Chucky spoilers below.
Previously on Chucky: Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) tried but failed to start a nuclear war (although he did nuke the North Pole). He was shot dead in the White House Situation Room and disintegrated. Then the ghost of Chucky’s possessor, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), appeared in a White House hallway.
White House CIA fixer Warren Pryce (Gil Bellows) has Presidential double Randall Jenkins (Devon Sawa) standing in for U.S. President Collins (also Sawa), who was murdered by Chucky.
Charles is in the spirit realm version of the White House. The Oval Office is occupied by a bespectacled Chucky doll, who introduces himself (in Chucky’s voice) as Damballa, the dark god who gave Chucky his powers in the first place.
Charles curses Damballa out for taking his powers away; Damballa/Chucky curses Charles out for disrespecting him. Charles finally realizes he’s about to get sent straight to Hell and begs for another chance.
Damballa says that if Charles can use the power of the blood that he’s spilled in the White House to kill without a corporeal body, Damballa will see about restoring him. Charles laughs straight into camera, in a split screen of the Chucky doll laughing, too.
Blood and white liquid come together to form the Chucky main title.
Pryce explains to Jenkins and Collins’ widow Charlotte (Lara Jean Chorostecki) that, according to the kids, what happened last night (i.e., in the previous episode) was due to a manifestation of the serial killer Charles Lee Ray. But he’s gone, or so Pryce believes.
The “President” – i.e., Jenkins – will announce he has brain cancer and step down; Vice-President Spencer Rhodes (Michael Therriault) will become Commander in Chief. In order to keep most of the staff away until Pryce has the White House checked for ghost activity, the story is that Rhodes is personally supervising electrical repairs to the building.
Charlotte apologizes to older son Grant (Jackson Kelly) for keeping secrets from him. Younger son Henry (Callum Vinson) sees Charles’ ghost and screams.
At the prison, Tiffany Valentine/Jennifer Tilly (Jennifer Tilly) uses her voodoo dolls to manipulate her guards. But she still needs to bespell the sniper stationed at the front of the prison so that she can escape.
Tiffany sends adoring guard Erica (Raechel Ancheril) to get a personal item from the sniper, but Erica is hit and killed by a car before she can procure anything.
Parapsychologist Dr. Kira Lindstrom and psychic Timothy Nash arrive at the White House. Escorted by Pryce, they check out the room where the President was killed, which Timothy knows without being told. Pryce is satisfied that Timothy is psychic, but wants to hear something he doesn’t know. So, Timothy tells him, “The family is getting away.”
And indeed, Agent Coop (K.C. Collins) and Grant’s protector Agent Hicks (Franco Lo Presti) are ushering Charlotte, Grant and Henry into an SUV. Grant refuses to leave without his girlfriend, Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind). Hicks stays with Grant, and the SUV takes off without him. Charlotte demands they go back, but driver Coop says they can’t risk it.
Pryce, realizing he needs their help, introduces Jake (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), Lexy and Grant to Dr. Lindstrom and Timothy, who use Electronic Voice Phenomenon – EVP – equipment to communicate with the dead.
Jake asks if everyone who has ever died is in the spirit realm. Timothy shares most are at peace; the spirit realm is for those with unfinished business. Lindstrom’s EVP equipment picks up Collins’ voice saying, “Run … So much blood …” Lexy puts her hands on Grant’s shoulders, comforting him.
Jenkins as Collins delivers his resignation speech for camera, directing the country to put its trust in new President Rhodes. Pryce calls “Cut.” Then Jenkins realizes Pryce means to have him killed. Jenkins flees and one of Pryce’s men gives chase. The two men duke it out in a descending elevator, which floods with blood.
Unaware of the latest carnage, Lindstrom announces they need to do a séance now, to heal the “core wound” that’s causing all this. Devon says they can’t appeal to Chucky’s better nature because he doesn’t have one. Jake disagrees. Remember “Good Chucky” from last year? Devon reminds Jake that “Good Chucky” threw their friend Nadine out a window.
The elevator doors open to reveal the bodies of Jenkins and the assassin, both covered in blood (although the car is otherwise now dry).
Lindstrom instructs everyone to join hands for the séance and warns them not to break the circle for any reason, or it could be catastrophic for everyone present. She guides Timothy into a trance and tries to have him speak for Charles.
Lindstrom attempts to assert control that she clearly doesn’t have. Lexy demands to know what Charles did with her little sister Caroline. Charles taunts her and says there’s only one way to find out.
When Lindstrom calls the ghost “Charles” once more, he yells, “My name is fucking Chucky!” and has the room’s sprinkler system flow with blood. Everyone freaks out and breaks the circle. They join hands again, but Charles levitates some of Lindstrom’s EVP equipment. It lands in the wet blood on the floor and electrocutes Lindstrom and Rhodes, killing them.
Timothy says the only way to fight Chucky now is to surprise him on his own turf in the spirit realm, and the only way to get there is to die. It has to be whoever has the strongest connection with Chucky. Jake says it has to be him; he really did love “Good Chucky.” But after he learns Caroline’s whereabouts, then what?
Timothy says all souls are eternal, unless they self-terminate. If Chucky sacrifices himself in the spirit realm, he will cease to exist. Lexy, Devon and Grant all think they should go, too, but Timothy says Chucky can feed on their hatred for him. Jake’s love is his secret weapon.
Lexy asks the practical question of how Jake can die temporarily. Pryce has a CIA-invented drug that will stop cardiac activity for five minutes; after that, the antidote will restart Jake’s heart.
Meanwhile, Tiffany struggles in the prison death chamber, but the guards strap her down. Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) speaks up from the onlookers’ gallery. Although she says it kills her to do it, she has a message from Gigi (Tiffany and Chucky’s children, Glen and Glenda), who say Tiffany was a wonderful mother. Tiffany thanks Nica. Nica then enthusiastically adds that she knows Tiffany is going to burn in Hell.
Tiffany gets her lethal injection at the same moment Jake gets the shot to stop his heart. Bets on somebody coming back in the wrong body?
Erica’s death is shocking and inventively gory, and the elevator scene is bloody in the way that Perpetrator is bloody – it’s not coming from a wound, but rather an environment of blood.
Once nuclear war is off the table, we’re back to our regularly-scheduled life-and-death stakes of individual characters rather than the whole world. It’s swell to see Dourif onscreen, and there are plenty of good moments, but “There Will Be Blood” feels like a set-up for the big finale.
Chucky Season 3 new episodes air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on USA and SYFY and stream the next day on Peacock. Catch up on our Chucky season 3 recaps, and for more, check out our interview with Brad Dourif and Fiona Dourif on Brad’s on-screen return as Charles Lee Ray.
