lakeshore Strangler.

Surviving Once More – Morning – Present

Jake and Lexy come to. They check their phones for notifications, which inform them of the explosion in the Ray household with “Fatalities Reported”.

Jake heads to Devon’s house and into his bedroom, but the boy is not there. Jake mourns the loss of another loved one, but Devon arrives safely and Jake kisses him. Devon claims that Andy and Kyle were inside the house as the trap was detonated. He also tells Jake that Junior killed his father. The boy then mentions Chucky’s army that plans to go to the mayor’s charity benefit.

EXT. Movie Theater – Day – Present

In front of press members, Mayor Michelle Cross (Barbara Alyn Woods) announces Jennifer Tilly as the guest host of the town event’s screening of Universal’s Frankenstein. Standing next to her mother, Lexy sees Junior calling out to her from inside the theater. She enters the building as Michelle announces 72 Good Guy dolls will be flown across the nation “to needful children”.

Caroline Cross (Carina London Battrick) demands Chucky, so Tilly gives her Chucky doll to the girl.

INT. Movie Theater

Lexy follows Junior through the halls of the movie theater – with his new Chucky doll piggybacking on him – and into the backstage of a screen showing Frankenstein. Junior persuades her into joining the evil side; he tells her he was afraid of competing, of his father, and of Lexy herself until the doll came along. He states, “[The doll] taught me how to be a man”, but Lexy tells him she has loved him for his kindness despite how terrible she has been in the past.

Junior prepares to kill Lexy but rushes past her and stabs Chucky, and at the same time, the doll impales the boy with his own knife. Dying in her arms, Junior tells Lexy “to tell everyone” (presumably their friends) that he is sorry.

INT. Movie Theater – The Other Side

Meanwhile, on the auditorium side, Caroline’s Chucky leaves her and disappears under the seats of the room. Michelle leaves briefly to purchase a large popcorn. She returns and puts the popcorn on Nathan’s lap. She eats the snack as blood slowly spills onto the popcorn. Realizing what has happened, she gets up and screams. The other audience members see the disaster, and Chucky begins to kill people from under their seats. People flee the room, while others are killed in their seats. Michelle is trampled by some in an aisle but is eventually able to escape.

Devon and Jake arrive; the former rescues Caroline from her seat, while the latter searches for and confronts the killer doll. Chucky tells Jake that Hackensack’s legacy will be his body count and his name. He gets the upper hand and overcomes the boy, explaining that his strength is of Damballa’s doing. Jake then overpowers the doll and knocks the knife out of his hand. The boy then chokes Chucky and says, “You’re just Teddy Ruxpin without a knife”.

Jake expresses his regrets for never mending his relationship with his father. He squeezes the life out of the doll. The two boys leave the theater as Frankenstein ends. They catch up to the remaining Crosses.

EXT. Movie Theater – Night

In the parking lot, Andy hijacks the delivery truck while Tilly’s car does not start. He drives out into the road, but a Tiffany-possessed doll inside the back of the vehicle manifests and takes back control of the situation. The doll then commands Andy to take the truck to Teterboro Airport.

Epilogue

Devon’s “Hackenslash” podcast plays in a voiceover as Jake, Devon, and Lexy visit the Wheeler family’s graves. The podcast narrates that the town’s motto is defendit numerus, Latin for “safety in numbers”; Devon also states:

What happens when we feel outnumbered? How do we fight back? How do we stand a chance against an enemy who disguises himself as our friend? Maybe the best way is to known the difference between friend and enemy, and that means digging deep enough to find out.

Their biology teacher, Miss Rachel Fairchild (Annie Briggs) – now freed and cleared of her charges – watches from a short distance, laid against a car. From another position in the cemetery, as the kids hug it out, an unseen black-gloved figure watches from behind a tree.

In the final scene, a Chucky doll is sitting comfortably in a chair by a fireplace while wearing a red and black top. He tallies up his body count and ponders on Andy’s and Nica’s fates.

Discussion

“An Affair to Dismember” is a terrifying, anxiety-inducing way to end the season. Randy Bricker and Shiran Carolyn Amir take over as the editors of the episode, while Shiran Amir serves as the assistant editor. Dennis Davenport serves as the art director. Everything about this episode needs to be credited to the crew of the series. I should also add Hoult’s cinematography, Zigler and Acosta’s story editing, Ashton’s costume design, Bell’s set design, Holmes’s set decorating, Armour’s make-up, Dagenais’s special effects make-up, of course, Pete Von Sholly’s storyboard artistry, and much more.

The Good Guy doll package introductory title sequence is neat and brings a new color to the series logo. I also like that the finale continues to make sense of the franchise’s timeline of events. It makes sure to assert that Season 1 takes place around the same time as (and then after) the conclusion of Cult of Chucky. This is confirmed when Kyle tells Jake and Lexy that there were three Chucky dolls at Nica’s asylum.

There were some plotholes that I felt were not properly answered. First of all, Kyle abandoning the teenagers in the Crosses’ home (unconscious and alone) seems kind of reckless. How do we know Jake and Lexy were safe, in case a Chucky or Tiffany doll, someone, or something else did not come into the house while the two kids were unconscious? I cannot help but be wary about this.

When Chucky’s Nica nearly kills Tiffany’s Tilly, the fact that she was killed four times was mentioned. As Child’s Play fans know, Tiffany was killed as a human and then as a doll in Bride of Chucky, then again as a doll in its sequel, Seed of Chucky. Their memory is strong, but is there a fourth killing of Tiffany that I’m missing? What could that possibly mean?

Performances and Character Developments

Alex Vincent, Christine Elise, and Fiona Dourif perform so well as the victimized adults. I am currently in denial that Kyle died in the house explosion, especially since a body has not been shown nor confirmed. I would like to think that it is her watching the teenagers in the cemetery. Although, Tiffany’s Tilly mentions her daughter, Glenda, by name, so I also believe that the black-gloved figure could be the character too.

Briones makes an outstanding killer, however, as a child at heart, I don’t think he has it in him to go all the way. At least, not like Charles Lee Ray when he was a child. Junior’s character development was nothing but tragic; he was a well-written character with actual fears and emotional flaws paralleling Jake’s. Although, the discourse around his character, Lexy, and Chucky about the definition of masculinity are interesting. The writers tackle what it means to be “a man”, that Junior’s feelings and emotions are valid.

Meanwhile, there’s Lind, who is more than a damsel-in-distress. It’s just a shame that her role does not require action and instead asks for use of rhetoric. The same can be said for Arnarson’s Devon Evans. I felt both these characters could have had more written for them in this episode.

Two performances that absolutely steal the show are Arthur and Tilly. Both are brutal in the respective ways they kill the Chucky dolls, and the way they deliver their lines is superb. They are able to take the spotlight in the room without really the actual need for one. I have to commend the writers’ room for penning them so well!

Final Thoughts

I expected the army of Chucky to be unleashed. Although, I guess that will need to be further built up for the second season or an upcoming installment in the film series. Still, I was shocked at how the screening event turned out, with the killer doll doing something to victims in the audience that I was always afraid he’d do to me as a young schoolchild. These kills and the decapitation in the Ray household were brutal. The amputation of Nica’s limbs was morose but I see the logos in Tilly’s act.

Don Mancini and his writers’ room leave some open space for existing characters to re-enter the fray. I have to hold hope that they will come and bring balance to both sides. If we can see more surviving victims (a support group, perhaps) of past Chucky films return, that would be nice. The references to The Shining and Bride/ Seed of Chucky were lovely tidbits that added another layer to the episode. I really hoped that my question about Therriault’s role in the series would be answered, but with his character’s death, that sadly couldn’t happen.

I am glad the second season of Chucky has been greenlit. There is so much more lore to explore, so the gore does not stop here.

Chucky Season 1 is on SYFY and USA Network!

Have you seen this week’s Season 1 finale 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!