Ash Vs Evil Dead 205 - Confinement - SPOILER FREE Review

PREMIERES SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30th at 8:00 PM ET/PT

Official Synopsis: Deadites are no match for our hero, but the Sheriff is, when Ash is brought up on charges. Ruby, Kelly, and Pablo go to break him out, but they discover some people are not who they seem to be. There's a new evil in town.

Good: The plot, acting, comedy, gore, pretty much everything
Bad: A little inconsistency from the ending of last week's show. The flashing lights. Just because there's a demon about doesn't mean all the lights have to flash. It's a bit obvious.

Just as I was alone in my questioning of, what has now become known as 'The Possessed Colon' sequence in episode two, I will probably be alone in declaring this episode my favourite of the season so far.

Let me clarify that.

The first episode of season two is still probably my favourite this year, in terms of its 'Evil Dead-edness' but episode five, Confinement felt like the sort of classic television I love, only with more Evil Dead, which is awesome. Hence my hyperbole.

It's going to be difficult to explain the plot without giving away spoilers but, in a nutshell, Ash and crew wind up trapped in the police station with Baal running amok.

So a little on Joel Tobeck who plays Baal. Firstly, he's got the look. Somewhere in the same neighbourhood as Michael Shannon, John Malkovich and Tobin Bell. Creepy and perfect, in other words. Yes they have him in the requisite 'bad demon' get up of long greasy hair and long black coat but what he lacks in originality he makes up for in charm, style and mischievousness. I don't mind a cliche if it's worn well. 

Joel goes back to Xena and Herc days so it's even more of a reunion for the cast. Especially we now have Bruce, Lucy & Ted in a whole episode all together. I half expected Renee O'Connor to show up as a possessed janitor or something.

So why did I prefer this episode to the last few? because it's about the characters and the story, it doesn't just hinge on a set piece. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good, gross out, ridiculous set piece as much as the next deadite but sometimes I love an ensemble cast, basically in one setting, doing what needs to be done, interacting, conversing and being amazing.

The set up is sort of like John Carpenter's The Thing mixed with Murder on the Orient Express and everyone gets their moment to shine. It's not always what they're saying either, check out the background, see how the actors are in the moment and responding to what's going on. It adds a nice layer to the action and the character development. Especially Pablo's reactions to Kelly and visa versa. Wonderfully played.

Lucy Lawless, also, gets to sink her teeth into a bit more of Ruby. We haven't seen her out front much since the first episode of this season really, so it's good to follow her for a while, too. Lawless is such a presence on screen that really, it could be as much her show as Bruce's if she wanted. Anyway, she's wonderful in this episode and with the emergence of Baal, it's going to be interesting to see Ruby struggle with his seduction and her own strength.

Now, with the end of episode five, we are officially half way through this season and my resounding feeling is SLOW DOWN!! The show has some cool areas and characters to explore and while, I agree, it wouldn't support the 1hr format, maybe a 40min format or maybe 15 episodes instead of 10? maybe 12 episodes? Something! So we can have more episodes like this where it's about the script, the interactions, Ted Raimi being hilarious, Bruce Campbell being hilarious and giving us a little bit of everything rather than a lot of gore and action without much behind it.

Speaking of gore, don't worry, before you think this episode is all just people talking, don't worry, there's plenty of the red stuff, plenty action and, for my money, one of the best and most hilarious practical bits of comedy that almost gets buried in the editing. All I am going to say is watch for when Ash and Linda are leaving the jail cell.

I think the middle of the series is a good time to take a little breather (it doesn't last long, trust me) and do something a little different. I hope people embrace it.

One last thing, I am having a weird feeling of, "when is it going to be daylight again?" it feels like this is all taking place in one night. In the first season a lot of it was during the day, this season it's all been nights. That's an interesting easter egg actually because in Evil Dead 1 & 2 the deadites thrive at night and it's the sunlight that chases away the evil however by the time you get to Army of Darkness the evil shows up whenever it wants, like Season one of AVED. Is this season taking place all on one night or have the deadites driven the sun from the sky so evil can go hog wild?

Something to think on!