It’s no secret that the Starz horror-comedy series Ash
vs Evil Dead is itself a sequel to the cult hit Evil Dead trilogy from
decades ago. In fact, the show itself goes out of its way to remind us of its
roots as often as possible, with Easter Eggs and homages dropped left and right
each week. Sunday night’s new episode “Trapped Inside” has now one-upped all of
these references, with a cameo certain to warm the warped hearts of Evil
Dead fans everywhere.
The episode begins with Ash, Ruby, Kelly, Sheriff Emery’s
Ex-Wife Linda and her daughter Lacey all carrying Pablo inside Ash’s house to
deal with the effects of the demonic markings burning through his chest. He flails
around the Williams’ driveway Exorcist-style, spitting up fire and
speaking in tongues, before Ruby finally manages to subdue him enough to get
him inside Ash’s room, certain that she can both save Pablo and use the
markings on his chest to defeat Baal.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Emery is still struggling to hold control
of his own mind, as Baal further tempts him toward darkness. An angry mob is
demanding answers from the Sheriff. Baal instructs him to ignore the crowd,
convincing him that he must either kill the protesters or enlist them to help
kill Ash. Either way, Baal is 100% in control of this situation, and that can’t
mean anything good.
Back at the house, Ruby sets Pablo in the center of a circle
of salt, something we last saw in season one, to protect everyone outside of
the circle from the demonic presence within. She begins the ritual to conjuring
up the remaining markings on Pablo’s body, taking off his demon-deflecting medallion
to allow the Necronomicon to complete its full possession of his body, with
Lacey standing guard.
Downstairs, the angry mob has arrived, led by Sheriff Emery
and a disguised Baal, and ready to kill Ash. A hilarious running joke/subplot
of the episode is Kelly’s unconventional method of keeping the protesters from
entering the house – blindly firing her gun into the gathering of misguided civilians.
She and Linda keep up this crowd-control, as Ash hurries upstairs to make sure
Ruby’s keeping Pablo alive.
Of course, Ash is sidetracked by the suspenseful spooky
noise coming out of the abandoned bedroom of his sister Cheryl (who he killed
in the original film). It turns out to just be Chet, Ash’s hard-partying
friend, who apparently had a thing with Cheryl before her death, and frequently
stalks her room as a method of coping. The two of them both turn to leave and
rejoin the group, when suddenly Cheryl appears, played once again by Ellen
Sandweiss – the actress from the original Evil Dead!
This is amazing to me, personally. As a super-fan of this
franchise, I’ve loved all the winks back at the series history so far, but this
is hands-down their most impressive. To date, only Bruce Campbell has returned
to reprise his role in each passing installment of the Evil Dead franchise. Not
only was it awesome to see Ellen Sandweiss return to a part she hasn’t played
since 1979, but it was also amazing to see her iconic Deadite look be updated
to the effects standards of 2016. The scenes of Ash fighting his returned demon
sister made my nerdy little mind melt.
The now somehow reanimated Deadite Cheryl captures Chet,
initially using him as a human shield from Ash’s chainsaw-hand and shotgun, but
quickly deciding to kill him herself instead. This was genuinely surprising,
both for the shocking and gruesome manner in which he died (literally ripping
out his heart Temple of Doom-style) and for the sense of loss felt for the
great comedic side character Ted Raimi had created. You will be missed, Chet.
“Trapped Inside” was yet another dark turn for the usually
silly series. It’s the second episode in a row to focus more on straight
horror, as opposed to comedy with some demon killings. Sure, Bruce Campbell
still gets his cheesy one-liners, and his character’s big heroic plan is still
ridiculous and ill-conceived (feed the demon a pet-tracking GPS device so we
know where he is), but every subplot the episode explored had a much deeper
sense of dread and suspense than previous moments of the series. I liked it, and I think it works, especially
after the introduction of the new Big Bad - Baal, but it is a surprising tonal
shift nonetheless.
Ash shoots his reanimated, demon-possessed sister out the
front door and into the mob in the street, proving to them the existence of Deadites,
and his own value as a hero. It was great to see Ash get to monologue to a big
crowd about how great he is while fighting a demon, since he hasn’t really gotten
the chance to do so since the trilogy’s conclusion Army of Darkness in 1992.
Back in the house, the final piece of the ancient Kandarian
curse etches itself into Pablo’s chest, powerfully bursting through his skin, and
sending the others in the room flying back. The fall badly wounds Ruby, who
explains to Kelly that she can no longer “Wolverine herself back together.”
Ruby’s demon children consumed her healing ability, making her mortal and weak
after this injury.
Ash also meets bad news at the end of the episode, and his
glory among the mob he saved is short lived. Sherriff Emery and Baal confront
the now-redeemed Ash, and knock him unconscious as the episode concludes.
Overall, this was a pretty brilliant episode, with a lot to
nerd-out over. The jokes were funny, the action was exciting, and the pacing
was tight and fast without a single wasted moment. I’m a little turned off by
the cliffhanger ending, which left more unresolved than any other episode this
season. Also, the show continues to struggle with balancing so many characters.
Lacey, for example, didn’t really get much to do this week other than watch
Lucy Lawless try to free Pablo from the book. There are now so many characters
involved in the plot, I just wish they all got equal opportunities to do cool
things. Nonetheless, I cannot wait to see what they’re building to with all of
this.
