'Ash vs. Evil Dead' Recap: 'The Morgue'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

"Let me tell you something, Ash Williams doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words. But I don't really know the meaning of 'fail'."
​- Ash

Okay. We need to take a moment and acknowledge something incredibly important about Ash vs. Evil Dead before we get too deep into today's recap...the fact that this is flat out, the perfect horror/comedy television show. Now that may seem like quite the bold statement to make, or over the top fanboying on my part because nothing is ever supposed to be perfect, but this show has outright achieved that honor. I don't know of any other series in its respective genre(s) that has ever blended bone chilling moments and side splitting laughs like this one does, not to mention...it's also as bold as they come because it truly holds nothing back and pushes the envelope in ways I never thought horror would or could on television.  

What made me come to this magical realization was last night's episode, 'The Morgue'. Because not only did it deliver on everything we have come to expect from the franchise...it actually managed to enhance it further. Our usual cavalcade of one liners suddenly added some rapid fire banter to the mix, the scares were creepier and the gore...well let's just start there because holy cow was the gore magnificent. Now ironically enough, it's something we talked about in depth last week, when I pointed out that it seemed as though the show runners decided to throw caution to the wind and let loose on cable and believe it or not...they managed to top last week's splatter fest with an incredible slap stick, slop scene where Ash has to duke it out with a dead man's colon to retrieve the Book of the Dead and well...I laughed so hard during this moment I had to pause the TV on several occasions to get the giggles out, but more importantly...he duked it out with a freakin' colon!

It's the kind of stuff that only a handful of horror stories have ever tackled, and even then, it's only been done in motion pictures as far as I know (also shout out for the hints of Re-Animator this scene evoked) and when all is said and done, this new paradigm shift to make the show push the envelope when it comes to blood, guts, gore and comedy is working like a charm. We're getting a best of reel of the Evil Dead franchise when these moments occur, alongside entering new territory where we can expect the unexpected, find ourselves cringing at some moments that make your stomach turn all while laughing so hard that tears stream down your face. However, while this water cooler moment was incredible to say the least, this episode had plenty more to offer, since the scares were handled in perfect fashion as well.

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If anything, the show is able to exude a sense of irony since the true horror elements that went on display for us to enjoy were handled in extremely low key fashion. I continue to think about the opening of the episode, where the Coroner was working hard to discover the cause of death of some poor soul, before eventually being violently murdered by a Deadite. But the beauty of that scene is the sheer fact we never saw that monster emerge from the freezer and the use of the unknown and keeping our creature off screen made for a much more satisfying reveal when we discovered the identity of that Deadite and these moments kept the episode grounded in terror and served as a way to refresh our palete in between moments of levity. 

However, what matters most about this series, is that it has always featured a wonderful story arc and the grand plot for season two was revealed in this episode by way of Pablo and his need for revenge and answers when he tried and failed miserably to flex up on Ruby. He truly thought he could intimidate the Dark One only to discover she's playing docile to get what she needs and could clearly cause trouble if she so chooses, but she actually wants to help. She was able to get Pablo to admit to his premonitions and revealed that he is the first human being that the Necronomicon has ever attached itself to and after another frightening vision, and battle with a Deadite, we now know what's going on. Ruby's kids betrayed her because they are attempting to resurrect their father, a demon known as Baal. The implications of that are of course horrible because if this being wants new life, no good can come of it, but alas...it will be a bit before all of this gets resolved since Ash lost the Delta and the Necronomicon as well since it was 'safely' locked inside the car. 

Either way, the reveal of what the Ghostbeaters are up against this season means that they managed to raise the bar on the stakes for our heroes and the world as well, and no doubt Baal will be a much more formidable enemy than Ruby and our intrepid heroes are going to be in for quite the fight and well, when we take that plot line, and combine it with everything last night threw our way, my jaw is still dropped and quite frankly, I'm dying to know what happens next. But in the meantime, I have a funny feeling I'll be rewatching this episode several times for several reasons. For starters, to break down and appreciate all the incredible things they packed into a half hour of storytelling and quite frankly, to get my fix until Sunday night when the next episode arrives. Until next time.

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