'Ash vs Evil Dead' Recap: 'Family'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

'Oh, honey, uh, I don't know how to tell you this, but Ash...he's...he's...ah...he's your-'
'What she's trying to say is, I'm your pop. Father dearest. The old sperm shooter.'
- Candace 'Candy' Barr and Ash

As I recently settled in for a marathon viewing of the Evil Dead saga as a whole, I came to realize something critical about our intrepid hero, in that…Ashley J. Williams has never really grown over the course of the original trilogy. I mean, think about it for a moment. Sure, he knows how to throw down and kick some serious Deadite ass, but past that, he’s still the same man he ever was and well, that’s quite incredible when you consider how much character growth is a critical part of storytelling. Granted, please don’t think this is something that has now soured me on the original trilogy, because it certainly hasn’t, and quite frankly, without Ash’s sheer arrogant bravado, I’m not sure Army of Darkness would have worked in the slightest, but I digress.
 
Because really, the only reason I make mention of this little surprise, is the sheer fact that while he doesn’t grow in the films, he’s certainly starting to grow on the small screen because Ash has become quite the fascinating character over the course of Ash vs Evil Dead. After all, he was quite the reluctant hero in season one, and while he didn’t exactly embrace the role fully until season two, the fact that he did, is a miracle in its own right. Plus, Ash also took the time to confront his past last season and as I settled in to watch last night’s season three premiere of the show, ‘Family’, I was incredibly curious as to how El Jefe was going to develop further as a character.
 
As it turns out, the title of this premiere is precisely how Ash is going to continue to grow since last night, he found out he had a daughter named Brandy, and well…how he came to that discovery is what made this episode completely worthwhile and wonderful. Because last night, Evil made its ‘triumphant’ return to our world in stunning fashion, since the young lady who discovered the Necronomicon at the end of season two hoped to have the book appraised on live television and well, that basically went as expected. But the surprise in this part of the story is the sheer fact that the Evil came for Ash’s daughter, and despite the shock that Ash experienced from learning that he was in fact, a proud poppa, he still did the right thing and stepped in to save her from a fate worse than death.

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​Now, while that plot summary may make it seem as though the show is suddenly cascading into This Is Us territory, have no fear. This is still the Evil Dead franchise through and through, and the scares came hard and fast in this one since everything that went down at Brandy’s school was utterly magnificent thanks to plenty of chilling moments and quality gore, and this episode featured plenty of laughs as well since the jokes were simply on point, so much in fact that I had to put down my glass of water and pause the show to get the laughs out of my system after the whole ‘Candy Barr’ sequence, because I was not expecting any of what it had to offer in the slightest. But while all of the usual staples of this show were a joy to sit through, I really couldn’t help but notice how incredibly different this episode turned out to be.
 
After all, this episode in essence laid out all of its cards on the table, something that was a nice change of pace storytelling wise, since we met Brandy right away and for that matter, it wasted no time in laying out Evil’s plan to conquer mankind in this tale since Ruby set into motion a scheme to rid the world of El Jefe since she’s clearly going to give birth to something that might be able to stand up to him and speaking of Ash, he was a vastly different character in this tale as well. No longer was he haunted by his past, he was beloved and in his element being the center of attention for a change and he’s clearly comfortable in being the Jefe these days since he was cool and collected when the time came to face Evil. But, if there’s one thing that thankfully hasn’t changed about Ash, it’s that his one liners are as magnificent as ever.
 
If anything, all these twists and turns just go to show that the series has finally found its stride in season three and it looks like this go round, it’s going to be a straight up brawl between Ash and the Evil Dead. No more guile, no more elaborate plans, just mano y monster, with some quality character growth thrown in for good measure since Ash is now a dad and it’s going to be up to him to keep his daughter safe and that should make for plenty of laughs, and tender moments since he actually appeared to play the part of dear old dad briefly and well, perhaps the best part about this discovery, is that there is a level of gravitas present when it comes to the Jefe’s quest to save the world. Because now he will fully understand that defeating the Evil, means that his family and so many others get to see another day, and do wonderful things, like slamming margaritas, and toking a little Maui Wowie, as is tradition in the Williams household. Either way, this was a stellar season premiere, and I cannot wait to see what other incredible moments await us as season three of Ash vs Evil Dead rolls on. Until next time.  

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