The Gore Spotlight
Ash vs Evil Dead
Review of Episode 8:
Ashes to Ashs
Directed by: Tony Tilse
Air date: 12/20/15
Editor’s Note: P.J.'s Ash vs Evil Dead reviews are done on a weekly basis and are for watchers of the show. Therefore, it's worth mentioning that there will be spoilers and heavy speculation in all of the reviews. For those of you, who wish to not be spoiled, please stop reading.
We are nearing the end of season one of Ash vs Evil Dead and it's only getting better. We've been teased about getting back to the cabin, where it all began for quite a while now but it's finally arrived. Ashes to Ashes finds Ash alone at the cabin that changed his life thirty years ago. Fans are familiar with the various happenings there and the memories are still fresh.
Ash doesn't stay alone for long as Amanda Fisher finds him. She has been separated from Kelly and Pablo as they've split up to look for him. Ash doesn't want to see harm come to his friends and he's done arguing about it. But they've caught up with him before the demon party at the cabin gets rolling. Kelly and Pablo get caught up in the woods, but Ash and Amanda wind up battling Ash's hand. Ash's hand is no longer solo, having grown its own Evil Ash. Fans of the film series will especially recognize the “Good Ash vs Bad Ash” from Army of Darkness, but this Evil Ash is less hyper and silly and more suave and serious.
Through Ash's actions and experiences, we see the deeper side to him. Although confident and egotistical on the surface Ash seriously wants to see his friends come out of this as unscathed as possible and the events that unfolded in the cabin decades prior are still haunting him. There are some changes in the storyline between the Evil Dead films; the first focusing on a group of friends and the sequels losing the friends angle and focusing on Ash's girlfriend Linda as the primary casualty. Linda is a major player in this episode. Well...her head is. Her possessed skull's taunts and jabs at Ash reveal more of his inner pain about the events he's lived through; things he has keeps stuffed down emotionally.
Even with the warning at the beginning of this article, I will throw out an additional Spoiler Warning about the remainder of this paragraph. The most note-worthy moment in the show would certainly be Amanda's death at the hands of Evil Ash. No punches were pulled as the death was bloody, gruesome and brutal. The scene reminded audiences of the show's core story: Ash and his friends against the Deadite invasion. I'm not saying that Kelly or Pablo seeing a deadly end is completely out of the question, but I don't see that happening, especially anytime soon. The dynamic set up in the first episode is the one absolute and what a great dynamic it is. It's sad to see Fisher go as I liked her and her and Ash becoming friends. I don't see her death as a bad move, however, as the show needs to keep itself horror and she was the most solid but expendable element. Besides, we may see her in some form in the future.
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Ruby remains a mysterious figure, not being a player in this episode. Last time we saw her claw out the ground, back form the demon world. Her involvement is sparse but clearly setting up for something major. Pablo and Kelly's part in Ashes to Ashes is smaller than usual, but it makes sense as the episode focuses on a more emotional aspect of Ash. Their part is important, however, and gives us little glimpses of new information. There's still no reason to think that Kelly knows or returns Pablo's feelings towards her but the latter is possible. She doesn't seem to want another girl to make any kind of move on Pablo, which doesn't scream the brother/sister relationship she claims to feel for him.
The camper characters that come across the gun-toting Pablo and Kelly will most likely see at least another episode. The show needs bystanders to keep the gore flowing and I think the attractive lot will do nicely.
All in all, Ashes to Ashes was another quality episode of a show that I've come to trust completely. The addition of the cabin and Evil Ash are large gains for the show. With Ash's possessed hand being separated from the new body it's grown the sinister forces combating Ash and his friends are growing. Evil Ash is a new step for the demonic creatures, as he seems as calculating and aware as any human. The danger is merciless and I'm excited to see how it all plays out.
The promo for the next episode Bound in the Flesh reminds the viewer that it's the last until the season finale. Ash wants to get the book buried, but Ruby throwing herself into the ring once again. And the show has proven that it isn't afraid to go for the gut and let things get messy, so the title certainly seems to conform that the book is a solid element of what's to come. Check out the teaser for Bound in the Flesh below:
P.J. Griffin, HMS
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