When season 1 ended on Ash Vs Evil Dead, Ash (Bruce Campbell) made a deal with Ruby (Lucy Lawless) who is a Dark One, one of the writers of the Necronomicon. Ash lets her have the Necronomicon and he and his partners Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) get to live and have a normal life. This, of course, is the worst deal possible as Ruby wants to release all the evil and then control it as well. We then flash to our heroes back in the car on their way to Jacksonville Florida. Season 2 picks up at an unspecified time but not too much long after Season 1. Ash and crew are at a bar partying and working it while chaos is happening around the city (maybe even the world) with mysterious sinkholes being reported. Also elsewhere in the world Ruby doesn't seem to be having a good time, turns out the dark forces won't listen to her anymore and she is running for her life. This causes Ruby to take back her deal and the trio are attacked by 2 Deadites that took over a mother and daughter that were partying with Ash. After gallons of blood being spilled and lots of dismemberment, Ash figures that Ruby is in Elk Grove Michigan and he is gonna kill her.
Que traveling map montage and our heroes make their way to Michigan in no time. During the trip, Kelly checks the news and the sinkhole situation is only getting worse and violent crimes are rising. They make a pit stop at a house that Ash says was his parents as they are dead and has Kelly and Pablo stay in the car. We find out that at least Ash’s dad (Lee Majors) isn't dead and surprised to see him. Pablo and Kelly come running in after hearing Ash’s dad shoot at him. They talk for a bit and then leave making another pit stop at a dinner. There he runs into some people from his past who know of the events of Evil Dead. They all think he’s crazy and a killer, they know him as Ashy Slashy. He does his best to set them straight telling them he’s looking for Ruby and he is going to save the world. They, of course, laugh him out and it cuts to Pablo who has been having weird visions since everything started up again. Kelly snaps him out of it and he proceeds to tell Kelly and Ash about his visions.
Through Pablo’s recent vision, they know Ruby at the crematorium and go in locked and loaded to stop this once and for all. As they enter the trio all get separated and attacked by various evil things released from the book during season 1. Ash eventually finds Ruby and she explains the situation to him as he gets more pissed off. She gets attacked by her demon kids and Ash after some convincing himself goes to save her hacking and slashing away. Pablo and Kelly meet up with Ash and Ruby and through a short talk, they decided to go with Ruby to get the Necronomicon which she hid. Only together can they all stop the hell that is going on now.
This was a very good start to the new season, we got tons of blood and I mean TONS, body parts everywhere and plenty of good and bad jokes to go around. We don't get a lot of action this episode sadly, but what we do get is a lot of backstory for Ash. It’s great that they opened up more about his character and what happened to him after the events of Evil Dead. The movies never talked about his past, but they way they were written it wasn't needed. Now with a show, they have the ability to expand on his character. Another positive was the cameo of Lee Majors as Ash’s dad. I hope we do get to see more of him throughout the season. He was definitely great for some laughs and looks like he could kick some ass if needed.
Another character that could do with an origin story is Ruby, seeing as how for the time being she has joined the trio to stop the evil from taking over. This will be a great way to shake up the chemistry that Ask, Pablo, and Kelly all have from the adventures of last season. If you are a big fan of Lucy Lawless and or Bruce Campbell then you know that when these two are in a show together they can bring out the best of one another. To put it straight, this is going to be a wild ride. I can only hope that is proof of more things to come. Season 1 didn't disappoint, so this season shouldn't either. Season 2 Episode 1 gets a 4.5 out of 5.
Ash vs Evil Dead Premieres Sunday, Oct 2 on Stars at 8 P.M. Eastern. Season 1 is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD.
