Recap of Ash vs. Evil Dead
Season 3, Episode 6:
Tales from the Rift
- Ruby: Do you know what evil is, Kelly? It's power without fear, without guilt... without pain.
A cocoon is set up in the baby's room, and Ruby waits for him to emerge from it. She hears a noise and goes to check downstairs, where she meets Kelly with a shotgun. Kelly shoots her several times and puts a hole through her eye with the final shot, but that doesn't stop Ruby from regenerating, so she decides to finish her enemy off with the dagger. Ruby manages to shake her off and claims that Kelly is not worthy.
A mysterious woman watches Ash and Brandy get into the house as they hide from the police. They finally get to bond with each other, but Brandy still doesn't believe her counselor is a demon. The woman, named Zoey, knocks on the door and says she's with Dalton, and she and her companions kneel to him, introducing themselves as the Knights of Sumeria. He reluctantly lets them in and shows the lost pages of the Necronomicon, taking them to Ruby's house. During the drive he admits that Ruby has the book, and the Knights explain she's going to release another Dark One named Kaya.
Pablo opens the box with El Brujo's belongings and finds Maritza's mask inside, confirming that the ritual was real. Brandy comes down to him to ask if he's seen Ash, and he has a premonition that Ash is in trouble and that he need to go to the hardware store, while Brandy remains in the trailer.
Ash and the Knights get to the wall in the store's cellar, where they say that it's a rift to the Deadlands, through which the prophesized hero can lead them to fight against evil. Pablo gets into the cellar and sees the wall for himself. He starts performing a ritual and opens the rift. The Knights decide to go in, but Ash refuses at Pablo's suggestion. A Knight named Marcus volunteered to go in first as a scout, and he gets pulled inside and quickly tossed out. He's possessed by evil and uses another Knight to block Ash's shot, fusing him to his own body. He kills another one and attacks Ash, but Pablo interferes to protect him. Ash gets the chainsaw and fights the abomination, chopping off its heads. He goes back home, while Pablo and Zoey remain in the cellar.
Ruby thrashes Kelly around and breaks her foot, then knocks the dagger out of her hand. She takes a grenade blast that briefly knocks her out and tears off her limbs, but she reattaches them. Kelly refuses to back down, claiming she is yet to have her revenge, but Ruby still overpowers her and stabs her through the chest with the dagger and killing her. She opens the Necronomicon, and Kaya tells her the rift has been opened. Wasting no time, Ruby puts Kaya into Kelly's body.
Ash comes back home where Kaya gives him the dagger, making him unwittingly follow her and Ruby's plan.
Tropes:
- And This Is for...: Kelly shoots Ruby several times, saying it was for Pablo, Brandy's mom and herself.
- Back from the Dead: Ruby resurrects Kelly to use her as Kaya's vessel.
- Call-Back: Ash says that the last person who read from the lost pages of the Necronomicon ended up with the dagger in her back, referencing Annie Knowby's death in Evil Dead 2.
- Didn't Think This Through: Apparently, Zoey's plan was for her, her companions and Ash to go to the rift into the Netherworld where they would fight the Forces of Evil on their home-turf for all of eternity with nothing but a duffelbag full of guns. Only one of them walks through the portal before being spat back out, possessed by a demon. Considering how easily this one demon dispatches them, it's pretty clear that they have way less experience fighting Evil than Ash did.
- Eye Scream: One of Kelly's shots makes a hole through Ruby's head where her eye was.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Another squad of Knights kneels at the sight of Ash, embarrassing him.
- Occult Blue Eyes: When possessed by Kaya, Kelly's eyes change from brown to dark blue.
- Off with His Head!: Possessed Marcus kills another Knight by ripping his head off along with the spine.
- Pulling Themselves Together: Ruby gets her limbs blown off by a grenade exploding, but she quickly reattaches them once they crawl back to her.
- Red Shirt: Despite all their prowess, the Knights of Sumeria get quickly wiped out by one of their own becoming possessed.
- Sickening "Crunch!": Ruby breaks Kelly's leg with a horrifying cracking sound.
- Sole Survivor: Zoey remains the only survivor of her squad.
