*Spoilers Ahead*
With the first season rapidly approaching it’s conclusion it only makes sense that we get an episode like this week’s. The pieces are being set and everyone is coming together for the final showdown but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a few twists and turns along the way.
The show saves us time by killing Evil Ash before we even get to the opening credits. At first, this can seem like a rushed conclusion to a fun story, it actually ends up working out as it allows the rest of the, already jam packed, episode to breath a little without also having two Ashes roaming around.
With two bodies on his hand, Ash needs some time to clean up but trouble comes in the form of the campers from last week. They couldn’t find their way out of the forest and are hoping to crash in the cabin. Ash charges Pablo and Kelly with getting them out of the woods and goes to work dismembering his double to the tune of “Just the Two of Us.”
Problems arise, of course, as Ash starts hearing from the Necronomicon and what it has to say is actually kind of interesting. It claims that Ash’s hero days will be over if he finally destroys the book and that deep down he knows this. With no evil to fight Ash is right back to being the weird old guy who goes to the bar and gets rejected by every woman there.
Regardless, during this conversation the newly Deadite Fisher manages to leave the cabin and where does she go? She goes hunting for some campers of course. Fisher gets to reek some havoc on the expendable ones and does some nasty damage to the leg of the one Pablo’s got a thing for. Before things get too intense, however, Ruby makes her appearance and saves the remaining crew.
Ruby’s appearance comes at the perfect time and while the show tries to make her relationship with Fisher seem more substantial than it actually was she managed to impress from the word “go.” We’ve been waiting for her first face to face confrontation with Ash since the first episode and frankly, it’s a little underwhelming. Ruby, verbally and physically, schools Ash and managed to get everyone to take her word for how to deal with the book.
This proves disastrous for everyone as Ash follows Ruby’s instructions and rips the face off the book and turns the tome over to her. Then, all hell breaks loose. The final minute of the episode is pure chaos as the face of the book attaches itself to Pablo and Ruby reveals that she is, in fact, the writer of the Necronomicon.
The entire episode is filled to the brim with action and it can get a little too fast for it’s own good at certain points but Ash vs Evil Dead has shown that it works best when it’s flying by the seat of it’s pants and just throwing things at you, hoping you can keep up. It’s what made the movies work and it’s what hasbmade the best episodes of this season work as well.
With all the pieces in place it’s looking to be a showdown between Ash, Ruby and the Evil Dead and it’s anybodies guess who ends up the victor.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- The directing took a big step up this week, especially in those final moments, when everything was at it’s most Raimi-esque.
- Pablo’s not happy about Kelly trying to ruin his chances with the hiker girl. Meanwhile, I’ll be pretty surprised if the girl manages to live through the finale.
- “I’m racist too! Asian babies creep me out!”
- “Chopping up my evil clone, maybe someday that’ll feel weird.”
- “I’m gonna say a lot of dumb things.”
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson