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Ash vs. Evil Dead 3.6 Review – ‘Tales from the Rift’
Loading...Ash vs. Evil Dead Review: 3.6: “Tales from the Rift”
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the review of the sixth episode of season 3 of the hit Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead. I’m Bryan Kristopowitz.
I don’t really have an introduction to this episode’s review. There’s no news to report, good or bad, regarding Starz renewing the show or cancelling it, at least as far as I know. Hopefully, with episode seven next week, we’ll have something to report.
However, I will say that this review contains major spoilers. So, before you read it, make sure that you’ve watched the episode. That is if you care about spoilers. If you don’t, well, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
So, again, this review contains major spoilers about this episode. If you care about spoilers, check out this review after you’ve watched the episode. Okay, you’ve all been warned.
And now, the sixth episode of season three of Ash vs. Evil Dead.
Episode 6: Tales from the Rift
Directed by: Regan Hall
Written by: Aaron Lam
(All images courtesy of Starz)
Tales from the Rift starts with Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) facing off against Ruby (Lucy Lawless), one-on-one, in Ruby’s stolen house. Armed with a shotgun, Kelly blasts Ruby multiple times, a situation that mostly angers Ruby as she can’t be killed by conventional means. She gets shot in the head with a shotgun, a nasty hole will develop and blood and gore will fly everywhere, but since Ruby is evil and immortal a shotgun is just going to slow her down. Kelly knows this and isn’t solely armed with a shotgun. No, Kelly has the one weapon that can end Ruby for all eternity, the Kandarian Dagger, and she intends to use it on her evil enemy. The shotgun is just to soften Ruby up.
The scene then shifts to Ash’s house where our hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) has returned with his daughter Brandy (Arielle Carver-O’Neill). Ash and Brandy are closer now, as Brandy has finally accepted that her father isn’t the psycho asshole his reputation in town lore suggests. And Ash’s stories about demons and whatnot all appear to be true (the incident in Ash’s trailer with Kelly and deadite Pablo finally convinced her that all of this demon shit is real). Brandy figures that now, since she’s now in the know, that she might be able to help her father fight off demons once and for all. Ash is appreciative of Brandy’s newfound low and interest in him, but he doesn’t want her to participate directly in any demon fighting. He’s her father and he needs to protect her. And I’d suspect that Ash still can’t totally trust his daughter’s potential demon fighting instincts since she still doesn’t completely buy that Ruby, in the guise of her high school guidance counselor, is an enemy.
After eating some toasted Pop Tarts and downing a beer, Ash is visited by more Knights of Sumeria. Led by a woman named Zoe (Emilia Burns), these KoS instantly recognize Ash as the “chosen one” and want to help him take out the Evil Dead. Ash isn’t thrilled with more Knights showing up, mostly because Dalton didn’t exactly pan out as an ally, but since his father Brock essentially killed one of them Ash decides to accept their help. The Knights are also pretty interested in the Necronomicon pages that he has in his possession. Ash no longer has the complete book, Ruby does, but he has some pages that belong in it. And with the way the Knights react to the reality of those missing pages they’re very much all about them. Apparently, the Knights believe that the missing pages can be used to end Evil forever.
End Evil forever? Who wouldn’t want to see that?
So Ash and the Knights pile into Ash’s car and head for the hardware store, where there are Sumerian messages on the basement wall. Ash has Brandy stay behind, figuring she’ll be safe there.
Back to the Kelly/Ruby brawl, Ruby seems to be on the ropes and near death as Kelly has the Kandarian Dagger out and she’s ready to use it. Kelly doesn’t get very far with the dagger, though, as Ruby recovers from her shotgun injuries and kicks Kelly’s ass (she breaks the poor girl’s ankle in horrifying fashion). Kelly ends up losing the dagger in the scuffle. Ruby picks the weapon up. Will she use the dagger on Kelly? Before Ruby can do much of anything, Kelly lobs a hand grenade into the room and blows Ruby up big time.
The scene then shifts to Pablo (Ray Santiago) checking out a box that has all sorts of “Brujo” stuff in it, including the naked lady mask from his visions. Pablo then starts having weird visions of Ash in danger. These visions send Pablo to the hardware store basement, where Ash and the Knights have assembled to see what, exactly, is written on that wall. Basically, the writing on the wall will open up The Rift, which is essentially a doorway that allows one to move back and forth between Earth and the dimension where the demons come from. Pablo, with his special Brujo powers growing, can read the writing on the wall and open the rift. And that’s what Pablo does.
Was opening the rift a big mistake? I guess that depends on your perspective. If you’re a demon or one of the Dark Ones, opening the rift is a great idea as it will make it easier for you to infiltrate Earth and cause all sorts of trouble. If you’re a human on Earth, even with the knowledge that you can somehow defeat evil via opening the rift, opening the rift doesn’t sound like a great idea.
Marcus (Colin Moy), one of the KoS, volunteers to enter the rift and find out what, exactly, is on the other side. He jumps through the swirling vortex and comes back almost immediately. And as soon as Marcus hits the ground, Ash suspects that Marcus is no longer the Marcus of the Knights of Sumeria. Marcus is something else now, something else entirely. He’s a deadite. Marcus doesn’t disappoint, either, in that regard, as he annihilates a few of his fellow Knights and actually hooks up with one of them to become a gross looking two-headed monster thing. This transformation forces both Ash and Pablo to attack the thing, with Ash taking the brunt of the violence (as he should. He is the hero).
As Ash and Pablo and the remaining Knights take on the Marcus monster, Kelly makes her last stand against Ruby. In a wonderful special effects sequence, Ruby manages to literally piece herself back together after the grenade attack. She keeps warning Kelly that she’ll let her go, that she’ll let her live, but if she persists in attacking her she will kill her. Kelly, being a stubborn badass hell-bent on revenge, wants nothing more than to kill Ruby or die trying. After all, Ruby and evil killed Kelly’s family. Unfortunately for Kelly, a burning need for revenge and a never give up attitude isn’t enough to defeat Ruby and, sadly, Ruby ends up jamming the Kandarian Dagger into Kelly’s chest, killing her.
Kelly’s dead? Come on, that’s bullshit! Not Kelly!
It’s at this point that Ruby decides to use Kelly’s body as a vessel for one of the spirit women she’s always talking to in the Necronomicon. After reading a few works from the Book of the Dead, Kelly’s lifeless body returns to a “living” state, and suddenly Ruby has a full on ally on Earth to help her defeat Ash and keeps the Dark Ones at bay.
Sonofabitch.
Back at the rift, Ash is getting his ass kicked by the Marcus monster, but he has no intention of giving up. The Marcus monster is nasty as hell and Ash isn’t going to let that piece of crap defeat him. With the help of Pablo, Ash revs up his chainsaw and, finally, takes care of the Marcus monster.
The episode ends with the new Kelly showing up at Ash’s house with the Dagger and an evil smirk that will send shivers down your spine.
Now, watching Kelly die is hard to watch, mostly because Kelly is such a great character and you don’t want to see her die. At least I don’t want to see her die. However, what are the odds that she’s really dead? Pablo died towards the end of the second season and yet came back and is still a important part of the Ghostbeaters team. I doubt that Kelly is really, truly, completely dead. Odds are good that the real Kelly is still trapped somewhere in the Kelly body taken over by Ruby’s demon woman and that, with the help of Pablo’s special Brujo powers, the real Kelly will show up again by the end of the season. I mean, why wouldn’t that happen? Still, watching Kelly die is just so damn depressing.
The action, stunt work, and practical special effects in this episode are insanely awesome. The Kelly-Ruby fight is a thing of brutal beauty. The shotgun blasts are cringe inducing, especially the blast to the head. The hole that develops in Ruby’s head is also a terrific melding of practical and CGI. And while I’m not usually a fan of the whole “send the camera through the gaping head wound” thing, I loved it here. The ankle break looks disgusting, as it should (it’s not as gross as the Sid Vicious leg break but it’s damn close), and the grenade attack is the kind of thing that we don’t see enough on TV as far as I’m concerned.
The big fight between Ash and the Marcus monster is also awesome. Ash getting his ass kicked before he triumphs is always worth watching, and the Marcus monster is disgusting looking, especially it’s slimy, hole filled back. Even the floppy second head is gross. And, man, the whole “it deflates when it dies” thing is sort of the ultimate in grossness. The sound effect alone will make you go “Ewww.” Loved it.
It will be interesting to see how Knight of Sumeria Zoe will die. And when does die, will she be dead or will she come back as a deadite? That seems to happen all of the time on this show and in this world. And how many more Knights of Sumeria will show up to help Ash fight off evil?
The episode doesn’t spend much time with the demon baby in the cocoon at the very start of the episode. We know that the demon baby that Ruby “rescued” last episode is the one in the cocoon, but what the heck is happening to the baby? Is it still going to be a baby by the time it pops out of there? And why the heck didn’t the episode end with revealing that?
Another great episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead. There was fighting, action, and plenty of gore (check out that head removal scene, when the Marcus monster pulls that head off). That’s what we come to see, isn’t it? Hell yes it is.
Check out Tales from the Rift. And bring on episode seven!
