Ash vs Evil Dead Season 1 Episode 1 "El Jefe" - Recap and Review

The long-awaited sequel to the classic Evil Dead movies Ash vs Evil Dead is finally here. Yes I am ignoring the unnecessarily gory 2013 movie that only retained the basics of the original (the cabin settings, deadites, youngsters etc..) while completely sacrificing the fun and the spirit that underscored Sam Raimi's timeless and seminal movies.

It has been 30 years since Ashley “Ash” J. Williams (Bruce Campbell) escaped from the nightmare he encountered in the woods. He is living a lonely existence in a trailer in Mossy Haven Trailer Park. His only (non-human) companion is Eli, a pet lizard.

He works at ValueStop, a local store and his waywardness doesn't make him a favorite with his boss, Mr. Roper (Damien Garvey). Ash does have an admirer in the wide-eyed Pablo Simon Bolivar (Ray Santiago).

In his free time, Ash tries to pick up random women at the local bar. He is not above fabricating stories to explain some kind of heroic explanation for losing his hand. One of them is saving a 8 yr old boy from the tracks. Bruce Campbell is his usual self in these scenes and he hasn't lost a bit of his charm.

In one such drug infused encounter with a lady at his trailer, Ash unintentionally releases the deadites (again) by reciting the words from the Naturom Demonto/Necromonicon also known as “Book of the Dead”. Soon he starts seeing deadites everywhere.

His fear of deadites is not completely unfound. When local cops, Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones) and John Carson (Mike Edward) arrive to investigate reports of a woman screaming insider her house, they are attacked by a deadite. Though they manage to kill her, Carson also becomes one and Amanda has to shoot him dead to escape with her life.

Now, Amanda faces an Internal Affairs homicide inquest and a possible psych evaluation.

Ash also feels the evil growing all around him. Even his friendly neighbourhood (no pun intended) lady, Vivian Johnson (Sian Davis) seems to be a deadite waiting to kill him. Ash has seen enough and decides to leave town as soon as possible.

When he arrives at his store to get his paycheck, he is rebuked by Mr. Roper. But it is not a complete waste of time, as he comes across a new employee. This employee is an attractive young lady, Kelly Maxwell (Dana DeLorenzo). Ash's usual tricks do not work on Kelly and she is the second store employee to put him in his place.

Ash's troubles are far from over at the store. He is attacked by a doll. This is similar to the scene in Army of Darkness, when Ash is attacked by three miniature versions of himself. Ash is rescued by Pablo. Pablo believes that Ash is “El Jefe” i.e. the person destined to save humanity from the oncoming deadite apocalypse. Pablo's uncle is a shaman and happens to be the source of this prediction.

Ash does not share Pablo's beliefs and heads back to his trailer. Kelly has her own share of troubles. Her mother, who died six months back, has come back from the grave. Kelly's Father (Phil Peleton) is in mortal danger and Kelly is desperate to save his life.

The climactic fight takes place at Ash's trailer. Pablo takes Kelly to meet Ash and hopefully get him to help them. The trio face off against not one but two deadites: Vivian and the cleaner who works nearby.

This is one of the most enjoyable episodes I have seen in quite some time. The casting is top notch. Bruce Campbell can probably portray this character in his sleep and it shows. He slips back effortlessly into the role that has since become a genre legend.

Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo are good. The people who make the best impressions are Jill Marie Jones as Amanda Fisher and Damien Garvey as Mr. Roper. Both these characters undergo transformation through the course of the episode.

Amanda's encounter with the deadite is the highlight of this episode. This is vintage Sam Raimi (he directed this episode). All his trademarks are there: the legendary Evil Dead tracking shot, genuine horror et al.

Damien is makes a charismatic Mr. Roper. He is a classic horror movie character and he should make a great deadite in the upcoming episodes.

Lucy Lawless makes her entry as Ruby and promptly disappears. She informs Jill that she is not hallucinating and that she is very right in her misgivings. No doubt, we will see more of Ruby as the series progresses.

I also liked the scene at the store in which Ash recalls the events of the first Evil Dead movie. That part was shot beautifully and credit to Sam Raimi and the cinematographer.

In addition to horror, the episode also features some nice suspense building scenes. The scene at the trailer park (featuring Ash and Vivian) as well as the scene shot outside ValueStop stand out in this regard.

This is Classic Sam Raimi. Classy Combination of Horror and Humor. In these days of torture porn, this is how horror is done. Learn from the Master.

Must watch for fans of Evil Dead/Horror movies.

Recommended watch to fans of Horror movie genre.

Click on the link above to buy Ash vs Evil Dead Season 1

Click here to read all my posts related to Horror.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by email or RSS by clicking here.

Image Sources: Renaissance Pictures, Starz Entertainment, LLC

You might also like:

Evil Dead (2013)

World War Z (2013)

The Flash Season 2 Episode 5 "The Darkness and the Light" - Recap and Review

In the previous episode, we saw that it was Dr Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) from Earth 2 who rescued Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) from a certain death at the hands of the gigantic King Shark.

The opening scene is set in Earth 2 about 8 months ago. Dr Wells is introducing his latest innovation in the series of Metahuman Awareness Apps. This one is in the form of a watch that alerts the nearby presence of a meta-human.

Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears) stops by and makes his displeasure known. He considers Dr Wells as being responsible for the presence of meta-humans on Earth-2 to begin with. Harrison Well's daughter, Jesse Wells (Violett Beane) is also present.

In our present world, everyone is taken aback by the sudden re-appearance of Dr Harrison Wells. Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) even fires at Dr Wells, leading the Flash to pull a Superman and stop the bullets.

Meanwhile, Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) tries to pick up Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renee) to teach Barry the necessary skills of the game. Kendra Saunders is Hawkgirl in Legends of Tomorrow, the upcoming series that brings together the characters from both Arrow and The Flash. Cisco fails miserably in his first attempt.

The villain-of-the-week sent by Zoom to kill Flash is Dr Light (Malese Jow). When the Flash encounters the supervillain, he is shocked to realize that she is the alternate version of Linda Park, whom Barry dated briefly in the previous season. Taking advantage of the Flash's indecisiveness, Dr Light blinds him.

Barry's temporary blindness does not stop him from going on a date with Patty Spivot (Shantel VanSanten). This was a genuinely hilarious sequence and due credit to Grant Gustin for pulling this off so nicely.

Just about the same time, Jay Garrick and Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) keep an eye on Linda Park. They take this measure since Zoom's previous assassins have murdered their doppelgangers on our Earth.

Click on the link below to buy your copy:

Just as they are about to get intimate, Dr Light appears and is about to kill Linda. Iris West (Candice Patton) shoots off Dr Light's helmet. The supervillain does kill an innocent bystander before fleeing the scene.

Once Flash recovers from the loss of his sight, Dr Harrison Wells recommends that Flash capture Dr Light in order to bring Zoom to this Earth. Wells has already deduced (using his app) that Cisco himself has developed superpowers. He forces Cisco to use his powers on Dr Light's helmet and he is able to find out her location in the third attempt. Flash creates a “Speed Mirage” to trick Dr Light and subdues her. 

This is not the first time that the show writers have used Cisco's new found powers to locate a hostage/criminal. It stuck me that he is the equivalent of “Cerebro”, the device used by Professor Charles Xavier to track down mutants.

In the closing scenes, Cisco, Barry and Caitlin frequent the same store they had done earlier. This time, Kendra herself obligingly provides her phone number to Cisco. She explains that she is new to the city and is apprehensive of all the meta-humans running around.

Cisco celebrates his success with Barry and Caitlin. Since he too has meta-human powers now, Cisco looks for a name. Caitling suggests “Vibe” and Cisco is taken up with it. Unknown to them, Dr Harrison Wells is spying on them. 

The final scene is again set in Earth 2. Zoom (voiced by Tony Todd) is forcibly keeping Wells' daughter, Jesse as his hostage.

This was an OK episode. The absence of Victor Garber's Dr. Martin Stein was strongly felt. On top of that, this alternate version of Harrison Wells is a bit gruff and less humorous. Same goes for Dr Light. Perhaps, the show writers want to differentiate between the two alternate version of characters this way.

The casting of Tony Todd as the voice of Zoom is promising. Tony Todd is a terrific actor especially in the horror genre. He would definitely lend the necessary gravitas and an edge to Zoom's voice.

Yet another enjoyable aspect of the episode was the reference to Atlantis. Jay Garrick mentions that he has a friend (presumably Aquaman) from Atlantis and that on Earth 2 Atlantis is above water.

Speaking of Jay Garrick, he is apprehensive about Flash facing the Zoom and takes his leave. When Caitlin wonders aloud later if she will ever Jay again, Barry replies that as a true hero, Jay would appear at the right time.

The preview for the next episode indicates that Zoom will be paying a visit to our Earth. Hopefully, that episode will pick up the steam.

Recommended watch to fans of The Flash/DC Comics.

Click here to read all my posts related to DC Comics.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by email or RSS by clicking here.

Image Sources: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, The CW Television Network

You might also like:

"Escape from Earth-2" - Review

"Welcome to Earth-2" - Review