The Boomstick Butcher with the Chainsaw Hand.
Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season 2 premieres on Starz on Sunday, October 2nd, but thanks to some other-worldly shenanigans, the Season 2 premiere, "Home," live streamed on IGN's Facebook page and can be still seen by clicking here. Therefore, this is a full-spoiler review of the episode. You've been warned.
"Alright, you naked a***holes!"
As expected, the shaky truce Bruce Campbell's Ash made with Lucy Lawless' Ruby at the end of Season 1 didn't hold and here we now, kicking off Season 2 and getting back into the wonderfully gooey and gory mess of Evil Dead again. It looks like Ash will have to cut his "fun police" gig in Jacksonville short so he can return to doing what he does best - obliterating deadites and splattering their insides all over the place!
"Home" brought the guts and the laughs while also bringing Ruby into the team via uneasy alliance. Season 1 didn't really know what to do with Ruby, or how to really texturize her character. It didn't help that she vanished for a large stretch of episodes, but we also never learned enough about her or her motivations to care about her, be she anti-hero or villain. Here, by losing control of her demon children, we got a much more desperate and vulnerable Ruby - a conniving woman willing to renege on her deal in order to mop up the mess she made.
Sure, there's still a lot more to learn about her, but pairing her with Ash was the best move. Not only can the two of them trade barbs and quips, but the team needs another true grownup. More importantly, a grownup who can counterbalance Ash's witless mayhem.
I mentioned, back in my reviews for Season 1, that this series is really the first time an attempt has been made to turn Ash into an actual character. In the Evil Dead films, he was pretty much a flat cartoon. He was wonderful, but we knew nothing about him other than his job. We began to see him take shape in Season 1 of Ash vs. Evil Dead, but here, in "Home," we got the most backstory about Ash to date, as he, Pablo (Ray Santiago), and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) traveled to Ash's hometown in Michigan. It was great, it helped flesh him out, and it didn't detract at all from his buffoonery.
Meeting Ash's "better, stronger, faster" crotchety old man (played marvelously by Lee Majors) and learning about how Ash was shunned and marked as a psycho ("Ashy Slashy!") following the events at the cabin all those years ago, painted us a picture of a traumatized young man who fled his entire life due to public scrutiny. Which makes the facade he puts on now all the more tragic. Well, maybe it's only a partial facade since it's clear the apple didn't fall far from the tree as far as being a racist, sexist jerk is concerned.
Returning to Elk Grove not only gave us a peek at Ash's past, but it also began to fill this second season with new characters - old friends and enemies of Ash (plus some "inbred degenerate screwheads") that will most likely become fodder for Deadite appetites. Yes, the world Ash has tried to avoid for decades will now become the battleground to save humanity, forcing our ham-fisted hero to face his past.
"Home" hit all the right notes for a season premiere, bringing the carnage and slapstick as only Evil Dead can (Ash missing the thrown chainsaw at the beginning, and taking it right in the face, was pretty hilarious!). From brawling in bars to cracking skulls at crematoriums, this exciting episode got Ash right tonally while also exploring his past in intriguing ways.
The Verdict
"Home delivered the goods, bombarding us with blood and backstory while keeping Ash tragically shallow and smarmy. Plus, it managed to rescue Ruby from her Season 1 character wasteland and bring her more fully into the story in a way that seems the best fit for her.
Editors' Choice
→
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire