Spoilers follow for Chucky's third episode, "I Like to Be Hugged," which aired on Syfy on Oct. 26.
Chucky has been walking protagonist Jake Wheeler down a dark path since his introduction, with the killer turning the screws in the kid’s mind as the cruel world comes crashing down on him. “I Like to Be Hugged” challenges Jake’s killer instincts, while also raising some interesting questions about how the idea of nature versus nurture has affected numerous characters in Hackensack. With more focus than last week’s aimless Halloween episode, “I Like to Be Hugged” delivers a silly concoction of teen drama and slasher backstory that’s proving to be Chucky’s hallmark.
“I Like to Be Hugged” finds Jake (Zackary Arthur) at a crossroads in the serial killer development course Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) got him involuntarily signed up for. As much as the show has asked us to believe Jake could succumb to the darkness in his life and go down a violent path, his tearful apology to his mother at her grave seems to firmly establish that’s just not going to happen. It’s good to have this lingering “question” settled this early in the season. We’ve already seen Jake transgressed against in deeply personal ways, so it was now or never for him to hit his breaking point. I don’t think anyone truly believed the thoughtful Jake would run Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) through with a knife in the middle of the day anyway, so I’m glad to see the show moving on from the unsustainable idea that he could actually become Chucky’s padawan learner.
As Chucky tells Jake, “some killers are made, but the best of us are born.” “I Like to Be Hugged” gives us our most important look yet into how Charles Lee Ray became the monster he is. Young Charles displays the violent tendencies that end up blossoming into Chucky’s bloodthirst, but it’s not until a seemingly random home invasion that Charles’ slasher fuse is lit. After Charles sees the intruder stab his father to death, he kills his own mother as they hide from the assailant in the closet.
It raises an intriguing question about Charles Lee Ray’s nature: despite claiming to Jake that he himself is a born killer, it’s a random act of violence that catalyzed Chucky’s slashing ways. While Chucky’s been promoted as a reunion of Child’s Play franchise players, the idea that Chucky himself may have to reckon with his own nature is an even more exciting possibility for a character so often played for laughs. The episode does a nice job weaving the flashbacks into Jake’s story, as he struggles with his own impulses, and primes Jake and Chucky for confrontations both physical and ideological as the show continues.
This week, it’s Lexy’s turn to host a rager in her comically large house, a silent disco which offers opportunities for both laughs and tension. Lexy’s feeling a little cramped by Junior (Teo Briones) after he chided her for her “Jake’s dying dad” Halloween costume, and flirts with Oliver (Avery Esteves) in front of Junior at the party as music blares in their headphones… well, Lexy and Oliver’s; headphone-less Junior’s watching from the stairs in awkwardly funny silence. Later on, the “no one can hear” conceit is used to great effect as Chucky leaves Lexy’s sister’s bed for a little late-night homicide. The screams of Chucky’s victim go unheard as they’re repeatedly stabbed by the laughing doll which, coupled with the victim’s young age, makes the drawn-out kill feel even more brutal. But Chucky’s got his glassy little eyes on Lexy, and his attack on her leaves us with an explosive cliffhanger that represents one of the killer doll’s greatest strengths: his ability to sow chaos.
As Chucky laments, hand-to-hand combat is tough when you’re two and a half feet tall, but one of the most fun elements of the Child’s Play franchise is watching the elaborate (or dead simple) ways Chucky lures their victims to their demise. Whereas last week’s housekeeper kill lacked tension, taking place entirely in the beginning of the episode with little lead-up, this episode places Chucky in the Cross house early enough for a couple scenes to establish the doll’s presence and Lexy’s growing discomfort. These are small bits of information, but every little bit helps when you’re trying to get an audience invested in whether that plastic doll actually murders that annoying teen.
While Hackensack’s kids have their hands full, storylines involving adult characters are feeling relatively stagnant. Detective Evans (Rachelle Casseus) is doing the stereotypical “that kid’s trouble” routine regarding Jake to give Devon something to rebel against, and Jake’s teacher Mrs. Fairchild (Annie Briggs) calls a conference between Lexy’s parents and Jake’s uncle and aunt to broker peace between the teens.
That conference sees Lexy’s mom, Mayor Michelle Cross (Barbara Alyn Lind), displaying the same entitlement she passed to her daughter as she tries to frame Jake as the true bully in the situation. The encounter doesn’t really go anywhere and, if anything, is only worthwhile for Aunt Bree’s (Lexa Doig) late entrance. This is the second or third time Chucky’s suggested Bree is doing something behind Logan’s (Devon Sawa) back, and it’s coded as an affair, but maybe there’s something even more insidious going on. Chucky loves playmates, after all…