Review by Eric Hillis (@hilliseric)
In my recap of last week's episode, I surmised that Ruby (Lucy Lawless) wasn't quite human, given how she appeared to have been burnt to a cinder, pulled into a raging bonfire by a skeletal deadite. The show wasn't going to kill off such a pivotal character, one played by such a star name, and sure enough, this week we saw Ruby rise from the ashes, naked, like a Terminator arriving in '80s Los Angeles. She then hopped into her red sportscar and picked up her quest to find Ash (Bruce Campbell). That's all we got of Ruby, continuing the show's trend of teasing Lawless's appearance through minimal screen time.
Meanwhile, Ash and his merry band, now including Amanda (Jill Marie Jones), rocked up to the militia camp of Ash's old drinking buddy Lem (Peter Feeney), only to find an array of disembowelled corpses outside the compound. Seems while at the diner, the scene of last week's glorious mayhem, Lem fell prey to the 'evil' and is now a rampaging deadite himself. When the members of the militia identify Amanda as a cop, they're none too happy, and Ash and Amanda find themselves handcuffed together in their own remake of The Defiant Ones (or Black Mama, White Mama for you exploitation buffs) and trapped inside a bunker with Lem.
We know Ash will hit on anything lacking an Adam's apple, but his cheesy advances somehow seem to work on Amanda, who giggles like a schoolgirl at lines that would make most women groan, or indeed vomit. After dispatching Lem through some nifty handcuffed choreography (Dead and Ginger anyone? Anyone?), the two verbalise their respect for each other and are just about to informally introduce their tongues to their tonsils when the moment is interrupted by Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) and Pablo (Ray Santiago).
While Ash and Amanda were battling Lem, Kelly and Pablo were dealing with some deadite militia members of their own. Director Michael Hurst continued his impressive work, putting together a great little set-piece that saw Kelly and Pablo use a pickup truck and machine gun to take out a rather stubborn deadite. This was followed by a nice gag involving Pablo's reluctance to wear a gas mask smeared with the brains of its previous owner.
At the end of the episode, Ash expressed his love for his companions, before sneaking off like a classic Western hero. He's got his own battle to win, and Fire in the Hole ended with our first glimpse of THAT cabin as Ash's disembodied hand arrived on the scene. With three episodes left, things are set up for quite the conclusion to Ash Vs Evil Dead's rookie season.
Help support The Movie Waffler by sharing this post
