Ash vs Evil Dead S3 E2 Review – This One’s Gonna Leave a Stain!
Jonathan Barkan
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Starring Bruce Campbell, Dana DeLorenzo, Ray Santiago, Arielle Carver-O’Neill, Lucy Lawless
Written by Rob Fresco
Directed by Mark Beesley
Last week’s season opener of “Ash vs Evil Dead” decided that setting up a story could take a backseat in exchange for geysers of blood. That’s not to say that the opener was simply a swath of viscera because that’d be a lie. There was enough information sprinkled here and there – Ash having a daughter, Ruby’s incantation and subsequent pregnancy, Pablo’s suddenly sensitive tattoos – to let viewers know that this season’s stakes were raised and that the shit was about to hit the fan. That being said, I don’t think anyone could’ve know that this episode would forfeit “shit” and a “fan” and instead substitute them for “semen” and “Ash’s face”. But let’s talk about how that scenario comes about in a moment.
The episode opens with Ruby driving erratically, nearly hitting two hitchhikers before swerving into the center of the road where her stomach explodes open, a lá Alien, and her demonic progeny escapes her torso. One of the hitchhikers is attacked while the other stares on in horror as Ruby awakens, takes control of the situation, and her baby, before stomping on the male hitchhiker, causing the title screen explosion of blood. Badass.
From there, we get to spend a little more time with Brandy, who is desperate to get to school to see her counselor, Ms. Prevett. Turns out, to honestly no one’s surprise, that Ms. Prevett is really Ruby in disguise and has been keeping an eye on the children of Elk Grove so as to find out who is the child of Ash. This is all part of her grand scheme to kill Ash and now Brandy so that her newborn child, who apparently is also somehow related to Ash, can become The Prophesized One that the Necronomicon has foretold.
Additionally, Pablo and Dalton, the Knight of Sumeria who came in with Kelly, are not on good terms. When Dalton sees Pablo’s tattoos, he recognizes the Sumerian language and warns Kelly that there will almost certainly come a point where Pablo, who was already touched by evil, will turn into a demon and will either kill or be killed. It’s obvious that Dalton’s words carry weight and hold importance to Kelly as she goes to Pablo and explains the situation while trying to maintain her friendship, something that Pablo is being difficult about. Oh, and Pablo had a vision of a naked woman wearing a mask who told him to seek his Uncle’s powers. That’s a thing that happened.
So how does Ash find himself in a situation where semen is present? Once he learns that evil is after his seed, both living and unborn, he heads to the local Cryobank – does Elk Grove have a business for everything? – to see if he can find out if anyone has made use of his many “donations”. Since it’ll be a couple of minutes before an answer pops up, Ash figures that he may as well continue his charitable nature with a generous deposit. One nudie magazine later, Ash is in his secluded room ready to take care of some business when an arm pops out of the pages and attempts to kill him, all while the demonic forces, at Ruby’s beckoning, take over one of the technicians in the lab. Hence, we have a battle in the middle of a sperm bank where full test tubes are used as projectile weapons and the floor ends up becoming quite slippery.
We end the episode with Ruby feeding the limbs of the male hitchhiker to her baby while the female hitchhiker learns that she’s essentially the second course.
As always, “Ash vs Evil Dead” ends up wickedly entertaining, outrageously funny, and irreverent as hell! Campbell’s well known physical acting chops are put the to the test in the sperm bank sequence, which is hilariously cringe-inducing. Brandy’s character is barely expanded upon here, so it seems like we’ll have to get to know her better throughout the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Ash and Brandy’s difficulties aren’t the only familial issues going on as Pablo and Kelly clearly have some unresolved issues, which Dalton’s presence is not helping with at all.
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Ash vs Evil Dead S3 E2
Summary
While not as entertaining as the first episode, a lot more information was given here and the story of “Ash vs Evil Dead” season 3 is laying itself out in an interesting way. Now we just have to worry about what Ruby’s baby is gonna grow up to be…
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