The Chucky season 1 finale saw the killer doll engage in a final showdown with Jake Wheeler — and answered a 33-year-old Child’s Play question and plot hole in the process. Debuting in the 1988 movie, the Lakeshore Strangler also known as Charles Lee Ray established a cinematic legacy when he used voodoo to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll. Despite multiple fatal defeats, as his oft-quoted line stated, Chucky always came back. As such, he has terrorized Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) and countless others for over three decades and across seven movies. The last was 2017’s Cult of Chucky, the ending of which directly paved the way for the critically-acclaimed Chucky TV show.
Picking up a few short weeks later, Chucky season 1 saw the titular red-headed menace arrive in Hackensack, Jersey on a singular mission. In order to spawn an army of Chucky dolls, he needed to corrupt an innocent by getting them to take a life. His initial attempt was centered around alienated teen and Chucky show lead, Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), which eventually failed. Though he veered dangerously close to the dark side, Jake eventually saw the light and swore to halt Chucky’s twisted machinations. Their feud came to a dramatic conclusion as Jake and Chucky battled to the death as the killer doll embarked on a movie theater massacre. As they fought, Chucky episode 8, “An Affair to Dismember,” plugged a plot hole that’s hung over the Child’s Play franchise since the very beginning.
After toppling Jake with a knife-slash to the leg, Chucky leaped atop him and mercilessly went for the kill. As the killer doll pushed his trademark butcher knife steadily towards Jake’s face, the 14-year-old struggled to keep his foe at bay. It was at this point that Child's Play and Chucky's elderly fiend knowingly quipped, “You’re thinking ‘how could a little doll possibly be so strong?’” Jake immediately confirmed that was indeed his thought, hilariously yelling, “It doesn’t make any sense!” The moment gave a self-aware voice to a thought countless audience members have had across the decades. After all, Chucky’s successful attacks have even been against full-grown adults — some of which were even trained police or military officers. For them to struggle in fighting off such a pint-sized threat occasionally stretched the suspension of disbelief to its breaking point.
Fortunately, the issue was officially fixed with a brilliantly simple solution during the dramatic ending of Chucky season 1. As he and Jake continued fighting, Chucky expressed that he viewed himself as more than a mere serial killer. Speaking with spiritual reverence, the killer doll clearly had come to believe himself an earthly vessel for Damballa - the mysterious deity through which Chucky had originally gained his soul transferring powers. It would appear that Chucky may have been right, given the very real mystical powers that had been bestowed upon him. While the will of Damballa has remained unknowable, and will likely remain as such going forward, the figure clearly endorses Chucky’s murderous exploits. To that end, it became clear that enhanced strength (“the mmight of Damballa”) was also among Chucky’s gifts. In the words of Andy's foster sister, Kyle (Christine Elise McCarthy): “F**king voodoo, man!”
Despite those combined powers, however, Jake was still able to emerge victorious. After being able to throw Chucky off - which Jake more simply attributed to “doing more push-ups lately” - the heroic teen disarmed and then strangled the killer doll to death. The moment proved to be an eye-popping one in every sense of the word. It was left open to debate whether this meant Damballa has a rival entity that was working through Jake and gifting him a strength of his own. More likely, Jake’s defeat of the supernaturally-strengthened Chucky came from finally unleashing his pent-up rage regarding Chucky’s decimation of his family and life. In a way, it was everything Chucky was hoping for — but channeled in a more heroic direction. All in all, though, Chucky’s declarations no doubt will have made it an easier pill to swallow in Chucky season 2 when the killer doll cuts down more people quadruple his height.