'Ash vs Evil Dead' Recap: 'The Mettle of Man'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

‘My father always said I ran from my fights, Brandy. I’m not running from this one.’
- Ash Williams 

Here’s the thing. I sat in front of my keyboard, staring blankly at the screen for quite some time before I put any words to digital paper simply because at first…I did not have a clue what to say when it comes to today’s recap. That’s partly due to the fact that the realization washed over me before I began that this would be the last time I would be able to geek out about Ash vs Evil Dead with all of you fine folks, and also because, sometimes it’s tough to talk about the end of the journeys that bring you joy and finding the right words to bid farewell to a franchise that’s been in my life for the past twenty-five years is quite the tall order.
 
I mean hey, do I go all ooey-gooey and talk about my feels in this one? Do I fanboy and let undeserved fury toward STARZ rain down for cancelling this bad boy? Well, in the end, I decided the best way to discuss this wild and phenomenal three-year ride, was to focus on the wonder of this series finale and save the mushy stuff for later because ‘The Mettle of Man’ was one of the finest finales I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Because it was epic, scary, emotional and powerful, and quite frankly, a perfect ending to the Evil Dead franchise as we know it. 
 
As for what made this tale so incredibly epic, well we have the overall plot of this episode to thank for that. Because as it turns out, the resurrection of Kandar the Demon last week, was merely the beginning of everyone’s problems. It turns out that the Evil was everywhere in our world and that gave this episode a true feeling of danger through and through and some damn scary moments as Deadites ran free through the streets of every major city on the planet and well, while that seems like the recipe for a brainless finale, one filled to the brim with only action and adventure, the story found a way to give this ending some serious meaning.
 
After all, I made mention of the fact that this tale was emotional and powerful, and we can thank the incredible interactions from the characters for the misty-eyed moments that came about in this one. I mean come on, Brandy stood up for her father and regarded him with awe for the first time ever, and the two of them even bonded at long last, giving Ash the feeling of family that he’s been missing for the past thirty years and as an added bonus, Pablo and Kelly finally made their relationship about as official as one can at the end of the world, shortly after Pablo rescued her from the Dead Lands, and most importantly of all…this episode featured the moment when Ashley J. Williams finally became a true hero through and through. 

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​In fact, that had to be hands down the most powerful moment of the night. Because we’ve never seen Ash so dedicated to well…anything and his final farewell to Brandy, Pablo and Kelly was pure Hollywood magic and well, I’d say more on that, but I missed a hot second of it because of that stupid…thing…that got in my eye. But all cracks aside, his decision to face the Demon alone gave that final showdown between Ash and Kandar some serious gravity. Because for the first time in his life, the Jefe was fighting Evil to save everyone else instead of his own hide and that’s just magnificent and it brings us to the ending of this episode, something that I’m fairly certain is going to be a polarizing topic amongst the fans for years to come.
 
Because some people hate cliffhangers, and some people believe that Ash should get a happy ending, and this ending is about as close to that as we are ever going to get. Of course, I’m sure you’re asking, John, how the hell can you think that Ash waking up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland equates to a happy ending? And that’s a fair question. But the fact of the matter is, end of the world or not, Ash is finally comfortable in his own skin, he believes in himself, he knows can accomplish wonders, and he gets his freaking hand back…so that’s about as happy and joyous as things are going to get in this universe. If anything, I really respect the boldness of going out on a cliffhanger like that, in part because it pays so much respect to the franchise by giving us the ending that Sam Raimi always envisioned for Army of Darkness, but more so due to the fact that Ash’s saga ends as it began, with uncertainty.
 
However, none of this works without some damn fine acting and we need to take a moment and highlight that in this episode as well, because everyone killed it in this one. Ray Santiago was at his absolute best here as he channeled a level of confidence and heroism from Pablo that we’ve never seen before. And Dana DeLorzeno took Kelly to new levels of bad ass-ery with her performance here and she stole every single scene she was in, and serious kudos need to go to Arielle Carver O’Neill for being the true anchor of this story since her performance gave every important moment serious gravity in this one and of course, Bruce Campbell stole the show with his finest performance of Ash to date, and I blame him for making me mist up because damnit, this was one hell of a curtain call and I cannot thank all of these actors enough for giving us their all over the past three years and making this series a joy to watch.
 
Plus, a serious thank you needs to go out to STARZ as well, and while some of the fans may disagree, none of this would be possible without them and they did give us three wonderful years of this magic. But uh, yeah. That’s it folks. The saga has come to its end and in addition to a quality farewell, this grand finale also gets some serious props for letting us hear Ash say ‘Groovy’ one last time and for slipping Easter Eggs into this tale that serve as a shout out to the proud history of this gory franchise and well, at least we can all take solace in the fact that Ash’s journey hasn’t exactly come to an end since he’s out there in that wasteland somewhere, tearing Evil a new one and enjoying a cold Shemps after spouting a one liner because that’s how Ash rolls. Either way, this really has been one hell of a ride, one that I am going to miss, and I cannot thank Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Arielle Carver-O’Neill, Lucy Lawless, Ted Raimi, Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi and STARZ (and everyone involved with this show) for giving us the best Evil Dead story since Army of Darkness and for cementing Ash’s status as the King of horror. Hail to the King, baby.   

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