Recap of Ash vs. Evil Dead
Season 1, Episode 8:
Ashes to Ashes
- Ash: Honey, I'm home.
Ash arrives to the Knowby cabin on his lonesome and finds several dead birds lying around in the forest. When one of them revives as a Deadite, Ash throws it at a tree and smashes it. He prepares for a fight and goes towards the entrance. He remembers his talk with Linda while walking past her grave and steels himself, but before he enters, he turns around and sees Amanda. She tells him she's split up from Pablo and Kelly to look for him, and Ash warns her to stay away from him, but she still insists on helping. They go inside, and the deer head falls to the floor after Ash opens the door, triggering memories of Amanda killing Carson. Ash says that they should get into the fruit cellar, and Amanda tries to open the lock, prompting Ash's memories of Cheryl being locked in there. She asks for a crowbar, and Ash says there is one in the work shed, but also that there's probably something that Amanda doesn't want to see: Linda's skull, and after a brief explanation, he heads there himself.
Pablo and Kelly wander through the woods and realize they're going in a circle. They see three Australian tourists being lost as well, but they react with fear upon seeing guns. They mention that they've passed a cabin just before and are convinced to show the duo where it is. While they're walking, one of the girls, Heather, asks Kelly if she's Pablo's girlfriend, and intends to take him for herself.
In the work shed, Ash starts the generator and sees Linda's skull inside. The door closes behind him, and he starts calling Amanda who goes to the fruit cellar and finds the tape recorder. Ash starts hearing Linda's voice and turns around to see her living severed head in the vice that starts guilt-tripping him for his affection for Amanda.
At the cabin, Amanda hears a piano playing and sees a mouse walking on the keys. She finds Prof. Knowby's notes and reads about the Kandarian Dagger, but Ash spooks her and tells her they need to leave and start over, beginning a new life together. They kiss, but then she sees he has both his hands and freaks out. The new Ash tries to convince Amanda that he's going to give her everything she wants, but she is having none of it and runs away from him, starting a fight. In the shed, Linda taunts the real Ash about the situation and attacks by telekinetically sending circular sawblades and a bear trap at him. Amanda manages to chop Evil Ash's right hand off and then chops it into bits. He pretends that he was possessed by the hand before attacking again and driving the cleaver into her shoulder. An invisible force knocks her over, and she falls onto the deer antlers that pierce her.
The bear trap rips off Ash's prosthetic, leaving him with the same wound as Evil Ash, and he finally smashes Linda's skull with the crowbar and kicks the door out. Evil Ash taunts the dying Amanda, and she bleeds to death just as the real Ash enters and comforts her as she passes. The two Ashes finally meet face-to-face, and the evil one flees just as Pablo and Kelly get into the cabin and see the dead Amanda. Ash tries to explain that he's not the only Ash around, and they think he's gone crazy. The two Ashes start fighting to the death.
Tropes:
- An Arm and a Leg: Amanda uses a meat cleaver to chop off Evil Ash's right hand, the same hand he grew from.
- Call-Back: The entire episode serves as one to The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead 2.
- Cartwright Curse: Just as Ash started thinking about having a serious relationship with Amanda, she gets killed by his evil double.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Evil Ash has the same humor as the real one, only much more mean-spirited.Evil Ash: (after driving a meat cleaver into Amanda's shoulder) Now that's what I call cleavage.
- Evil Twin: The main antagonist of this episode is Evil Ash, who tries to play a Twin Switch trick on Pablo and Kelly.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Ash's hand has managed to grow itself an eye, signaling that it's started to grow a full body.
- Flaw Exploitation: Evil Ash taunts the real one that he's exactly like him, and that gives them both ideas where to strike, like a trick knee, sore kidneys and fake teeth.
- Hero Killer: Evil Ash manages to kill Amanda.
- Mind over Matter: Linda's hallucination attacks Ash by throwing circular sawblades at him.
- Mirror Match: Ash fights Evil Ash, a Deadite copy of himself grown from his possessed severed hand. Played pretty straight, as each uses their knowledge of Ash's physical weak points to try and gain the upper hand.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Evil Ash offers this to Amanda, but she rejects it when she sees the right hand.
- Tae Kwon Door: Evil Ash smashes Amanda's head with a fridge door several times
- The Three Certainties in Life: For Ash, it's death, taxes and more death, and he doesn't pay taxes.
- Too Dumb to Live: Great idea, Brad, to go hiking with your friends in a cursed forest. Nothing will ever happen there.
- Unholy Ground: The area around the cabin has become deadly to every living being, and those who die are quickly revived as Deadites.
