Strap in, we’ve got a lot to unpack!
We pick right back up with Jake, Devon, and Lexy who are shown around the school by Sister Ruth. She introduces them to Father Bryce, played by two-time (and let’s be honest, definitively three-time by the end of the season) Chucky victim Devon Sawa.
Bryce is the strict, no-nonsense headmaster of the Incarnate Lord, and if you didn’t expect Devon Sawa to just automatically crush in this role you don’t know Sawa. I love a cliché spewing priest, and the purple pimp robe he sleeps in only makes him better. Lara Jean Chorostecki as the delusional Sister Ruth also has a lot of potential, so our secondary (tertiary?) antagonists of the season are showing a whole lot of promise. We also meet Sister Catherine, a kinder and more levelheaded nun setting up to be the only responsible adult around here.
After the elderly Sister Elizabeth dies of a heart attack from simply seeing Chucky in all his snarky glory (an homage to Childs Play 3 with the colonel’s death), we get our most important addition to the cast this episode in the fourth member to the Chucky hunting crew: the penitent & self-admitted kleptomaniac Nadine, played by the memorably named Bella Higginbotham. Nadine is extremely likable in being a complete cornball and a major suspect, since you know she has some yet-to-be-revealed serious baggage that’s got her locked up in Incarnate Lord.
A major part of why this episode is so good is that it nails us with the best suspense-building questions: who’s in on it, and who can be trusted? And Nadine’s introduction does that exceptionally. All in all, she feels like a perfect fit for the squad as the new odd man out that Lexy was in Season 1, which is why I will be sorely disappointed if she is the Junior of this season and dies. Don’t do it, Mancini!
The School of the Incarnate Lord is uncharted waters already working against the trio who try to find their footing in its social strata. Lexy ends up outnumbered by a clique of strange bullies, the forgiving and gentle kind, while Jake feels “the wages of sin” weighing down on him in the wake of Gary’s death in the previous episode.
After several close calls and a confrontation with Father Bryce following the disappearance of a Good Guy doll from his office, the crew manages to subdue a Chucky doll skulking the school and taking photos of them, letting Nadine in on the truth about Charles Lee Ray in the process. It also grants us a new insight into the dynamics of the various dolls running around: we find out the Chucky sent to ominously take photos of people is a scout in particular rather than the usual killer model, suggesting they have individualized skillsets for different tasks. Neat!
Back in Hackensack, Tiffany’s happily ever after of “marital” bliss with Nica is starting to come down like a house of cards when she finds the decapitated head of doll Tiffany in her bed. Once we’re done enjoying the genius of some Jennifer Tilly meta humor that goes four layers deep, we find out she’s out of money, out of Nica’s pity, and not at all out of the woods with her crimes. Not to mention the fact that Nica-Chucky is getting de-hyphenated: the two are no longer a composite being fighting for control, they’re communicating, and both want out of this marriage like yesterday. The fact they’re teaming up means they’re willing to do anything to get it, and I couldn’t be more excited to see how this turns out.
Forced to kill a detective (and very relatable Jennifer Tilly super fan) who is looking for Nica following her disappearance in Cult, she has the misfortune of having to clean up the crime scene in front of her visiting children. We’ve been waiting, and they’re here! Glen and Glenda stans of the world unite! You know…even if we didn’t see their faces. Here’s to them getting a proper introduction next episode.
PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS: Jake breaking down and expressing some misplaced remorse over the deaths caused by Chucky is an expertly acted scene. It reminds you that through and through, Jake is still a child whose confidence is shaky and damaged, even if he’s forced to be the hero most of the time. The whole affair just goes to show why they cast Zachary Arthur as our leading man. Phenomenal stuff.
VISUAL HIGHLIGHTS: The Nica-Chucky psychic conference with the waxing and waning of the red light is a peak example of how good this show is with color grading and lighting, and just visualizing weird high-concept stuff in general. Really, the cinematography in general this episode kicked ass, so much love to veteran television director Samir Rehem for making it happen.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE:
“I know you went through all of Jennifer Tilly’s Simpsons money. How does someone burn through $100 million dollars?” – Nica, on Tiffany’s spending habits
RATING: 10 (Hasty Dead Body Clean-Ups Before the Kids Get Home)/10.
I like this as a slower episode a little more than the season opener. This chapter forces every last one of our characters to reorient themselves in an unfamiliar place (physically and relationship-wise) and squeezes out every last drop of comedy it can get from this scenario. Setting up new alliances and turning the tables thoroughly, the only complaint I can think of is that the pacing in this episode felt lightning fast and went by too quickly. Good problems, am I right?