Death By Misadventure

The first episode of Child’s Play reboot wastes no time in settling the murderous doll Chucky into a new neighbourhood. At the center of this is Jake Wheeler, who decides to pay $20 for a Good Guy doll at a yard sale. ..

The Hackensack Police Department is investigating a 25% increase in spiking murder rates in the town of Hackensack over the past few years. This increase has been noticed by local law enforcement, but no one knows why it’s happening. Some believe that Chucky, the spirit of the notorious killer who died in a child’s play accident, is to blame.

Jake’s dad is trying to get him to focus on his day-to-day life and not spend all his time creating art. He doesn’t want Jake to spend $1000 on art camp, which would set him back a lot. ..

Jake and his partner, Junior, are having a tough time at work. Jake’s father is scoffing at him and his successful brother Logan when they come over for dinner. Junior has just made regionals but he and Jake don’t exactly see eye to eye. He calls out Jake for being gay and causes plenty of awkward tension at the dinner table.

Jake’s dad smashed his son’s art sculpture to bits when the family left. Binxie, Jake’s cat, was killed by the killer doll. And the only evidence happened to be tufts of bloody hair in Chucky’s hand. ..

Jake and Chucky go to school together, but it doesn’t exactly help Jake’s academic prospects. Junior attends the same school, and when Lexy shows up, she encourages Jake to talk about his financial situation. In fact, she starts a GoFundMe for him too, which gets a lot of laughs in science class. ..

After school, Lexy is freaked out by Chucky moving about and stalking her. When the teacher returns, Chucky goes limp and Lexy chalk this up to smoking too much weed. Naturally.

That evening, Jake tries desperately to sell the doll, receiving a call from someone claiming to know about Chucky. He warns Jake to be careful and to check Chucky’s batteries next time. There’s some nice throwbacks to classic Child’s Play here, as Jake heads online to research more about the doll. The headlines link back to the first few movies beautifully.

Jake’s act of sabotage at school the next day was a calculated move to take the spotlight from his sister and embarrass her. He thought it would make his dad angry, but it only made him more proud of him. The argument with his dad that evening was a teachable moment for Jake and he learned that standing up for himself is the best way to protect himself.

Chucky seems to be enjoying watching Jake’s dad get killed, as he laughs and drinks whiskey while the father is incapacitated. When Jake goes upstairs to try and save his dad, Chucky follows him and brutally kills him with a breaker. ..

Jake is brought in for questioning by Detective Evans and Peyton, but mostly they just claim this is a “death by misadventure”. Jake’s father was killed a few days ago, so he’s been shipped off to stay with his uncle in their swanky mansion. And that obviously doesn’t look like it’s going to pose well for Junior – especially when Chucky comes with Jake too.

Jake manages to talk to Chucky properly, who decides they need to talk about Lexy, brandishing a knife after outing himself as Charles Lee Ray!

The Episode Review

Chucky is back and fans of the murderous doll will absolutely love what’s on offer in this series. There are plenty of throwbacks to the movie franchise, lots of Easter eggs and a solid story that plays on the same simple concept that made the films so enjoyable. ..

The soundtrack is a big standout point in the show and it’s often something that’s overlooked. The simple but effective ambient score uses those same chimes that made the films so distinctive and it’s great to see that rekindled for this show. It’s also great that Brad Dourif is back as Chucky too because honestly, I can’t imagine anyone else taking that role. ..

The city of West Egg is a popular tourist destination for those who are looking for a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. The city has been around since the 1800s and is known for its beautiful architecture, historical sites, and delicious food. The addition of Jake Wheeler as a character helps to bring this all to life for newcomers. He’s an easy character to warm up to and makes the city feel more welcoming.

This could be a sign that Chucky is on the horizon, and he could well be one of the biggest horror surprises of the year.