Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3 Episode 9
I found out yesterday that Ash vs Evil Dead has been canceled by Starz. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper. I don’t even own any camping equipment. But that’s neither here nor there. What I’m saying is this: I’m writing a review of the next-to-last episode of a television series which felt too good to be true, one that I’ve been covering since it first premiered around Halloween in 2015. It wasn’t perfect all the time, but it was addictive, entertaining, and consistently hilarious. Oh yeah, there may have been some gore thrown in there too. What more can you ask for in a TV show? (Pipe down. That was rhetorical.) The same can be said about season three in general, so much so that I wish we had five more episodes to help wrap things up. But no, the extra screen time would have slowed everything down and taken away the manic charm this gloriously overstuffed year of television has. “Judgement Day” finds our heroes tackling the problem of Kelly’s entrapment within the Rift head-on, as well as Ruby’s convoluted plans for doing something naughty with the Necronomicon. I can’t say that her plans have made much sense over the course of this year, because she’s been juggling so many different balls – er, elements that have been fun to watch fly around in the air, but didn’t seem to amount to more than episodic attempts at f*cking with Ash and his kids. Which I didn’t mind at all, I’m just eager to sit down at some point in the near future and binge through this year again as one complete experience and pay closer attention to what’s being said. Perhaps even take notes. Hey, it’s complicated. Brandy’s character development has been a slow-burn all season, and she has mostly been motivated by figuring out whether she should trust her new father or not, although he continues to embarrass and traumatize her in each episode. This sequence where she fights the little gremlin is a terrific callback to Evil Dead II, if not a way to mark that she is now officially Ashy Slashy’s daughter, and she is now officially a part of his world. This is her baptism in blood. Pablo continues his evolution into Brujo Especiale and helps speed up the plot along the way, connecting with the Necronomicon to spy on what’s going on in Ruby’s lair and, later, to help Brandy and himself catch up with Ash. Pablo’s maturation into a spiritual warrior is a fitting way to see off his character, so if we have to say goodbye to him now, it should be in this way. Otherwise, nobody would have a truly clear and distinct character arc on this show. When our heroes reunite in the end in the center of downtown Elk Grove, the town has been forced into a state of martial law because of how violent everything has gotten. It’s too bad we didn’t have time to see any of this happen in the episode, and it feels like the twist came out of nowhere at the 11th hour. But I don’t care much, because the set pieces in the finale must be incredible, if the giant hand that flew up out of the earth is any indication. Bring on the big apocalypse, boys! The Top 5 Highlights of “Judgement Day” are…
- The stakes. Did I mention they were high?
- Ruby’s demise. She was a real biotch this season. But a necessary one.
- Brandy’s Deadite (?) kill. Can we call it “Deadite Mite”?
- Ash Williams. We’re going to miss you. See you next week for the series finale.
