"Ash vs. Evil Dead" Recap: "Books From Beyond"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

"All right look, if I get this done quick enough, we might have time to stop for churros. And look, that's not a racist thing, Pablo, that's just a great dessert."
"Okay. You know I'm not Mexican, right?"
"That's the spirit."
- Ash and Pablo

Ooooooh momma, I've been a fan of the Evil Dead franchise for a crazy long time and after all these years, a big piece of the mythos that I would venture to say everyone wanted to know about but really didn't worry about because of how awesome everything else in the franchise turned out to be...was revealed to all of us last night on Ash vs. Evil Dead.

In fact this week's story, "Books From Beyond" got a lot of things right. Not only did the scares return that were a little less prominent in episode two, this tale managed to set up the story for the rest of the season by bringing forth some important moments and some important questions and that penultimate revelation that I eluded to? Well after all these years, we finally learned everything about the Necronomicon's back story and it was absolutely glorious. 

The grand knowledge that we have been waiting for regarding this book came to fruition at last as we finally reached Books From Beyond, the bookstore that Ash has been trying to get the Necronomicon to since the series premiere before being blindsided by evil and some garbage cooking from Kelly's Deadite mom. It was here where the store's proprietor, a strange little man named Lionel revealed the book's grand secrets to all of us. Turns out that the book goes beyond merely being able to summon evil, it is an actual gateway to Hell and was created by a group of half human/half demon known as the Dark Ones to link our world to the Underworld so they could open portals and in essence use the book as a weapon against humanity.

I for one...love this backstory for the book. We always knew it was evil and that it brought forth horrible things, but to know now that there was at some point a group of evil human/demon hybrids, hellbent on destroying our world somehow adds a whole new level to the story. Ash in fact looks like a bigger hero than he ever has before thanks to this. Well, actually, maybe I shouldn't go that far just yet...seeing as to how his plan to summon a tiny demon to commune with and figure out how to put the evil back where it belongs basically backfires in incredible fashion when Amanda, who was also at the bookstore continuing her independent investigation on the whole mess startled Ash and he set the demon free.

Of course Ash gets out of the mess with the help of his friends, but as I mentioned earlier, this episode set up a lot of questions and no doubt future plot points and really all of them revolved around Lucy Lawless' mystery character. We learned tonight that she's been searching for the book for quite some time, she happens to have the Kandarian Dagger from Evil Dead II and she seems to be in tune with the book. All of this leaves me wondering, why is she also hunting for the book, how is she tied to it and how does she know about Ash? Her story should be equally as intriguing as the Necronomicon's, and I'm hoping the show relays it to us next week since it looks like she saves Amanda's hyde according to the teaser. Guess we will find out, until then.

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