"That lady has my book and she has my Pablo!"
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Well, despite having a few tonal issues during its first season run, Ash vs Evil Dead knocked it out of the park with its season finale, "The Dark One." A truly glorious gore-fest filled with horror and hilarity.
While it was frustrating to get so little information about Lucy Lawless' Ruby throughout the season, the show more than made up for their cursory treatment of her here as "Tricky Little Bitch" Ruby (who I assume...never really existed and was possessed the entire time by this ancient force?) and Ash had some tremendous scenes together. A couple of great showdowns, culminating with Ash...bowing out of the battle. Yup, good ol' Ash quit. Oh, he made a concerted effort to stop her. And he even refused her "Jacksonville" deal the first time she brought it up, but in the end - to save Kelly and Pablo - he called a truce.
Because, well, there's a Season 2 coming. So the Evil Dead in Ash vs Evil Dead has to stick around somehow. And it nicely fit Ash's character (which was really strong here in the final two episodes of the season) to take the easy(ish) way out. And to try and convince himself that Ruby is doing something good by becoming the one dark lord in charge of all dark forces. In fact, I really liked that he was offered this deal twice and got to refuse it during the first go round. Because it showed him being courageous enough to want to try and stop the evil. He just...couldn't. He hit a dead end as far as his care for his Ghostbeaters team was concerned.
And now, I guess...they all have to drive to Jacksonville? What a bum deal! I thought they'd just get magically transported there. Anyhow, the Ghostbeaters live on and Ruby gets to, I dunno, do something. It's wasn't entirely clear, though I suppose it all stood its ground well enough for the Evil Dead franchise. Pablo somehow became the Necronomicon and barfed up demon children (one of whom got into a very fun fight with Ash) all so that Ruby could "Godfather" the demons. Even though she's the one who wrote the book in the first place. And somehow didn't do any of this back then. Again, it's hazy. But in the end, it's not that important.
Better to focus on here was just how wonderfully bats*** this finale was. Kelly battling the bleeding cabin. Poor Heather - (aka "Other Girl") - getting eviscerated by the cabin. First with the bugs crawling on her, then the nails to the face and feet, and then just getting ripped apart and shot out the front door. Yup, if all our main heroes were going to make it through the night, then someone needed to get sacrificed. And that someone was Heather, who'd already gotten pretty beat up last week.
Blood flowed quite freely in "The Dark One." Oh yes. Especially when Ash took his chainsaw to Amanda's gut. Bruce Campbell, while doing pre-premiere press for the show, had remarked about shooting one scene where the blood pour almost choked him. I can only guess it was either the car scene in the second episode or this one here, because this chainsawing was very gross and awesome.
Written by showrunner Craig DiGregorio, "The Dark One" was satisfyingly violent and funny in all the right places. Ash shoe-polishing his hair, yelling "Not in the face!" as Ruby took a dagger to his cheek, Kelly punting Heather's dead talking head - there was some really good stuff here. And, Easter Egg-wise, seeing Evil Dead II's Jake's bones and overalls down in the basement was a nice touch.
The Verdict
"The Dark One" delivered the Lucy Lawless/Bruce Campbell showdown we were waiting for (with more to come next year, I assume!) while also giving us a great grab-bag of gore and guffaws. A very strong, violent, funny finish for the first season of the show. For the third episode in a row to take place in the cabin it really felt vital and exciting.
Editors' Choice
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