'Ash vs Evil Dead' Recap: 'Rifting Apart'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

'Pablo, I lost my daughter on my watch. I gotta do something.' 
- Ash

Anyone who has ever taken the time to tell you that they haven’t thought about just how far they would go to protect their family, is either bending the truth a little bit, or they simply don’t like their family. Because those that we love mean the world to us, and we would in fact do anything and everything to see them safe and oddly enough, it’s something that came up during last night’s episode of Ash vs Evil Dead, since ‘Rifting Apart’ picked up immediately after last week’s blood bath, with the Jefe, reeling from the loss of his daughter.
 
In fact, while we’ve seen Ash rattled by the death of his family members before, we’ve never seen him utterly shattered by that kind of pain, until now that is. Because mankind’s savior was devastated by the loss of Brandy, and well, a quick chat with Pablo allowed for him to realize that the Rift that’s suddenly come into his life, might be the answer to his problem, if he could figure out how to cross over to the other side to rescue his daughter and of course, Pablo was more than happy to help him make that happen.
 
Which meant that Ash had to steal Brandy’s body, and he did so without a second thought, leading to more tender moments between father and daughter before arriving at the store, wherein Pablo and Ash came to realize they had to find a less risky way to send the Jefe through the Rift so that he wouldn’t come back as some kind of monster. So, in order to cross to the other side properly, Ash had to die and in a mostly brave-ish fashion Ash agreed to the plan he and Pablo hammered out on the fly and let the Kandardian Dagger sink through his heart, sending him into that great and surprisingly awful beyond.
 
Because the Dead Lands are in fact a place of limbo, where those who arrive wait for a dark and sinister being to drag their soul into the depths of Hell and while in there, Brandy came to find that Dalton and Kelly’s souls were intact and on the run in this disgustingly twisted place and unfortunately for the trio, it seemed as though there was going to be no way out of the Rift, and all they could do was sit back and try to stay out of the creature’s grasp for as long as supernaturally possible. That is until, the Jefe showed up. Because the plan was to have Ash bring them back to the Hardware Store in this place, and have Pablo open up the Rift and bring them back through.

---

The slight problem with that plan however, is that a mix up with the body bags let a Deadite loose in the store, meaning that Pablo had to put the monster down before saving the day, and to complicate matters further; the Darkness found Ash and his friends on the other side. Which led to Dalton offering up his own soul for their protection and thanks to his sacrifice, and an assist from the Delta of the Dead Lands, the group was able to get to the basement and wait for help, which El Brujo Especial was happy to supply with them with after he put down the Deadite.
 
But, while that sounds like a happy-ish ending, one cannot forget that Kelly is unable to escape this place because of the fact that Kaya is inhabiting her body and to make matters worse, Ruby has the last Knight of Sumeria and she will apparently help Ruby with her plans to take over the world whether she likes it or not and well, when all is said and done, holy cow was this episode freakin’ awesome. It simply moved at a breakneck pace, and it was filled to the brim with incredible moments and for a hot minute there, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that anyone was going to make it back to our world, because the Evil is strong in the Dead Lands.
 
But, all darker plot points aside in this episode, the bright spots came about from the sheer fact that there was heroism abound in this one. After all, Dalton finally got a proper ending, rather than going out like a chump and let’s be honest…this was the most heroic thing that Ashley Joanna Williams has ever done. He was…mostly fearless in going after his family on the other side, and it was truly special to see everyone rally around him and his plan. It just goes to show how much Ash has grown over the past three years, and how confident he’s become in squaring off against the Evil. 
 
Which is a good thing, because he’s going to need that confidence in the days to come. Because it’s obvious that Ruby is going to stop at nothing to get what she wants and really, that’s what I loved the most about this episode. The fact that the tension is rising as a grand showdown between Evil and the Jefe draws closer and man, I can’t wait to tune in next week to see if the Ghostbeaters figure out how to rescue Kelly and to learn exactly what the hell Ruby is up to now, as we barrel toward the season three finale. Until next time.  

---