Ash vs Evil Dead - Last Call - Review: "Stealing is Bad"

In a solid quest to remain one of my favorite mind-bending shows, this week’s episode opens with a montage, covered by The Stylistics’ - “Only You”, that gives us a brief history of Ash’s “romance” with The Delta. If I’d sat down and made a list of how I expected the quest to rescue The Delta would be handled, this episode would have been no where on the list.

The way this creative team solves story problems is quickly becoming the most enjoyable element of this second season. This genre is one that contains a lot of lazy work. Generally, you just get the same movie over and over with the only people trying to top their competitors being the FX people. But these writers have been looking at their stories with an eye for doing something different across the board.

The kids who stole the Delta pick up some friends and start partying. This sequence gave me several things I expected and one I did not. I knew one of these kids was going to find the book and read from it. I knew all or most were going to die. I knew Amber was going to become a Deadite and that Tyler’s BJ was not going to be the fun he expected. I did NOT expect The Delta, itself, to punish the kids for stealing it from Ash. That was just gloriously fun. My favorite was the hubcap kill.

I loved Ash’s logic for throwing the party instead of running around looking for The Delta and the Necronomicon. All he has to do is stay on one place and it will find him because he “can’t fart without tripping over that thing.” This most astonishing thing about this is that for once Ash had a plan that worked. (not the way he expected but it worked)

After downing a glass of Pink Fuck, and an unwelcome compliment from Pablo, Kelly finds herself a bit depressed about her life. However, it doesn’t stop her from asking Ruby the question no one else has asked. Given that Ruby is an immortal ass kicker, why does she need Ash’s help. Ruby lays a ridiculous line on Kelly that Kelly buys. (Kelly has had a LOT of booze and ketamine, so I’ll give her that one.) So Kelly decides to join Ruby in hunting down her children and killing them before they can summon Baal.

The party is a huge success. I think, in terms of getting the car thieves to show up, it would have worked except that they couldn’t attend, because The Delta was hunting them down and killing them. So, Ash and his father bond as only these guys could.

They challenge each other on the mechanical bull. The one disappointment of the episode for me was that they didn’t bother to pad Lee Majors’ stunt double here. The moment the challenge was accepted, I knew Brock was going to win. Brock's prize is Amber, the Deadite. They head off to the men's room for a little privacy.

Brock finally lets it be known that his real problem with his son isn’t that Ash took off thirty years ago, it’s that he believe Ash killed his sister. Ash is so hurt by this that, when he realizes Amber is a Deadite, he decides to drink rather than rescue. After one of Pablo’s best pep talks, Ash finally decides to rescue his father.

The moment we met Brock I knew that he’d learn the truth about his son via a personal rescue and, really, I should have known that the moment Brock knew the truth and recognized Ash as a hero he’d end up dead. But it was Lee Majors, he had to be on for the entire season right? Wrong! I am so very sad to see him go.

This was an awesome episode. I have to say that the creative team putting together season 2 is exceeding their goal of putting out a product that’s better than season 1. Setting this season in Ash’s hometown has given them a chance to make Ash a much more 3 dimensional character. It has also allowed them to get more story into each episode and do more than just the big action sequences.

Random:

• They actually displayed the Pink Fuck recipe on screen long enough for us to grab it. How many people are planning to mix up a ketamine-free batch?
• Can’t believe Kelly fell for the ‘are you chicken?’ argument to try the stuff.
• Does anyone else think the Sheriff’s daughter is actually Ash’s daughter?
• Writing “Tools Not Drugs” on the side of your drug container will NOT fool the cops.

• The flames under the Delta looked Awesome.
• I really wish they’d padded Majors’ stunt double.
• What was the secret Brock was going to tell Ash. Was it that Ash’s mother didn’t abandon them, she died?

What did you think about the episode?

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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