Trapped Inside: Review for Ash vs Evil Dead 206
Trapped Inside
Review for Ash vs Evil Dead 206
by A. Zombie
No one else is impressed by Pablo’s demonic seizure outside Ash’s childhood home. They drag him inside and immediately devise a game plan. Unfortunately for Pablo, that plan requires him to get sicker before Ruby has the correct spell to banish Baal. Ash’s plan is simpler, crude, and bound to fail—track down Baal and cram his chainsaw up the demon’s backside. Ignoring the awful Plan B, Ruby and Lacey take Pablo up to Ash’s room to perform a ritual that’ll speed up the process of turning him into a book. Wait, what? Yeah, it’s not a much better plan, but guarantees Ash won’t taste his own chainsaw when Baal wins that fight. They toss in a nice throwback to season one and uncle Brujo, using the charm he left behind as a way to make Ruby’s spell go awry. It takes Kelly emotionally manhandling Pablo—convincing him he is in control on the convergence with the book—for the correct spell to blister on Pablo’s skin. Brujo’s amulet goes back on Pablo to slow his transition to book of the dead. It’s a temporary fix, but will work. They’ve got other concerns which pop up during the course of the ritual in Ash’s room.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that Baal’s best ally in the war on Ash is Sheriff Emery. The guy’s had it out for Ash for decades, even went so far as to marry the woman Ash had a relationship with before the first encounter with the Necronomicon. Old blood feuds have deep roots, something Baal banks on when he starts his mental manipulation. It takes about two minutes to convince the sheriff to gather a mob to recapture Ash. The demon hops into a new skin-suit for the occasion, a loud-mouthed woman who I think is the mother of one of the Classic’s victims. Could be wrong. The dialog for the mob is often jumbled together and muted as Baal works his mojo on Emery. Elk Grove hasn’t faced anything like Baal before, but they’ve also never come up against Kelly and her pure crazy. She and Linda hold the line, firing warning shots at the mob to buy Ruby time for the spell.
There’s a side-effect of invoking the book of the dead, deadites. Well, in this case, just one in particular. Talk about a shout-out to the source material, Ash’s sister Cheryl comes back to extend the family reunion theme for this season. Ellen Sandweiss returns to the franchise, playing Cheryl as she’d look if she survived the trip to the cabin. The makeup for Cheryl’s deadite look has been morphed to fit the style set for the show, but remains faithful to the original film. Her scenes are amusing, full of atrocious puns referring to her demise by tree. The interaction between the siblings is reminiscent of how the early deadites preferred to play more than just kill.
Unfortunately for Chet, he chose an awful day to break into Ash’s house and, uh, fantasize about Cheryl while alone in her room. Things go from fun and games to bloody mess pretty fast once Cheryl has an innocent bystander to use against her brother. The outcome is heartbreaking. While I’d hoped Chet would stick around to play bigger buffoon to Ash’s moron, he’s no match for the evil in his buddy’s life.
The plus side of Cheryl pushing Ash too far? Now maybe Elk Grove will believe him when he says he kills demons. Pissed over losing his friend, Ash takes the fight public to make a point—he’s been saving their hateful, backwards selves for years, but they’re too dumb to realize it. Cheryl starts off with a human face in public, but Ash goads her into showing her dead face. As expected, the crowd opens fire. Ash is the one to land the killing blow, though.
There’s no time for celebration. Baal and the sheriff step in and take control before the blood spatter on Ash’s face cools. He’s knocked out, leaving the remaining mob, plus his team, without humanity’s savior. One step forward, a whole football field back.
There’s a wolf hidden amongst Murphy’s flock. The Man makes his grand comeback, posing as a newcomer to town. That game lasts a heartbeat until Murphy spots the big, bald guy and has him brought in for a private audience. Things don’t progress as predicted, seeing as Murphy is distracted by his stomach. What I thought for sure would be a boot to the backside, turned into a trust exercise, capped off with a grey matter snack for the men. Funny, and disgusting. The chunks TM blows after the scene are, well, chunky. What a waste of a good meal. But he’s passed the test. The Man found his footing in Murphy’s organization less than an hour after entering the gate. Impressive. Also shows a huge, gaping hole in Murphy’s world domination scheme—his ego doesn’t account for his failing grip on humanity and reality. Instead of bringing in a known, trusted team member, he snags the new guy—who helped mow down an entire settlement of peaceful people—and gives him an easy way to manipulate Murphy to his will. After all, the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
10k and Doc are picked up on the roadside like stray pups left in an abandoned shopping cart. Roberta’s team is whole once again, this time with an ace up their sleeve. If 10k can get over the nightmares and constant urges to express loyalty to Murphy, he should lead them to Spokane in no time. They’re not even that far away. There’s a problem in the plan. Lucy. She also has the potential in her blood to create a cure. Dr. Sun would have an easier time handling a child, as well. But they really do need to stop Murphy from amassing a larger army. Time to divide and conquer. Addy and Doc will get Lucy. Everyone else trudges on to Spokane.
It’d be easier to get everyone back together if the NSA compound were fully functional once more. Citizen Z, Kaya, and her family work to restore power in the facility. The radio even broadcasts a signal strong enough to reach out and touch someone—too bad Addy can’t respond. My problem with dragging the Citizen Z story line along is mostly because Kaya’s jealousy over Addy is seriously off-putting. Can’t they just leave Kaya to be a person and not a stereotypical fanatical female fan?
This week, horror fans got their fill of character’s brains on the ground. While the other show took every opportunity to draw out the drama from the character’s deaths, AvED went full splatstick, showing close-ups while Ash attempts to piece his father together again after the Classic mowed him down. It’s no use. There’s not enough skull intact to hold it all in place, plus Brock’s missing an eye—which is neatly embedded in the Delta’s grille. It stares down Pablo and Ash while they discuss a plan of action over Brock’s corpse. The plan, apparently, is for Pablo to charge the possessed car by himself and become its captive alongside the sheriff’s daughter. Pretty sure that’s not how one wins the war against evil.
Pablo’s newfound bravery is a farce. He’s reacting purely from fear and Evil knows it, manipulating Pablo to do what it wants through his bizarre connection to the Necronomicon. Matter of fact, the fallout from one conversation with the book changes everything for Ash and his team. We’ve waited so long for Pablo to finally step up and be the hero, but he’s going about it the wrong way. So now we get to sit and watch him set the world ablaze. Neat. Maybe we’ll get more super-intense visions, like the car crash, along the way. I loved the mild shock from watching Pablo stagger around with a steel bar longer than he is tall through his chest.
The possessed Delta isn’t their only problem. In true men-sense, the guys completely overlook the demonspawn still camped in the crematorium in favor of chasing the Classic to the local demolition derby stadium. Ash even takes a highly intoxicated Chet along for the pursuit. That leaves the ladies on the team to take care of Ruby’s ill-behaved children. What Ruby didn’t take into account is that they’ve spent their time gaining strength in order to fulfill their father’s wishes. The spawn are way stronger than their mother now. Kelly saves Ruby’s bacon a couple times—gratitude is a sensation I’m sure is completely foreign to Ruby. This is the first solid moment the ladies have had where they were just as hardcore as the men without eventually falling back on Ash’s uncanny competence at killing in order to win the day’s battle. They mow through the demonspawn with a couple close-calls on the getting maimed front.
While the Serenity Falls gang misjudged Doc, they totally got it right when they trussed up their newest patient and locked him in a padded room. 10k may not see Red and 5k anymore, but he’s madder than the Hatter without a clean cup. Coherency is a lost art once 10k opens his mouth. Doc is quick to cover for him, claiming the kid has Ten-Kay Fever and disavowing any knowledge of his new patient. At least one of them is in a position to help. For the most part, 10k is a barely animated potato sack. The vaccine in his system is wearing off. He struggles constantly with thoughts of Murphy loyalty and his need to free himself from control before warning Roberta.
Like, oh, Ratched actually handing out medication instead of snacks during med time. Every single bottle of pills and vial of whatever is blocked by a hallway teeming with zombies. Never fear, Doc and Elvis are ready to take on the Shocker Zombies in Ward Z. Are they quick enough? 10k takes a turn for the worst while they’re grabbing the meds. Liddy, the paranoid patient, and Ratched wheel 10k into the surgical suite.
The remaining action in the episode is basically Doc wrangling cats. He wants desperately to save everyone from the zombies slowly ripping through the hasty barricades over the hospital’s exits. They all make it outside in one piece to find the sole vehicle left on the ground, a small bus. Winona wastes no time hot-wiring it after Doc finally turns everyone in the right direction.
Ash enlists some help to make sure this party rages hard enough to coax the teens who stole the Delta from whatever shadow they’re hiding in. Chet’s introductory scene is the perfect way to bring Ted Raimi onto the show. It’s bizarre, laced with weird inside jokes, and radiates Ted’s unique charm. Not to mention, it gives us a chance to see a sillier side of Kelly for a few moments—we’ll just ignore that two older, pervy men pressure her into drinking a Ketamine-laced cocktail, first. I will note the tongue-in-cheek PSA after the episode urging viewers not to ingest any cocktail mixed with drugs. They know it’s wrong to include laced drinks, but they’d rather apologize than ask permission. It’s pretty much how everything goes on this show, to be honest.
So, where exactly is the Delta while the party planning session commences? Getting high and fraternizing with teenagers. Basically, Ash with even less morals. With the Necronomicon left to work its influence on the Delta, things turn to crap fast for Amber, Tyler, Lacey, and their pals. Tyler gets the worst of it, losing his manhood after Amber reads from the book and becomes a deadite. The sheriff’s daughter, Lacey, has a front row seat for each death caused by the Delta—including the final, and most tragic, murder after the dual showdowns during the most awkward party ever at Chet’s bar.
The Williams men face off twice in this episode. First, to win Amber’s attention for a bathroom fling. Then a mechanical bull-riding challenge to prove who is the better man. Brock wins both. Which is so not a good thing. Pablo kicks Ash’s mopey backside into gear after they discover Amber is a deadite. That’s one fight Ash actually wins. Victory is short-lived. As are Brock’s praises. The Delta arrives at the party just in time to miss the big fight. It doesn’t miss Brock as he’s in the midst of telling Ash something life-changing. Too soon, we’re waving goodbye to Lee Majors and the grumpy charisma oozing from his pores. He made a fun addition to the show and gave them the chance to build Ash’s backstory at last.
Things in 10k’s noggin aren’t one-hundred-percent after Merch dosed him with the original cure and then he jumped into the river. His psychosis takes the form of Red, who we met in the season-opener. She leads him through the unfamiliar forest. Good thing one of them can think—10k pretty much checks out mentally the whole episode—because Will Chaffin is still on his trail. They play chase for a while. Something in the forest hunts them at the same time. We never get a good look at these “wolfz” until they’re all dead. They’re seriously underwhelming for all the build-up. I expected some weird furry zombie. More deformed military men? Really?
The real story is 10k’s inability to handle reality. At first, the Red hallucinations scare him as much as the racket the wolfz make in the distance. Eventually, he seeks her out during fights when he should focus completely on the thing trying to kill/capture him. During the moments he’s too weak to move on, she comforts him and in his mind, she’s protecting him while he heals. Red is the cure, essentially. If 10k were shooting heroine, she’d be the drug. It’s the typical junkie’s story, coupled with severe PTSD from the whole apocalypse thing and his time in Murphy’s thrall. The episode ends with 10k giving in and diving head-first into the fantasy. Weird how when he wants to escape, he lands at a picnic with 5k and Red, not back with the crew, or even reunited with Cassandra.
Murphy’s ego is a Weeble—it wobbles quite often, but never stays down. Merch’s death, and his perceived abandonment without her or 10k at his side, knocks his emotions all over the map. Before he fully snaps, he orders the troops to continue adding to their new home. He really does want to make sure there’s a truly safe place for people on the planet. The way he’s going about it leaves a lot to be desired. As does the overdrawn mental breakdown Murphy endures.
The team is all about divide and conquer. They don’t trust Ruby further than Pablo can throw her, which is about a foot. So he stays behind to grill her about the freaky hallucinations he’s had since popping out her hellspawn. Turns out they’re precognitive visions, but only Ruby can translate the jumbled mess vomited into Pablo’s mind through his connection to the book. According to her, the misbehaving hellbrats want to wake daddy dearest, Baal. Judging from the ferocity of Pablo’s vision, the guy is the worst of the worst. Because that’s just what Ash needs when he’s supposed to be retired.
While the gang scrambles to save the world—again—Brock dims the lights and settles in for a romantic night with his current favorite lady. Lillian Pendergrass also happens to be Ash’s ex-lover. Well, technically, she’s an ex-ex-lover. Poor Lillian kicked the bucket and a Deadite took her for a joyride. It finally brings the danger Ash faces daily right into Brock’s living room. The fallout will be astounding with these hard-headed men.
With too many bodies to pick from and no description to work from, Ash reverts to his old ways, using a chainsaw to hack through each body he finds. Should’ve looked, first. The Necromonicon is in the final body, but it’s been there long enough to influence the flesh hiding it. Ash realizes he got the crappy job rather quickly. This scene is by far the most hilarious, graphic, and disgusting gag I’ve seen anyone film. If there was any wonder if this show is okay for children, Ash getting his head rammed up a dead guy’s backside firmly answers the question—no, now quit adding to your kid’s future therapy bill.
Pablo and Kelly sling beer at a dive bar in Jacksonville, FL while Ash makes himself the life of the party. For one of them, life after the deadite invasion is golden. There’s plenty of hot chicks, alcohol, and his little lizard buddy is there to play wingman. Ash’s happiness is hollow and fleeting, like a chocolate bunny left in an oven. Things are amiss with the dark side. They’re gonna need the bumbling savior once again.
There’s no waffling around, when Ash reaches Elk Grove, he stops by the old homestead. Enter Brock Williams—Ash’s cantankerous, unsupportive father, who greets house guests by firing a warning shot past their ear. There’s no love in his heart for his wayward, murdering son or his sidekick, Pablo, but he really wants a date with Kelly. The offer is shot down before he finishes asking her out.
Up north, but not too far north, Murphy and his mobile world-domination unit set their eyes on Spokane, WA as Ground Zero for the Murphy World Order. First, they have to get through horrible rush-hour traffic. Okay, it’s one car, but it’s in Murphy’s way and he’ll have none of it. A couple’s sick child is on the brink and the father knows they have to give her mercy. Impatient, Murphy solves all their problems by biting the girl so they can all move on with their day in gorgeous Washington. The way he talks about Spokane, one can tell he’s spent time there during far, far better days. Can you imagine tiny Murphy bullying his way down the path to see the river first? It’s almost endearing. Then the moment’s broken when 10k and Murphy butt heads yet again over this whole zmurph takeover thing. The naysaying does not a thing to color Murphy’s excitement. He practically skips into town, his sights set on the perfect building to call home. They are settling in nicely. But what’s this? Guests at the door already. Someone else wants on the zmurph side of life, and he’s not going to deny them.
Way, way up north, the housing situation isn’t nearly as ideal. Simon, a.k.a. Citizen Z, hasn’t a clue what to do. Kaya insists he can recover, get back on the air, and make a difference. The closest they come to touching the outside world is discovering a music broadcast and hearing Addy call over the radio, but it’s a one-way street. Addy doesn’t hear Simon before the battery Dr. Sun provides dies. Now everyone is officially cut off from the other groups. Not one to despair, Simon sets to fixing the one problem he knows is possible—food. Kaya, her family, and Dog join Simon for a trek through a snowstorm to the one place he knows still has supplies.
The problems in McCloud don’t really start until Becker’s true relationship with the dead townspeople is questioned. Then the non-zombie corpses are found at the post office. Becker’s a shorts-wearing, card-carrying psychopath. Shunned by the town while they lived, his resentment boiled over on outbreak day when he realized they’d eventually become a threat. So he shot every single one. Because that makes sense if you want to keep supplies intended for a thousand-plus people for yourself while simultaneously punishing innocent people for living without pandering to your ego.