*Spoilers Ahead*
With both his precious Delta and the Necronomicon missing after the former is stolen by some rebellious teens, Ash hatches a brilliant, in his mind, scheme to find the culprits by throwing a huge party complete with his signature drink, Pink Fuck.
The ketamine-saturated drink is actually a co-production between Ash and his old friend, Chet Kaminski (a wonderful Ted Raimi) a friendly, if slightly skeevy, veteran who regales Pablo and Kelly with tales of friendly fire and Anwar the village boy. While Ash’s party manages to bring the crowds it becomes clear to everyone other than Ash that the kids who took the Delta are not going to show up.
The reason for that is that the Delta has become possessed by the Necronomicon and it’s keeping the teens busy by stalking them and dispatching of them in gruesome fashion. I’ve talked in the previous reviews about how the blood and gore has been upped this season and the scenes with the Delta are a perfect example of the new ways this shows finds to gross us out. It takes the familiar concept of a possessed car hunting teenagers and manages to twist it to the show’s own perspective. Which means that the Delta isn’t content with just running these poor kids over, instead we get hubcaps to the chest and, in one of the most beautifully violent scenes yet, a tire straight onto the face. It’s the type of insanity that makes Ash vs Evil Dead stand out among a crowded TV landscape.
“Last Call” also takes the time to develop the growing restlessness we’ve seen in Kelly. These feelings come to the forefront when Pablo tells Kelly how much he find her lack of care about having a permanent residence, family or any of the “normal” things in life impressive. Pablo unintentionally makes Kelly realize that she might be wasting her time in the group. So when Ruby comes to her and suggests leaving to find and kill her children before they can summon her ex-husband Kelly goes along, because at least it’s better than playing second fiddle to an aging man child.
Speaking of our favorite man baby, Ash finally attempts to settle the score with his father by besting him in bull riding but it turns out his old man’s got a bit more stamina than he imagined, he even steals the lady Ash has been flirting with to boot. When Ash brings up the resentment between them Brock claims that he killed his sister and he could never forgive him for that. It’s a solid emotional beat and one that hits a little harder than I was expecting this show to be capable of.
After a pep talk from Pablo, however, Ash storms into the bathroom and save his father from the lady, who turns out to be a Deadite. Finally earning his father’s respect, even if he sends everyone else running away after cutting off the Deadite’s head. His dad is even about to clue him in on a huge secret before the Delta comes screeching in and runs over poor Brock. It’s a bit cheap but it’s such an absurdly cruel ending that I can’t help but appreciate the show for managing to tie it all together in the end. Ash has lost another loved one and it’s gonna take a lot more than a pep talk to bring him back to his old self.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- Looks like I jinxed it last week hoping that Brock would stick around. Well, let’s all give props to Lee Majors regardless for being outstanding in the role and here’s hoping we at least get to see him torment Ash in Deadite/ghost form sometime soon.
- The Delta has also captured the Sheriff’s daughter and seems to be driving around with her in tow, I imagine that will be brought up next week.
- “Hiya pop, got room for a threesome?”
- “I trip over that book every time I fart, and I fart a lot.”
- “You’re so much better at this than my dead wife.” RIP Brock, you filthy old man.
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