Ash vs Evil Dead - Delusion - Review: "Jefe?"

This type of episode frequently tries to convince the audience that the main character’s time in the mental hospital is real and the rest of the time on the show was a delusion. I’m glad they didn’t try to do that here.

Baal’s a tricky demon; he replaced the chainsaw with a puppet! Ashy Slashy spelled out Baal’s plan for Ash; get him to get rid of the Necronomicon. In order for this plan to work, though, Ash has to believe the illusion. He has to believe he’s insane.

I loved some of the other touches that we got to enjoy because we weren’t supposed to believe the illusion. The blood splatter on the wall when Ash threw the puppet against the wall (the show prides itself on the blood it uses, so they had to get it in somewhere.) Ash’s walk down the hall when his arm went through the wall looked really cool. Baal has to push Ash to the breaking point.

When Ash finds Kelly in the asylum, she’s in worse shape than Ash. Did a rescue attempt go wrong leaving her stark raving mad, or is this just another part of the initial illusion?

When we saw Chet being electrocuted, it became clear that there had not yet been any rescue attempt (or more accurately that no one had yet managed to find a way into whatever spell Baal has Ash under) and all of Ash’s cohorts (Ruby, Kelly, and Pablo) are part of the delusion.

Ash decides to do what he does best and cause a little mayhem. Pablo, the orderly, beats the crap out of Ash. When Ashy Slashy wakes Ash up, Ash realizes he has a card key. He decides to make his escape.

Being the loyal guy he is, he breaks Kelly out with him. Kelly kills Pablo when he tries to stop him. Kelly explains that Pablo was actually named Reg and was a demon.

They argue and Ash suddenly finds himself standing over the bodies of Pablo and Kelly and Ashy Slashy has Kelly’s jaw bone in his mouth.

Killing his two closest friends is nearly the final straw. He continues to fight it as he watches, what’s supposed to be himself, killing Kelly and Pablo. He continues to remind himself that the Ash on the TV screen is not him.

Linda stops in to visit, something she says she’s been doing for 30 years, which seems to throw him. But when he sees the Delta pull up and three shadowy figures climb out, it seems to mean something to Ash that I couldn’t quite figure out. After he sees the Delta, he says good-bye to Linda and confesses to all of the murders.

Baal then sends him out to find the Necronomicon to destroy it. Ash has fully signed on to that task. The one hope we have is the “sketch” of Pablo that asks, “Jefe?”, just before credits roll. I’m hoping this means Pablo and the gang arrived for the rescue.

I’m kind of surprised Ash held on for as long as he did. He’s never been too sane. Baal’s plan was rather clever and made absolute sense if you consider how Ruby described Baal’s powers.

It was another great episode in a season that has improved so much on the first season. What did you guys think of this episode?