Ash vs. Evil Dead - Books From Beyond - Review: "The Mouse Demon"

We’ve all been waiting for Lucy Lawless’ Ruby to make her appearance on the regular story canvas. She returns in style to the Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem Dies irae, Libera me”. Which, Google Translate tells me is Latin for “The Day of Wrath, Deliver Me.” Appropriate for her entrance and the show.

Ruby is looking for Ash. Her interrogation of the Deadite version of Kelly’s father made for an awesome introduction of the character. Is it bad that watching her flick the fork made giggle? We’re reminded that Deadites don’t do silver. But we don’t know whether the Deadite told Ruby what she wanted to know. I re-watched that scene because, when they opened the book, it seemed as though Ruby sensed it. I was left wondering if that was the case or did the Deadite ultimately tell her where Ash was. Hopefully, I’ll get my answer next week.

Ash is still on his quest to translate the book. He and his trusty sidekicks arrive at the bookstore owned by, Lionel Hawkins, the man who told Ash he could translate the book. Turns out the guy can translate the book; the problem is he can’t find the spell to put the genie back in the bottle. Instead he finds a riddle: “The annulment lies inside the origin of the man.” I think we can agree that that’s a wee bit too cerebral for our Ash.

I love the FX used as Lionel tells Pablo what the book is. The expression on Pablo’s face as Ash asks about someone reading from the book by mistake indicates that he has finally concluded which side of the ‘someone very evil’ or ‘someone very stupid’ equation Ash is on.

Pablo also learns that he should be careful what he mumbles when he’s thinking out loud. His ‘wish we could summon an answer’ is seen by Ash as a genius idea. They’ll summon a wimpy little demon and ask it how to put the evil back in the book. Yup. That’s our Ash. Thinking things through. Pablo’s fairly certain this is one of the worst ideas in the history of ideas. I can’t fault Pablo’s logic.

Lionel, who has been waiting his entire life to commune with evil, is all for going ahead. I was extremely dubious when he started shaking the incense while inside the summoning circle. Luckily he stepped out before he started the spell. Suggestion to all: When summoning a demon book mark the banishing spell before you start the summoning, not after you’ve decided the demon needs to go.

Oh my gosh, the demon design and FXs were AWESOME! (I’m going to stop there or else I’ll spend 10 or 15 paragraphs burbling about how well done that was.)

I’ve seen a few comments by people who do not like Amanda. This week I join you. Really? You step into a room and start shooting BEFORE you find out what’s going on? Really? How stupid are you? Oh, right, stupid enough to start shooting at the demon. Sigh. Fine, I’ll admit that shooting at the Deadite, in the pilot, worked, so maybe that wasn’t a completely stupid idea, but sheesh her untimely shot caused Ash to ruin the protective circle.

Kelly, however, may go down as the genius of this team. She smacks the demon with the book seemingly returning him to Hell.

The lesson of the episode? Cops don’t help.

Next stop: Pablo’s uncle the Brujo.

I really like the pacing they’re maintaining, although I do find myself wishing that the tertiary characters (Amanda and Ruby) had more than a minute on screen. It feels like this is a temporary situation, but hurry up already.

The show is still going strong. What elements are you guys especially enjoying? What were not your favorite elements?

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now.

Recent Reviews (All Reviews)