Ash vs Evil Dead - Ashes to Ashes - Review: "You Never Split Up!"

Happy New Year. Hope everyone had a great set of holidays.

In this episode, Ash returns to the cabin on his own ready to battle his, literal, demons. He suits up and marches in. As we all pretty much expected, Pablo, Kelly and Amanda followed him. However, the three split up leaving Amanda to find him first.

Amanda agrees to help Ash bury The Book in the basement under the cabin. Unfortunately, they can’t get the door open without a crowbar. Ash heads to the workshed out back to get it. This is where they make their first big mistake of the episode. They split up. Never good. And yes, it does make it easier for The Evil to attack them.

Ash heads into the workshed. Where did that eerie singing coming from? That was the only thing into the episode that actually creeped me out. Was that the skull in the vice or soundtrack singing? I’m not even going to discus the centipede crawling in and out of the skull. Ash finds the crowbar then tries to leave and, of course, can’t. I think we all saw that coming. What I didn’t see coming was the lover’s quarrel between Ash and the head of his former girlfriend. I was expecting a walking, fighting Deadite to attack him. Instead he’s attacked by saw blades and loses his cool new hand.

Amanda, meanwhile, contends with, what she soon discovers is an evil cloned Ash. I loved Clone Ash trying to sound reasonable. ‘Maybe I grew another hand or maybe my hand grew another me. What’s the big deal?’ She, wisely, rejects him and ends up in a fight for her life, which she loses. I really didn’t expect them to kill off Amanda. I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Kelly and Pablo are lost and run into three strangers wandering the woods. Kelly and Pablo’s request for directions back to the cabin freaked the strangers out. The guy’s subtle move to hide his expensive compass/watch made me smile. My first thought is that this a trap set up by The Evil. I was certain that they were Deadites in disguise. I kept waiting on them to attack. I eventually realized that these three campers are cannon fodder. Cannon fodder does not fare well in this series.

We get our first indication that Kelly has proprietary feelings toward Pablo. When the cute blonde hiker shows some interest in Pablo, Kelly tells her he’s already got a girlfriend. She may not be willing to enter into a romantic relationship with Pablo herself, but she’s not willing to allow anyone else have him just yet.

Kelly and Pablo arrive at the cabin and find Ash standing over Amanda’s dead body. At least they stopped to ask what was going on rather than just shooting Ash at first sight. Ash and Clone Ash get into the kind of fight only this show could sell.

I was beginning to get on board with the idea of Ash and Amanda as a couple, so I’m a little disappointed that she’s not going to be around for the second season. That said, this was a pretty good episode, but for some reason it didn’t really grab me. I think it’s because I missed the character relationship element. Kelly’s jealousy was a welcome facet to the story, but it wasn’t enough for me. Ultimately, it’s okay, because this episode is basically the setup for the climax of the season. And what a set up it is.

What did you think of the episode? How do you feel about Amanda being killed off?

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.

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