Each week Joe Lipsett will highlight a key scene or interaction in Season 2 of Don Mancini’s Chucky series to consider how the show is engaging with and contributing to queer horror.
RIP Nadine (Bella Higginbotham). I’ve spent a lot of time reminiscing on the character this week and thinking about what a fascinating contribution she was to Chucky’s second season. And so: a eulogy for the dearly departed cute little weirdo.
‘Chucky’ has had no shortage of lovable and/or fascinating characters. Its capacity for seamlessly integrating newbies into the mix of existing characters is all the more impressive when we consider the show’s high body count. And while the adult characters have fared worse than the kids, Chucky has never been afraid of offing a child or a teenager (see: Junior, Trevor, and even poor sweet bomb-loving Gary in the season opener).
And yet, there hasn’t been a character quite like Nadine before.
It’s been an interesting journey with the curly haired optimist. Introduced in episode two, a substantial portion of the show’s audience assumed that the jovial innocent was secretly Glen/Glenda (despite casting notices that Lachlan Watson would play the dual role). Nadine proved something of a red herring in this capacity, and would continue to do so: was the “nice girl” act real or performative? What had she done to wind up at the School of Incarnate Lord? Was she truly Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind)’s ally or some kind of foil?
Considering how much of Chucky S02 has centered around deception and secrets, Nadine’s status as a “mystery” character made sense. After all, Jake (Zackary Arthur) and Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) weren’t being honest about their relationship issues, and Lexy was nursing a secret drug addiction. In this respect, Nadine fit right in: her motives and character were suspect, but over time, she earned the trust of our central trio. Eventually she wound up playing a striking dual role: the idealistic younger sister and the sage, nurturing mother.
By default, most of the characters on Chucky have LGBT+ readings (it is, after all, an incredibly queer show). Despite being a persistent presence throughout most of S02, however, the audience was only privy to certain aspects of Nadine’s interior life, the majority of which were intertwined with Lexy’s addiction storyline. As a result, Nadine’s sexuality wasn’t a focal point; if anything her motherly instinct with both Lexy and post-aversion therapy Good Guy Chucky (Brad Dourif) became her defining attributes.
From all appearance this was the intention of the creative team: in real life Higginbotham is 17 years old, but on Chucky Nadine is visually and narratively coded as a somewhat asexual, child-like pre-teen. She comes across as much younger and more innocent than the trio (one needs only consider how she treats Chucky like an actual doll). While there’s definitely a sliver of lesbian or bisexual coding in Nadine’s response to Lexy, it’s much easier to read these scenes through their shared relationship with addiction.
Regardless of whether Nadine was lesbian, bi or asexual, her ability to assimilate into the found family of Chucky’s central narrative has been integral to the S02 Incarnate Lord plot. The character’s perky and chipper demeanor were key components of her likability, especially in comparison to the (rightfully) cynical, wary and exhausted behavior of Jake, Devon and Lexy.
Naturally these qualities are exactly why Nadine had to die. Her idealism and optimism were tantamount to a bullseye for Chucky; in this capacity, what happens to Nadine is heavily foreshadowed by Gary’s similar characteristics and untimely death. Plus, the reality of serial killer practically demands that the character the audience is most attached to is the most vulnerable because then it hurts the most.
And this one does. Nadine was a fun character and Bella Higginbotham did an outstanding job bringing the character to life in just a few episodes. So RIP Nadine, you will be missed.
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