“Hail, Mary!,” the latest episode ofChucky,has continued to explore a new avenue for the killer doll. The ambiguity surrounding his motives has never been more questionable, making the tone of the series far more suspenseful. The backdrop provided by the Catholic School of the Incarnate Lord and its history with Charles Lee Ray only makes the atmosphere Jake (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) are trying to tame, increasingly difficult.
“Hail, Mary!” proposes that the killer doll isn’t the only threat the three friends have to be concerned with. For the second week in a row,Chuckyhas suggested that the army of dolls is working for someone. Early in “Hail, Mary!” Lexy discovers that the only contact on Chucky’s phone is “The Colonel.“The knowledge that these three charactersare only a fraction of the targets Chucky has in mind, raises the question of whether the dolls are following the orders of Charles Lee Ray and Chucky, or if something far worse lies beyond the horizon.
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In “Hail, Mary!,” Chucky isn’t the only villain afoot. Instead, the episode proposes that Jake, Devon, and Lexy have villains no different from themselves they should fear just as much as they fear Chucky. Trevor, a fellow teen from Lexy’s past, was introduced in"The Sinners Are Much More Fun.“Lexy discussed his troublesome past that appeared to be discredited the moment the two began to interact with one another. “Hail, Mary!” is quick to demonstrate that Trevor’s obedient disposition was a facade to abide by the regulations of the Catholic School. Trevor quickly begins to make life for Lexy difficult, particularly after discovering her drug affliction. He quickly threatens to reveal her secret and keep her in attendance at the school until she turns 18. As if the threat of that wasn’t enough, Trevor makes things even worse by informing Lexy that her mother lost her re-election campaign for mayor. This form of psychological torture adds to the turmoil Lexy has been dealing with sinceChucky’ssecond season premiered, unraveling the trouble of her character.
The unraveling of Lexy’s character continues to be one of the most compelling parts ofChucky. Her evolution throughout season 1 was a complex addition to the series, as viewers were exposed to the various sides of her character: the bully, the eldest daughter, the girlfriend, and so on. Season 2 has challenged Lexy in several new ways, as the emotional depth of her character tries to be unraveled in the aftermath of her father and Junior’s deaths. What has remained consistent in Lexy’s willingness to immediately be on the defensive.Her shared trauma with Jake and Devonhas asked her to lower her guard, though she has not been entirely truthful with them about her current struggles. Nadine (Bella Higginbotham) has the potential to be that person for her, but only if Lexy allows herself to trust someone new.
The unfolding tension in the relationship between Father Bryce (Devon Sawa), Jake, and Devon, is particularly memorable in “Hail, Mary!” Bryce’s latestdiscovery of Jake and Devon’s relationshipcertainly seems to reinvigorate his hope to align the teens with God and his teachings. He begins to hit toward his hopeful change in his conversations with Jake, where he continues to use the young man’s guilt against him.
The highlight of “Hail, Mary!” is the unique torture the teens choose to enact on Chucky. Upon realizing they cannot torture a sadist, they choose to use a form of sensory overload that they hope overwhelms him enough for them to finally crack him and get some answers about Chucky’s motives. Chucky’s torture scene remains on-par withthe comedy of the previous two episodes, despite being the season’s first episode that has not been written by creator Don Mancini. Under Samir Rehem’s direction both “Hail, Mary!” and “The Sinners Are Much More Fun” both call upon the charmingly odd comedy of a character likeChucky.
The odd use of torture in forcing Chucky to watch videos of unicorns virtually goes against everything the character stands for. Oddly enough, the extensive torture does wear Chucky down,leaving him as the lovable dollthat many believe they are initially unboxing. The innocent nature of this Good Guys doll is comedic within its own right, as it is the complete opposite of Chucky’s typical disposition. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with the second Good Guys doll that arrives at the Catholic School, who is unnaturally muscular and therefore, intimidating.
The introduction of a second Good Guys doll is a complex one, and his aggressive nature is equally astonishing. Chucky is routinely a character that uses mass amounts of violence for his own personal gain.The newest Good Guys dollis significantly stronger than the others, demonstrating his force by punching a hole through Trevor’s chest. This doll is unlike anything Jake, Devon, and Lexy have encountered, and their budding friendship with Nadine also puts them in a precarious situation, as she fails to see the harm in confessing the group’s encounters with the killer doll.
