Review by Eric Hillis (@hilliseric)
"Chopping up my evil clone; maybe someday that'll feel weird!" Blood and black laced humor abounded this week on Ash Vs Evil Dead, with Ash (Bruce Campbell) forced to slice and dice the corpses of Amanda (Jill Marie Jones) and the evil doppelganger borne of his severed hand. Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dan DeLorenzo) came to the rescue of the chinned one, figuring out which Ash was the real one by deciphering the subtleties of his racism. Turns out Ash likes Asians - "They give great massages!"
With two corpses to be disposed of, the last thing Ash and co. needed was some uninvited cabin guests, but they arrived in the form of the trio of Aussie backpackers Pablo and Kelly encountered in the woods last episode. Pablo and Kelly led the visitors away from the blood drenched cabin, only to encounter Amanda in her new deadite form, a meeting that resulted in some really sick comedy as Amandead used two of the Aussies as human meat puppets while mocking Pablo's crush on Kelly. The third camper, Heather (Samara Weaving), was forced to look on in horror as her buddies were first killed by Amanda, then riddled with bullets from Kelly and Pablo before ultimately being chopped into pieces by Ruby (Lucy Lawless), who finally caught up with her prey.
Back at the cabin, Ruby convinced Ash to cooperate with her, claiming she knew the only way to truly rid the world of the deadite plague - destroy the Necronomicon! The ensuing ritual saw Pablo end up with a face full of Necronomicon as the cover wrapped itself around his mush like Leatherface's skin mask. When it comes to the Necronomicon, you really ought to judge a book by its cover! A late reveal from Ruby sets up a final confrontation between herself and Ash in next week's season climax.
Writer Rob Wright gave us some great lines from Ash but his script was laced with inconsistencies, with Kelly, who we already know is Jewish, referencing nuns and stained glass windows in a childhood anecdote. More grating however was Ash's treatment of Amanda, making bad puns about her death, and even planning one last look at her assets before disposing of her corpse. This might make sense if read as Ash putting on a bravura show for Kelly and Pablo, but he behaved the same way in their absence, erasing all the good work of previous episodes, where it seemed Ash had developed a genuine affection for Amanda. It will be interesting to see how far Ash has come by the end of next week's finale; will he have grown through the experiences of the show's debut season, or will he remain horror's most loveable man-child?
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