Chucky 3×8 Review: “Final Destination”

The finale of Chucky season 3, titled ‘Final Destination’, ended on a major cliffhanger that I wasn’t expecting at all. The series hasn’t been renewed for season 4 yet, but I have my fingers crossed it does ASAP.

Episode 8 of Chucky picked up right where the previous one ended. With Jake making the journey to the other side and Tiffany being led to her execution, I was excited to see how creator Don Mancini was going to close the story and leave doors open for a possible fourth season. However, what Mancini decided to do left me shocked. In a good way, of course.

Episode 7, ‘There Will Be Blood’, was all about isolating the young teens inside the White House and Chucky being given another opportunity by Damballa to continue living. The only way to stop Chucky was to terminate his soul. And with Jake taking a drug to “kill” his body, ‘Final Destination’ transported the audience to the spirit world via Jake.

I liked how the creative team used such an opportunity to give Jake some closure with his father. Even though his father was homophobic and abusive, Jake still found it in himself to forgive and help his dad move on. While I can understand why certain people state such types of homophobic people, especially parents, shouldn’t be forgiven, I think that particular moment was necessary to showcase Jake’s growth as a character over the seasons.

The plot in the spirit world was enjoyable with Jake getting to interact with every version of Charles Lee Ray. At first, I thought Jake would succeed in making Good Chucky sacrifice himself or come close to it before being stopped by the other versions of Chucky. However, it’s revealed that there’s no such thing as Good Chucky. Every iteration of Chucky was evil. And while said revelation was bad for Jake, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Devon was right about Jake making a mistake by believing Good Chucky existed.

With Jake getting distracted, Old Man Chucky took the opportunity to possess Jake’s body. It was such an unexpected turn that made a whole lot of in-lore sense in hindsight. Of course, Jake’s physical body would be vulnerable to possession due to his soul wandering around in the spirit world.

Seeing actor Zackary Arthur play Chucky pretending to be Jake made for some enjoyable moments. Frankly, I thought the cliffhanger for the third season was going to be Devon and Lexy being a bit too late to realize what had happened to Jake. But nopes. Mancini had other bigger plans in mind.

So while enjoyable, Chucky Jake didn’t last long because the trio made their way to Wendell Wilkin’s mansion (as part of Chucky’s plan). It’s revealed that Wendell was the creator of the Good Guy doll line and the murders Chucky did as a Good Guy Doll ruined Wendell’s reputation and financial standing.

Wendell had been expecting Chucky Jake and already had a Good Guy Doll prototype for Chucky to possess after leaving Jake’s body.

Again, I would have preferred seeing more of Chucky Jake, but I get it because when it comes down to it, the actual cliffhanger featured in the finale was definitely more impactful.

With Chucky’s soul back inside a Good Guy Doll thanks to Caroline’s expertise in Damballa-pleasing dark magic and the trio being trapped by the villains, Tiffany also managed to make her way to Wendell’s mansion after escaping prison.

The prison break sequence was fun to watch with possessed guards helping Tiffany run to her freedom with Nica giving chase. Sigh! Poor, Nica. I understand why she won’t rest until Tiffany’s dead. But I also want Nica to take a break. Andy and Kyle managed to do so after everything Chucky had put them through.

Talking about the trap the trio was placed in, Caroline used dark magic to move Devon, Lexy, and Jake’s souls into… drumroll… marionette dolls!

Again, it’s something I didn’t even think about happening and yet it made a whole lot of sense considering the rules of the Child’s Play/Chucky IP.

Due to Nica getting sneaked up on by Wendell inside the mansion and the trio being turned into dolls, things don’t look good for our heroes. Perhaps now Andy and Kyle will re-enter the game to help them and find a way to stop Chucky and Tiffany? I wouldn’t be against it. I was kind of surprised with how Andy and Kyle never showed up during the third season. What’s Mancini planning?

As for Caroline, Lexy needs to let her little sister go. It’s not going to be easy, but Lexy needs to understand that there’s no helping Caroline anymore. She’s been part of Chucky’s team for a while now. And I doubt any amount of Talk-No Jutsu from Lexy can change that.

All in all, while I felt the finale was rushed (again, Chucky Jake could have lasted for an episode or two), I continue to be impressed by how Mancini continues to find ways to keep such a decades-spanning franchise going. And I hope it keeps going for a couple more seasons.

Did you watch Chucky season 3 episode 8 ‘Final Destination’? Are you hopeful for a renewal?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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