Ash Vs Evil Dead 204 - DUI - SPOILER FREE Review
PREMIERES SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23rd at 8:00 PM ET/PT
Official Synopsis: Ash goes on the hunt for his beloved Delta, but becomes the hunted. Ruby and Kelly engage in a battle royale with the evil spawn while Pablo suffers from a new Necronomicon condition.
Good: The production values, more fun action from "The Classic", The Bruce and Ted show, the practical effects, the script, the formation of the kick ass lady squad.
Bad: Some crappy CGI, the editing.
This season, way more than the first, feels like a movie, cut up in chunks. Reviewing them on a stand alone, weekly basis then, for me, is a little tricky. Episode four even follows on directly from the shocking and sad ending of episode three, making it feel more like a part 2 than a stand-alone episode. This is a series that has definitely been designed to be binge watched, and so when you release the blu-ray Starz, do away with the damn 'previously on...' sections so, on 'play all' mode, I can watch this like some glorious 5 hour movie!
The main story of this episode is Ash, Pablo & Chet Vs The Classic and the second story is the formation of the kick ass sisters 'lady squad' of Ruby and Kelly, going after the spawn.
This is the episode where we finally get some awesome Bruce & Ted moments and it's wonderful. The whole show could just be the two of them jokingly bickering and getting into adventures. Chet in his drunken state makes Ash seem intelligent and competent but the two actors also know to add a little pathos to their situation as well. It's expertly played and definitely a favourite sequence of mine in season 2 so far.
Pablo picks the wrong time to man up and take the fight to the Deadites as he gets embroiled with the possessed Classic, is tormented by the Necronomicon, has an eerie and painful looking premonition and by the end of the show is really causing trouble! We know from comic-con interviews that Ray Santiago is tormented a ton this season and if the teaser clip below is any indication of just who the mysterious Baal really is, his ordeal has, probably, only just begun...
In the second half of the episode as Ash has tracked the possessed Classic to a run down demolition derby warehouse, across the other side of town Ruby and Kelly load up on guns and decide to track and kill Ruby's spawn so that they can't get their hands on that pesky book. We won't question how spawns of the demon/woman who wrote the book don't know where the book is when it's loudly and violently possessing a car in a small town or why the spawn are hiding out at the creepy, closed down, factory but they are and that's fine and it allows the awesome Lucy Lawless and Dana DeLorenzo to go kick some demon baby butt.
Lucy Lawless is also fantastic at putting a little sorrow and hardship into having to kill her children. Possessed, hollow eyed, demon crazies they may be but they are hers and she has to dispatch them. It's a lovely touch.
It's a little bit of a shame, therefor, that the ladies ass kickery is inter-cut with Ash Vs. The Classic in a way that sort of takes a little bit of the excitement out of both sequences. It's also where a longer running time and/or more episodes would service this expanded world better because with the "one long movie vibe" it's hampering the flow of this season slightly more than it did the first.
Now I'm not simply being greedy and I am not somebody who has complained online about the 30 minute length because any more Ash and company is awesome and shouldn't be overly criticised. - I have been amazed that fans, who now get 10 hours more Ash, are moaning about the length, some people are never happy I guess. - However! I mention it here purely to do with the flow and pace of the show. While I get and agree, to some extent, with the mantra, "leave them wanting more" with this second season there's too much being missed, glossed over or not given its due care and consideration because our protagonists have got to breathlessly move on to the next set piece.
I felt a little that way at the start of this episode where the events of the ending of episode three are dealt with quickly. Yes humourously and yes brilliantly played by the two actors involved but a little light, quick and not as satisfying as it could be if the script had more faith that we, the audience, actually love and care for these characters.
In the first season, a rambling road movie of a season, you can break the episodes up into - the book shop/demon episode, the trip/Brujo episode, the militia episode and so on - yes there was an over arching plot but each episode separated into a nice, individual encounter or story. That actually fit the 30 minute stricture very well. With season two I sort of want to wait till its over, stand back and see the big picture because right now each episode feels like it's whizzing passed with no real substance or depth when, actually, it's crying out for some. Maybe the accumulative effect will service the characters better.
Starz, on the Ash Vs Evil Dead social media sites are putting out little 3 minute scenes, set in the world and using the sets and actors, but not tied to the storyline of the show. They are slower, scarier, little horror scenes that are effective and awesome. The actual show, which continues to be a loud, crazy, knock-about, gory cartoon of a show could use more atmosphere and pacing like this.
Enough negativity though, this continues to be the very best looking and definitely the most exciting half an hour on television. You get action, comedy, horror and more all filmed insanely well, on sets that put every other show to shame and with a cast that are pretty flawless. I can't wait to see where the series goes and I'll be bingeing on this the moment all the episodes are out. I hope it runs and runs.
