Recap of Ash vs. Evil Dead
Season 1, Episode 2:
Bait
- Pablo: Ash, I'm not sorry that I took your book to get you to come up here.Ash: I'm not either. Sometimes the whale needs his baitfish to remind him of where he is in the ocean... or something like that.
After Ash finishes preparing, Kelly once again asks him to come to her father's house and help him, but he refuses, even after Pablo's begging. As he leaves the trailer to attach it to his Oldsmobile, he's being stalked by a possessed Mr. Roper, when Kelly decides to save her father on her own with the Necronomicon in tow, making Ash and Pablo follow her.
Mr. Roper attacks Ash while he's driving and fights with Pablo to make them crash, and even a bottle hit to the face doesn't stop him. Finally, Ash uses a broken bottleneck to stab Roper in the throat and sticks his head out in the traffic, where it gets smashed by a passing car.
Amanda gets to the trailer park and asks Ash's neighbors about him, then finds severed body parts at the place his trailer was. One of the neighbour mentions a girl with a wrist tattoo, and Amanda puts the pieces together in her head, realizing that Ash is somehow involved in the recent events. She finds the Books from Beyond card and picks it up.
Ash and Pablo finally arrive at Kelly's father's house, where they agree on a plan to bust in, get the book and leave. They smash into the house with the chainsaw working only to find Kelly and her parents peacefully sitting by the fireplace. Kelly explains that six months ago her mother didn't actually die in the crash, but lost her memories and ended up in a homeless shelter in Ohio, only remembering who she is yesterday. Ash instantly becomes suspicious, but Pablo convinces him to stay for dinner and take the book afterwards.
Ash's neighbors confirm the police sketch, and Amanda takes a look at it when she's spotted by her superior who tells her she's not supposed to be anywhere near any crime scenes due to her killing Carson.
At the trailer, Pablo admits that he took the Necronomicon so that Ash would go help Kelly, and the older man tells him that this whole dinner situation is just a set-up and Kelly is being used as bait to make him come to her house. Pablo still asks Ash to behave so that he could impress the parents and get a chance to date the girl, and he reluctantly agrees. The dinner starts normally until Ash notices that the meat looks strange and completely uncooked, and he starts catching her remembering details a person with amnesia would have problems with. The atmosphere grows tense, and Ash finally punches the mother, with her revealing herself as a Deadite. She kills Kelly's father by driving a fork into his eye, and Ash gets his weapons, shooting at her.
Kelly runs into her room where her mother pretends to be human again and asks for help, but Ash and Pablo get in there, and the mother attacks again, with Ash getting the chainsaw wtuck in a wooden wall. Pablo attacks her with a knife, but it doesn't phase her, as she goes in to kill him and Kelly. Thankfully, Ash gets his chainsaw free just in time and impales her through the stomach before sawing her head off.
In the morning, the three bury Kelly's parents, and Ash doesn't seem to be angry at Pablo for deceiving him, regarding it as a reminder of what's he's dealing with. Kelly decides to join up with them, and they ride off to get to Books from Beyond.
Tropes:
- Bond One-Liner: Ash has one last quip for Mrs. Maxwell's severed head.Ash: Good night, Mother.
- Continuity Nod: Kelly's mother sings the same lullaby as Henrietta Knowby did in Evil Dead 2.
- Danger Takes a Backseat: Deadite Mr. Roper hides in the backseat of Ash's car and attacks him while he's driving.
- Drunk Driver: Ash casually downs several beer bottles while driving his car.
- Eye Scream: Kelly's mother kills her husband by smashing his head against a fork to make it go right through his eye.
- Facial Composite Failure: Subverted. The sketch artist makes a very realistic facial composite of Ash, and his neighbors comment he looks dumber in real life.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Pablo smashes a beer bottle against Mr. Roper's face, but it barely phases him. Ash then uses te broken bottleneck to stab him in the neck multiple times, and later one Pablo uses it as his weapon at Kelly's house.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: More like reiterating open disdain, but Deadite Mr. Roper says he's always hated Ash.
- Metaphorgotten: Ash compares the situation with Kelly and her parents as them being used as bait to reel in the 'whale', AKA Ash. But it takes a left field turn...Ash: Unfortunately for Mom, this whale swam in there with a big ol' shotgun.
- The Needs of the Many: Ash at first declines to go to Kelly's father's house for this reason.Kelly: Well, I can't just abandon him.Ash: Look, I get that you want to save your dad, but I'm trying to save all the dads everywhere, and the mommies, and the babies.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Another one from Ash, this time given to Mr. Roper before he gets his head smashes. And Pablo comments on it afterwards, saying that it's the "jefe" thing.Mr. Roper: You sad, old failure. You'll never defeat evil.Ash: Yeah? Thanks for the heads-up.
- Villain Over for Dinner: Inverted, as it's the heroic Ash who's invited for dinner by Kelly's Deadite mother.
