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Don Mancini on the Emotional Reunion in the Chucky Finale: "A Fantasy Lots of Gay Men Have"
It all goes down in a “ghostly ballroom of forgiveness” in the afterlife in the Chucky Season 3 finale.
Chucky is a bastion of gore, mayhem, and twisted humor that shocks and entertains us week after week as the evil doll adds to his kill count. But the television series on SYFY and USA Network has also brought us surprisingly touching moments, and the queer romance between teen heroes Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur) and Devon Evans (Bjorgvin Arnarson) is a swoon-worthy highlight.
SPOILER ALERT: The remainder of this article will discuss the Chucky Season 3 finale.
In the Season 3 finale, Jake traveled to the afterlife in a self-induced near-death experience to convince “Good Chucky” to sacrifice himself, thereby causing all of Chucky’s soul fragments to die as well. The plan required Jake to be “medically dead” for five minutes via a drug administered by CIA fixer Warren Pryce (Gil Bellows), but things in the Chuckyverse don’t always work out the way they’re supposed to.
Before finding Chucky, Jake encountered another looming figure: his late, homophobic father, Lucas Wheeler (Devon Sawa), who was angrily smashing up Luke’s doll sculpture from Season 1 with a baseball bat. The father and son had a supernatural reunion fraught with emotions — a scene that show creator Don Mancini and Sawa both described as “beautiful” in a recent interview with SYFY WIRE.
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“I love those scenes. I thought that it was ultimately really beautiful,” Mancini said. “Because I think that that’s a fantasy that lots of gay men have about a reconciliation with their dead fathers, who, you know, didn't treat them so well. I thought they both played it so beautifully.”
Referring to actors Arthur and Sawa, he added: “That moment in the ballroom, in the ghostly ballroom of forgiveness."
What happened in the Ghostly Ballroom of Forgiveness?
When Jake reached “the other side” and encountered his dad’s ghost, he immediately apologized for electrocuting him (even though it was Chucky’s fault).
“You wanted me dead. You thought about it every day. Admit it,” yelled his dad, Lucas.
“Only after you started hitting me,” responded Jake.
“I was your father, Jake. It was my responsibility to correct you when you deserve it,” he said menacingly.
Flabbergasted, Jake responded, “I deserve it? Just cause I’m gay?” which prompted Lucas to lunge at him with the bat. Luckily, he missed and hit a tray of creepy doll heads instead.
As Jake runs in terror from his raging father, the two end up in a ballroom of ghostly dancers, waltzing around oblivious to their confrontation. After downing a bottle of liquor (offered by Brad Dourif's Charles Lee Ray posing as a butler), Lucas began to get physically aggressive and jabbed Jake in the chest with the bat. Just when viewers think the worst will happen, Jake takes the high road and spits out, “I forgive you!” which stops Lucas in his tracks.
“I know you were doing the best you could. I know you loved me. And I love you too, Dad,” Jake said through tears. As the father and son embrace, Lucas whispered into his son’s ear, “You’re still gonna fail. He’s much more dangerous here,” referring to our little killer doll friend's new ghost form.
What did actor Devon Sawa say about playing opposite Zach Arthur in the Finale?
“He crushed it,” enthused Sawa about 17-year-old Arthur who pulled off the powerful scene that will have audiences reaching for the tissues. “He was so focused and so into what he had to do for that back half [of the season]. And he absolutely killed it.”
Sawa continued, “You know, coming from being a young actor, you could see that he's getting into that artist stage of his career and he would take moments before, and he would stay focused. It was a beautiful thing for me to see,” he said.
As for his own ghostly role, Sawa admitted it was “a little bit of closure” for Lucas, too. For some characters, it takes more than one lifetime to evolve.
Throughout all three seasons, Chucky managed to hit all the right notes of horror, murder, humor — and provided a much-needed inclusive experience on screen as well.
Catch up on past episodes of Chucky on Peacock now.
