With Jake (Zackary Arthur) seemingly embracing Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) suggestion that it’s time to finish Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) once and for all at the end of episode 2, it looks like Jake has finally chosen a side. After a thwarted attempt to stab Lexy in the woods when Jake accidentally stalks Junior (Teo Briones) instead, Jake is losing his nerve a bit. He’ll get a great opportunity though as Lexy comes to Jake with a proposal. Lexy’s sister Caroline (Carina Battrick) is fixated on Chucky and just won’t calm down at home until her new friend gets to join her for good. If Jake can’t manage to get rid of Lexy, letting her bring Chucky right into her home is the perfect opportunity for Chucky to take care of things.

Episode 3 is a step up from the previous one. There’s a bigger focus just on the teens in this one, which works so well because they’re just all great to watch. Now, there’s a lot of weird things happening here which tends to take you out of certain moments. Sure, we can accept that teens are guaranteed to make poor choices at times, but some of the choices here are just outrageous. Parents gone out for a little, just get hammered and have a silent disco party. How is this a good idea in the slightest? Did we all do this in grade eight? It’s ridiculous in a way that somehow only works in the world of Chucky, but it still manages to stretch the limits of what is believable.

That silent disco party at Lexy’s house makes up most of the episode, with Chucky relating the tale of his first murder taking up the rest through flashbacks. That certainly doesn’t end up where most will expect it to but it finally adds the backstory to Charles Lee Ray that we’ve never really had. As for that silent disco party, that turns into a full blown disaster when Chucky stabs one partygoer to death and inadvertently starts a raging fire at the end. It does give us one of the greatest shots in the series so far, as Chucky stalks his next victim with a roaring fire behind him.

Despite some of the most ridiculous choices young teens could make, and a number of hard to believe coincidences that keep the story moving forward, it does deliver one of the high points of the series so far. It’s here that the kind of over the top Chucky story we’re used to seeing over many of the films starts to take hold. With the backstory being thrown in, the series is also delivering something that we’ve never really gotten before. Hopefully they’ll continue to expand on the history of Chucky and how he managed to become such a psychopath in the first place.

Tune In or Tune Out

While the previous episode threatened to derail the goodwill the opening episode had, episode 3 gets the off the rails action going again. The final shot not only looks brilliant, but it brings the realization of Chucky being a living entity to the front of characters minds. This tackles one of the problems that had been apparent so far. It just didn’t feel complete having Jake running around trying to stop Chucky while nobody else knows he’s really alive. That works fine for a 90 minute film, but to continue an ongoing series, Jake is going to need to bring others together with him to defeat the near unstoppable menace that is Chucky. The momentum is going strong after this episode, making it a pure tune in option now.