Groovy Road.
Warning: Full spoilers for the Ash vs. Evil Dead series finale follow...
Firstly, it's a bit of a bummer that Ash vs. Evil Dead wrapped up its third season with an Army of Darkness U.K./Director's Cut-style ending instead of something a little more gift wrapped (like the Army of Darkness U.S. theatrical ending) since this was to be the final episode ever.
I get it. You hedge your bets. You can't mold every season as if it could be the show's last, and tailor the ending so it can satisfy on all fronts, but if the producers had any inclination that series was in danger then maybe they could have made it all a bit more snug.
And, that being said, the final moments of "The Mettle of Man" just happened to also be the biggest finale cliffhanger the show's done to date. Ash woke up in a post-apocalyptic future, brought out of some sort of cryo-sleep by a wasteland Knights of Sumeria warrior (who seemed to be designed to appeal to Ash's particular horndogged-ness) and given a badass "Hail to the King" Delta to roam the desert with, Borderlands-style. What became of the world? What happened to Kelly, Pablo, and daughter Brandy? We'll never know. It's kind of the worst way for a cancelled season to go out.
Though, to be fair, from a certain point of view there was closure. Ash went tank-to-toe with literal hell on Earth. He took down the biggest demon he'd ever faced, a kaiju-sized destroyer named Kandar (of Castle Kandar and "Kandar"ian demon fame) and, for all intents and purposes, saved the day. Obviously, the Dark Ones remained and wiped out everything, but Ash, if we're looking at things from a pure character arc standpoint, stood tall and sacrificed himself to save his friends and family. Then, once he was in the future and free and clear from sentiment, he could go back to being his alternate "groovy" self.
Secondly now - and this relates to the previous paragraph - did anyone else tear up during Ash's goodbye to the Ghostbeaters and Brandy?
Did anyone expect there to be such a huge emotional moment? I was very pleasantly taken aback. Not that Bruce Campbell doesn't have dramatic chops (those who watched Burn Notice know he can deliver the goods) but, specifically, for Ash to become that vulnerable in front of, and because of, Brandy was extremely touching. I would have loved to see Brandy ultimately take up the Willams deadite-smashing mantle - complete with blue shirt, boomstick, and chainsaw - but this was still a great send-off.
It was really cool to see, as this entire season played out, how much Ash discovering he had a daughter, and then that young woman getting unceremoniously (and grossly) indoctrinated into the wold of demon-busting, added to the saga. Last season, it was clear that the story really wanted Ash to have a daughter. Or, in the very least, a female successor. There's was a bit of a hullaballoo post-Season 2, as showrunner Craig DiGregorio exited, regarding his idea to have Kelly wind up being Ash's daughter (Ash would sleep with a younger version of her mom while they were in the past) but for whatever reason it never came to pass.
Rumors regardless, it was clear Season 2 was trying to set Kelly up for something that never quite panned out. She even had her own "passing the torch" fight scene moment with the Ash puppet that strongly indicated that she was going to somehow carry on the "getting your ass kicked in vile, gooey ways while fighting something small and silly" tradition. This year, they basically did that again, in last week's Judgement Day," but with Bandy fighting her own phone. Like Kelly's fight at the time, it was the show christening a new "Ash."
Anyhow, part of me wishes it could have been Kelly, but I really dug the Brandy character and, overall, it worked a lot better to have someone get thrown into the malicious mix by finding out they're Ash's daughter. For Kelly, it would have been her and Ash discovering they were related way after she'd already gotten jumped into the sinister scene of slaying evil.
"The Mettle of Man" may have the thankless burden of being the final episode of a show that apparently had other ideas about its future, but what was there was really fun and rewarding. Fighter jets, a giant monster, Ash in a freakin' tank, the necklace being given to Brandy, Ash and Brandy both getting face-splattered at the same time, a lovely and random WWE KANE REFERENCE? - this one packed a wallop and crammed in as much as it could before the curtain dropped.
The Verdict
If you were looking for closure as Ash vs. Evil Dead left the air for good, "The Mettle of Man" wasn't going to fully fulfill your desires. Despite its massive time jump/Dark Ones cliffhanger however, it did wrap up Ash's present day deadite saga while delivering some impressive large-scale action and some even more impressive small-scale emotion.
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