'Ash vs. Evil Dead' Recap: 'DUI'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

It's always interesting to see how a television show evolves when it comes to how it tells a story and for proof of that, look no further than Ash vs. Evil Dead. After all, last year, the show was inclined to go with a slow burn for its story arc. Dropping only little nuggets of plot points our way week in and week out before finally revealing everything and anything over the course of an epic three part season finale. But this season...not only has the show decided to go for broke when it comes to gore and gags, they're more than happy to unveil exactly what they are up against and it made 'DUI' one of the most fascinating episodes of this season to date.

I say that because as it turns out ladies and gentlemen, this entire season, and all the events that have transpired so far, have all been part of one long con, perpetrated by the demon Baal, to return to our planet and do who knows what and well...that's an outright stroke of genius for the show. Because by doing this, the show has added another new wrinkle to the Evil Dead mythos, wherein it seems that the evil is finally finding ways to win and the characters we know and love are suddenly pawns and now their actions and their emotions will have to be overcome in order for them to rise to the occasion, especially considering the fact that last night...they were at their lowest point.

But how does one come to such a conclusion, since there is a touch of conjecture there. Well the answer lies in what Ruby had to say about Baal in what seemed like an off the cuff comment, and through the actions of the final few minutes of the episode; since Ruby pointed out to Kelly that this ancient monster knows how to get inside her head and fill her with doubt and insecurity, and well...that's what's been happening to the Ghostbeaters all along. Pablo's visions have rocked him to his core. Kelly no longer believes she has much to offer in this life and Ash...well poor Ash has had to face every personal demon imaginable and suffer incredible losses once again, and to top if off the last real joy in his life, the baby Delta, is filled to the brim with evil now. 

As everything unfolded it became clear that Baal has been watching events unfold from the shadows all along, and with Ruby's children too weak to accomplish the task of bringing him to earth, he preyed upon those who made life difficult for the demon kids and made Ash and his pals do his bidding instead and by splitting them up, two things were accomplished. Ruby and Kelly punished the incompetent demon children for their failure and Pablo and Ash...were able to help bring Baal into our world. With Ash looking to salvage the last thing he can associate with any kind of good memories by way of the Delta, his attention was locked solely on freeing that car from evil without destroying it while poor Pablo, terrified of the book and his connection to it, followed its every instruction...speaking the words it asked him to, thus opening a portal to 'banish' the book into, giving Baal his window to earth.  

It's quite frankly, a bold move for the show to put all of their cards on the table this early in the season when it comes to Baal being the big bad for this year, but it's also some fine storytelling as well. Because now our characters will be faced with quite the internal conundrum over their mistakes and they will be forced to dig deep to find a way to combat Baal's power so that they can save the world from evil once again. It means we are about to be in for some pretty dynamic character growth and when you combine that, with the already top notch writing the show has been exhibiting this season, these next six episodes are going to be an outright incredible ride and I can't wait to see what comes next as the Ghostbeaters take on their biggest challenge to date. Until next time.

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