The first installment of the new series Ash vs Evil Dead aired on Halloween 2015 on Starz and if you were a fan of the original Evil Dead films, the first episode did not disappoint. The show starts off with Ash (Bruce Campbell) making a love connection, so to speak, at the local bar with the lady turning into a deadite in the middle of their… what have you. He quickly returns home to check and see if something has happened to the Necronomicon and, in typical Ash fashion, he discovers that he has said the words to release the deadites.
In the scene following the title screen the audience is introduced to a new character in the franchise named Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones). Amanda’s introductory scene also brought on the first real scare of the show. I only say this because the series had seemed to make a more comedic turn and it was nice to see the juxtaposition between the two genres. Amanda is a state police officer and she and her partner are called out to a house where they encounter deadites.
Amanda’s partner is killed and she suffers some injuries but comes out of the ordeal pretty much okay. During the fight with the deadites, they claim to know who Amanda is, leading her to wonder what they are talking about and question the whole event. Later on, Amanda is in a diner coping with what had happened to her when she meets Ruby Knowby, played by Lucy Lawless, who tells her that sometimes things are exactly as they seem to be.
The next day Ash has decided to run from the deadites as he’s tired of fighting them. He shows up at Value Mart to get his last paycheck before cutting town, bu his boss tells him that he has to finish the day in order to get paid. Ash begins to bumble around in the store, breaking lights, when he’s attacked by a possessed doll and is saved by Pablo (Ray Santiago), his co-worker. Pablo looks up to Ash and thinks that he should stand up against the deadites, but Ash leaves the store so he can get out of town quickly.
Pablo and the girl he has a crush on, Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo), follow Ash to his home after Kelly’s father is attacked and they decide to get help from Ash. While inside the motorhome they are attacked by more deadites and Ash, realizing that he is needed to save mankind, kills them and decides to stay and fight.
Overall it was a fun, very well put together first episode. Bruce Campbell was superb with his over-the-top portrayal of the womanizing man with delusions of grandeur. It was also nice that Sam Raimi brought the show back to its roots and added some real scares into it. It also looks like Ash is not by himself in the series; he has help from Pablo and Kelly not to mention Amanda, whom the deadites seem to have an interest in, and Ruby whose role has not yet been defined. Ash vs Evil Dead should be an entertaining, horror comedy series that I’ll be looking forward to every week.
