"Chucky": Gay Kid, Murderous Doll, Small Town. What Could Go Wrong?

 I've seen one or two of the Child's Play movies, about a homicidal doll.  Some of them are apparently queer-friendly, with gay and nonbinary characters.  Most recently, the Chucky tv series (2021-) reputedly has a gay protagonist, so I bought the first season on Vudu and reviewed the first episode.

Scene 1:  Idyllic small-town Hackensack, New Jersey, a suburb of Manhattan.  At a late-autumn yard sale, Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur, a femme young man with big hair and an ostentatious ring), buys a vintage Chucky doll.  

On the way home, he listens to "Hackenslash," a podcast about the dark side of Hackensack.  Today's episode: Charles Lee Ray, who killed his family in 1965.  (I think he's the one whose spirit possessed the Chucky doll.)  

Scene 2:  Jake's room.  He's building a truly disgusting statue composed entirely of doll heads.  I can't even look at the nightmare.  Dad (former teen idol Devon Sawa) enters to complain about Jake "playing with dolls" and "why don't you ask a girl to a movie."  He's just concerned with gender norms?  His kid is seriously disturbed!

Scene 3: Dinner with Dad's twin brother, his wife, and his son Junior (Teo Briones), who "accuses" Jake of being gay.  This enrages Dad so much that he shatters glasses on the floor and yells "He's 13.  He doesn't know what he is yet." So he can know if he's hetero and "ask a girl to a movie," but he can't know if he's gay?

Jake points out that he's 14, not 13.  Big faux-pas, Dad!  (the actor is 16).

Additional plot dump: Jake's Mom died in a car crash (of course).  Dad's business is going under, but he refuses to accept aid from his brother.  Dad drinks.

Brother's Wife Bree says she has to go to the bathroom, but instead she sneaks into Jake's room to make a secret phone call.  She finds the Chucky doll lurking in a closet.

Scene 4: Dad bursts into Jake's room and smashes the nighmare statue (Good!), but only because he thinks that Jake is gay.  "No more dolls!"  

In the morning, Jake checks the internet and finds that mint-condition Chucky dolls sell for $1,500.  Surely Dad will make an exception for a cash cow?  To be safe, Jake takes Chucky to school with him.

Scene 5:  On the bus, Jake is bullied and laughed at. Well, you're a 14-year old lugging a gigantic doll around. He gazes longingly at Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), who hosts the Hackenslash podcast, but his abusive cousin Junior is already sitting with him. 

Scene 6: At school, Jake's friend asks to be introduced to his cousin Junior, but Junior overhears and says "I'm flattered, but that's not really my thing."  Not so homophobic today.  To demonstrate, he smooches his girlfriend, the Mean Girl Lexi.

Scene 7:  In biology class, Jake is skittish about dissecting a frog.  He zones out, and when he returns, the frog is hacked to bits!  The teacher confiscates his Chucky doll.

Meanwhiel, Mean Girl Lexi starts a "Go Fund Me" to humiliate Jake. The teacher keeps her after class to complain.  When she leaves the room, Chucky menaces Lexi.

Scene 8: At lunch, podcaster Devon sits with Jake, but only to ask to interview him for an episode on bullying.  This enrages Jake, and he storms away.

Scene 9: At home, prospective buyers are contacting Jake.  One happens to be Andy Barclay, Chucky's original owner, who warns him about "mysterious things" happening around the doll.  Jake checks the internet: lots of murders.  Wait -- I thought just one Chucky doll was possessed.  Is it all of them? 

Scene 10:  When we last saw Chucky, he was locked in a cabinet at school, but somehow he ended up at home, and Dad found him!  "You have to get rid of this doll, now!"  Tell him about the $1500.  Suddenly Chucky speaks -- without batteries!  Jake freaks out and throws him in the garbage.

Scene 11: School Talent Show.  Devon is not only a podcaster, but a pianist.  Later, Mean Girl uses her "talent" to humiliate Jake.  Suddenly Chucky is there!  Jake takes the stage, pretending to be a ventriloquist: "I'm Chucky.  We're friends to the end.  Only friends.  Not that there's anything wrong with that." 

He humiliates Lexi for dating both Junior and Oliver (Avery Esteves), and reveals a few more secrets, including Aunt Bree's obsession with Pokemon porn, to laughter and applause.

Scene 12:  At home, Dad is getting drunk.  Jake was suspended for his performance at the talent show: "You insulted your friends and family in front of the school!  Everybody thinks you're...weird." Does he mean gay?  Jake calls him out on his homophobia, and he responds by beating, strangling, and threatening to kill Jake.  

This annoys Chucky, who cuts the electricity.  When Dad goes down to the basement barefoot to check the circuit breakers, Chucky electrocutes him.  Jake is horrified.

Scene 13: Jake talking to Detective Evans, who happens to be Devon's Mom, and Detective Peyton (Travis Milne). You called the cops for an accidental death?  

"You will be staying with your uncle.  Are you sure you don't want to see the grief counselor?"  An hour after his Dad's death?  Give him a couple of days.

They ask how the Chucky doll got from a locked cabinet in the school into the house.  How would they know that unless they asked the teacher or Jake?  And why would they, unless they suspect the dolll?  Jake claims that he broke into the school to retrieve it to work on his ventriloquist act.

The body bag is carted out, open enough to give Jake a good look at his father's bloody face.  That's got to be against protocol.

Uncle Logan arrives.  Oh, that's why it's a twin brother -- so Devon Sawa can continue to be on the show.

Scene 14:  Uncle Logan has a palatial estate!  A giant chandelier in the circular stairwell!  Aunt Bree shows Jake his gigantic room and gives him a map to the upstairs guest-wing bathroom.  Hasn't he been there before?

Cousin Junior just stands there, glaring at him.  What is he upset about?  Does he suspect something?  Jake shuts the door.  

Chucky animates.  Jake yells at him for killing his Dad, but Chucky insists: "He was an asshole.  He got what he deserved. Now let's talk about that bitch Lexi."  The end.

Beefcake: None.

Heterosexism:  None.

Gay Characters: Jake's friend.  Jake, although at this point unclear whether Jake is actually gay or just "accused."  Devon has not been specifically identified as gay, either, but he becomes Jake's boyfriend later.

The Doll Head Sculpture: If Jake is not being presented as a psychopath, what was the point of the nightmarish sculpture? (I can't even bring myself to make a screenshot of it).

My Grade: A-.