Chucky #6: Cape Queer

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. The Guy Who Isn't Sure If It's Okay to Say "Queer" or Not

Granted, I just said it. Twice. But when I was growing up, there was a time when "the Q word" had stopped being an old-with-an-e word for strange, unusual, or odd, and started being a sharp, derogatory term for gay men that was only slightly less sharp and derogatory than "the other F word" that British people use to refer to cigarettes. So even though I've been a thinking, feeling part of this world for nearly forty years, said world has become at once so much more open and yet so much more closed off than it once was that I am completely out of touch with what language is "acceptable" or has been "reclaimed" among certain races and lifestyle groups. And being the white-ish, virginal, hetero cis-man that I am, I'm still operating on the instinct of what sounds wrong to my own ears and whatever connection they have to my metaphorical heart, which in itself has begun to feel wrong. I'm a bit of a hypocrite, I suppose, because I still laugh at that old video of Craig Ferguson playing with the word, "query" (another old-with-an-e word, which means a question), and I am amused at the prospect of Phillip Morris UK ceasing cigarette production in the near future, on the possibility that its customer base have been cancelled for calling their products fags. Also, that I just felt it was okay to use "the other F word" in the context of a joke. But feel free to enlighten (and thereby probably further confuse) me on proper outsider use of slang, because Skinner was wrong, Abe Simpson was right, and it'll happen to you just like it has happened to me.

You might also notice that I haven't been posting on social media lately. I feel like it's some combination of winter SADness, academic setbacks, finally being caught up with the MCU, and that thing content creators go through when they finally start to see gains...but then decide to read the feedback they get. I've been going through it every year since 2015 (when the death of physical media really started to hit me, and my readership went in the toilet), but here I still am, with another Chucky episode review/breakdown for you. There's a new episode tomorrow night, so go catch up with the series at the app of your choice (USA Network or SyFy Channel) or through your local provider, and read all of my other Chucky-related coverage at the links below:

Welcome to the Dead Parade #12: Chucky Gets Chyerminaydit (Child's Play 1-3, Bride, and Seed)
Just the Ticket #69: Breaking The Curse of Chucky, Sequel-itis Cured? (Curse) NICE!
Welcome To the Dead Parade #14: Chucky's Cult Following (Cult)

Episode 1: Chucky #1: Deth By Misadventure

Episode 2:

Chucky #2: Give Me Something Good to Eat, and

Chucky #2.5: The Coming Of Rage

Episode 3: Chucky #3: I Like To Be Hugged

Episode 4: Chucky #4: Just Let Go

Episode 5: Chucky #5: Little Little Lies

And after all that bingeing, it's time for a break.

I don't usually talk about "previously on..." segments because they just show us things that we already saw previously on the show we are currently watching, but Jennifer Tilly delivers the best in-character "previously on.." in recent memory. The reminiscent, dismissive glee of Tiffany Valentine recapping not only key events of the show but her own character progression through the _ of Chucky portion of the franchise up to this point was something I didn't expect (or expect to love), but it was just so damned much fun in such a short time.

When the episode opens for real, we get a classic, prolonged, neck-down tracking shot of two people walking up to a random house, who turn out to be Andy Barclay and his foster sister, Kyle (from Child's Play 2, still played by Christine Elise after these many years). The pair are tracking the various Chucky shipments, pretending to be census takers as a way of searching the property for Cult members. It works here, though Andy's impatient directness and odd line of questioning for the owners are obvious signs that he needs Winchestering lessons. However, Kyle creatively reins him in, and there is a decent building of suspense before the couple's daughter goes to introduce everyone to "Charlie." Charlie is, of course, a possessed Good Guy doll, and Andy and Kyle soon prove that while their Winchester game needs work, their Boondock Saints and Pulp Fiction game is on point. Too bad they had to aim within inches of a child's head to make the kill, though. I suppose permanent hearing loss and psychological and emotional scarring are slightly better than watching a doll kill your entire family, frame you for the murders, and then use voodoo to take over your body, but what the hell?

Speaking of fractured psyches, the title sequence for "Cape Queer" is composed of broken glass reflecting various expressions and damage designs of Chucky's face.

On their drive to Hackensack (though they don't know this until later), Andy and Kyle exchange words, referencing Andy's military training from Child's Play 3, the loss of their foster parents to Chucky in Child's Play 2, Kyle's offscreen attempt at the American Dream (and Andy's history of social failings, as we saw in the beginning of Cult Of Chucky), and the little girl's aforementioned trauma-versus-death dilemma.

Back in the only classroom that matters in this series, the PMS Biology students are watching a sexually graphic wildebeest documentary when Detective Evans thankfully interrupts to arrest Ms. Fairchild for the principal's murder in the last episode. As far as the audience, or any of our three leads knows, she didn't do it. But given the physical imporobability of Chucky beheading an adult woman and posing her body with any kind of speed or stealth, and the fan theory that Fairchild is Glen/da, I'm open to anything at this point.

As the only ones who can attest to Miss Fairchild's possible innocence, Jake, Lexy, and Devon pool their resources to try to locate Andy.

In the face of this, Junior's jealousy and suspicions continue to mount. And if this weren't enough, his parents break the news to him and Jake about Bree's cancer diagnosis, he breaks up with Lexy over her divided focus between his grief and the anti-Chucky club, and he is forced to watch his mother plunge to her death in an apparent suicide. Junior has officially become the Job of the Chucky universe, and I kind of hate it, even if it is building to something finale-worthy. Lack of imagination is not deserving of such brutal treatment.

Still at the same hotel, Tiffany and Nica-Chucky are in the midst of an argument (yes, another one) about how to properly pack an adult corpse into a suitcase...as one so often does? This leads to Tiffany slicing into Nica-Chucky's leg, the pain of which brings Nica back. When Tiffany returns in a later scene, Nica still has control and takes advantage of her situation by pretending to be Chucky. But because memories don't transfer between souls and paraplegia is hard to conceal on a long-term basis, Tiffany figures it out quickly and confesses that she has fallen in love with Nica, drawing immediate comparison to Stephen King's Misery.

But before that, we get another 80s flashback with more distracting dub work (and less impressive makeup work on Fiona Dourif than we saw only one episode prior), showing how Chucky and Tiffany stole her favorite car, as well as the earliest chronological instance of Charles Lee Ray's interest in voodoo. It's kind of a throwaway scene, but it establishes the car for a later scene, wherein Tiffany pretends to be Jennifer Tilly so she can buy Chucky's childhood home as a love nest for herself, Nica (who is locked in the trunk), and Chucky (one of whom Tiffany had delivered to the Ray residence offscreen).

The kids establish contact with Andy, which goes nowhere yet, beyond giving him and Kyle their next destination, and Detective Evans interrogates Miss Fairchild, who is suspiciously calm for a murder suspect. This also goes nowhere for the rest of the episode, unless you count Detective Evans' convenient appearance during the climax, but my brain fails to draw any real connection at the moment.

The rest of the episode, as the title suggests, is an homage to Cape Fear. When Junior accompanies Bree to her therapy session, it's revealed that Chucky has been stowing away on the undercarriage of their car, much like Robert de Niro's character did in Cape Fear. Before she heads up to her appointment and the plunge to her death at the hands of Chucky, Bree tells Junior that her sessions are about "everything we don't talk about at home," and calls him her favorite topic of conversation. What the fuck, Bree? I know you didn't realize they would be your last words, but passive-aggressively telling your son that he's the main source of things you can only talk to your therapist about? Maybe being pushed through a two-digit-story window with fatal tumors in your body isn't the worst thing that could have happened to you after all. Oh, and nice Child's Play reference.

That has nothing to do with Cape Fear; I just felt compelled to vent about toxic parenting.

However, it's a nice juxtaposition to a later scene between Devon and his mother, who has come to the conclusion that Jake is not a murderer, and even proves to be accepting of her son's lifestyle choices. They hug, and Devon goes back to watching...guess what? Cape Fear!

So, a black supporting character in a horror series has a redeeming moment in their story arc. Uh-oh.

When Devon, Jake, and Lexy go to the Wheelers' for a sleepover during Bree's funeral (because time consistency be damned to Hollywood hell), they even re-enact the microfilament alarm sequence from Cape Fear (using a terrifying, eyeless doll straight out of the Conjuring house's basement, instead of a teddybear like in the movie, because fuck sleep).

The episode ends with Chucky tripping the alarm, leading our heroes into a prolonged suspense sequence (split up because horror movie stupidity), after which they meet up just in time for Detective Evans to show up, get scared by Chucky, and fall down the stairs to her death. I'll take Anticlimactic Cliffhangers for $200!

No surprise, this was not one of my favorite episodes. It started out great, with Jennifer Tilly's narration, and Andy and Kyle "saving people, hunting things; the family business," and there were some powerful emotional moments, like Detective Evans bonding with Devon, Bree's confession and death, and Junior dumping Lexy. But the Cape Fear homages felt forced and lazy, Detective Evans' death came literally out of nowhere and left a lot of loose ends, and the cringe factor on display was like the episode stopped at several points to fling big, sweaty wildebeest loads in our collective faces. On the other hand (the one that I'm not currently using to wipe wildebeest gender fluid from my eyes), when I had fun with this episode, I really had fun.

Just ignore how that last bit sounds, because I didn't intend to make a masturbation joke at my own expense. Love it or hate it, "Cape Queer" marks the end of Chucky's lawful era. With two episodes left, it's time for true allegiances to come to light, and for Andy and Kyle to take up where Detective Evans left off. Episode Seven, "Twice the Grieving, Double the Loss," airs tomorrow night at 9PM PST. So stay tuned, and

Ticketmaster,

out.