[rating=9.00] “Brujo”
Ash vs. Evil Dead has, somehow, kept getting better. The risk that this sequel to the Evil Dead trilogy would merely be a nostalgia romp was always there, but they’ve avoided falling into that trap with remarkable writing and that has, so far, kept things fresh. Last night’s episode, “Brujo”, gave us our clearest tie-ins to the original movies to date (well, outside Ash and, you know, general concept) and it did it without succumbing to winks and nods. Instead, they have expanded upon the mythos in meaningful ways, furthering the plot of the series while deepening the mysteries and meaning behind the original movies.
As ever, the episode begins immediately where the last one ended. Detective Fisher is still tied up in Books from Behind as deadite Lionel begins to torment her. She’s able to grab her gun but before she can do anything with it, Lionel forces her to put it to her own head, taunting her before he murders her. As expected, in comes Ruby to save the day. Lionel tells her that “we know who you are” before Ruby finishes him off, and the two ladies team up in their quest to find Ash.
But who is Ruby? So far, that’s been one of the most intriguing mysteries of the show. We finally got some answers last night, but did we get the full story? Ruby recounts a story to Fisher, about her older sister taking a few friends to her parents’ cabin one weekend. There, her parents and her friends all met their doom, presumably at the hands of one man: Ash Williams. As we know, she’s got the story wrong. It was, in fact, her parents who first unleashed the deadites upon the world, killing all of Ash’s friends before Ash was able to stop the evil. But at least we know her motivations—some of them, anyway. I’m still not convinced she’s telling the whole truth and that she might have more to do with this current outbreak of deadites than she’s letting on.
Also interesting: Ash’s right hand is still around and kicking, and still possessed by the evil spirits that forced Ash to cut it off back in Evil Dead 2. With Ash being more active these days, his hand is livening up as well, and Ruby is using that as a sort of tracking device. This could get interesting.
Meanwhile, Ash, Pablo, and Kelly are on their way to the brujo’s (male witch) house and being chased by a demonic cloud which had attacked Value-Stop back in episode one. The team are barely able to outrun it, making it onto brujo’s property, which is guarded against evil, before it finally catches up. Everything seems to be going well, except Kelly isn’t feeling well. She chocks it up to receiving a minor concussion after her fight with Eligos last episode.
Brujo and Ash meet and brujo is unimpressed, though he does see a flicker of a jefe inside of him. It’s dim, he says, but it could stoked. Ash might, in fact, be El Jefe. Kelly passes out while looking at a statue, which serves as a sort of scarecrow for evil, and Brujo tells Pablo to take care of her while he and Ash go inside.
Pablo enlists Kelly into a project he has in mind. Using old electronics, Pablo wants to make Ash a new hand since he lost “woody” at the book store. Kelly still isn’t feeling well, and she gets worse until she has to puke. Turns out, she doesn’t have a concussion. If you’re like me, you might have thought the defeat of Eligos last episode—which came at the hands of Kelly hitting him upside the head with the Necronomicon—was a bit too simple. Well, as it turns out, Eligos has not been defeated. Rather, he has possessed Kelly, which we know when Kelly looks into a mirror and we see a reflection of the demon looking back at us. Kelly/Eligos (Kelligos? Yeah, let’s go with that…) attacks Pablo and seeks out Ash.
Ash, however, is in the midst of tripping balls. As part of his plan to awaken Ash’s inner Jefe, the brujo has sent Ash on an ayahuasca induced spirit quest. This leads to some of the best moments on the series so far. At first, Ash finds himself outside the cabin, with faceless bodies (presumably those of his friends from the movies) tormenting him as his eyes are shown shut. He realizes, however, that this trip is his, and he soon takes control. Under the guidance of brujo, he finds his spiritual center: Jacksonville, Florida, where he had originally planned to take Linda before going to the cabin.
It’s there he meets his spirit animal, Eli his pet iguana, looking equally creepy and hilarious with his mouth and teeth. Eli attempts to guide Ash through his trip, but his peacefulness is disrupted by an invasion by Eligos. Back in the real world, Kelligos is attacking a passed out Ash and using his bizarre mind powers to enter into the trip. He takes Ash first to the cabin and the back to Books from Beyond, where he realizes, once more, this is his trip and begins to fight back.
In the real world, this looks remarkably like a stoned-out Ash strangling Kelly. Brujo and Pablo try to stop Ash but nothing is working. Things aren’t looking good for Kelly but then Pablo breaks out his go to maneuver, hitting Ash upside the head with something heavy. Ash falls to the ground while Kelly feigns thanks, Brujo and Pablo awaken ash as Kelligos’ eyes turn black, and she smiles evilly.
The absolute worst part of this series, as a commenter last week pointed out, is that the episode are only 30 minutes long. Every episode seems to end just as they’re getting great, which, I suppose, is the point. After all, it keeps us coming back for me week after week. Honestly, though, that’s my only complaint. Despite their short lengths, each episode is doing a lot and maintaining equal parts scariness and hilarity, finding the perfect balance that the original movies perfected way back when.
And we still haven’t even hit the halfway point. God, Netflix has runined me. This waiting a week between episodes bullshit is really starting to try my patience. I want, nay, need it all now. Which speaks wonders towards what the show is accomplishing and what it stands to accomplish as it progresses. Truly, this is the perfect follow up, and I can’t wait to see where they take us from here.
