Season 2, Episode 3: Last Call
SUMMARY: Ash (Bruce Campbell) tries to recover his stolen Oldsmobile with ill-conceived plan to throw a massive party where he’ll dose all the town’s teens with Ketamine. Oh Ash.
REVIEW: Of the first few episodes of “Ash Vs Evil Dead”, this third one is by far the best. Maybe it’s Ted Raimi as Ash’s former BFF-turned-bartender/drug dealer, Chet, or a bigger part for Lee Majors as Ash’s dad, but it really feels like the season’s starting to hit its strike after a slightly uneven start.
While Ash’s plan to essentially poison everyone with his drink, “Pink F**k” probably isn’t his best plan; it leads to a wild episode. The time is divvied up between Ash’s bar hijinks and his now-possessed by the Deadites “Olds” going all CHRISTINE on the kids who stole it. Serves them right? Well, three out of four of them meet pretty grisly ends, with only the Sheriff’s daughter, the child of Ash’s former sweetheart, making it past the end credits.
The episode is more-or-less devoted to Ash and his dad, with Brock showing up for Ash’s party, and hell-bent on seducing a local hottie. Brock and Ash try to outdo each other in order win the favors of the (unbeknownst to them) possessed girl, with Brock winning thanks to his superior mechanical bull riding skills. Majors is clearly having fun, especially when Lucy Lawless sticks her fingers up his nose after an ill-received pass.
The episode winds-up having a surprisingly solid and even dramatic conclusion, with things finally coming to a head between father-and-son. Campbell’s acting when he tries to convince his dad that he’s really not the “Ashy Slashy” murderer everyone in town thinks he is actually quite compelling. Brock finally gets to see his son is telling the truth once his date turns into a Deadite and Ash has to rescue him, but – oh – their long-awaited understanding is not meant to be as before you know it Brock is decapitated by the Oldsmobile (just before revealing what he promises is an earth-shattering secret).
As usual, the gore is second to none, with some really gruesome death scenes, especially Majors’s climatic one. I also love the Oldsmobile being possessed, as the FX work is really nifty. Dana’s plotline also gets advanced a bit with her and Lawless’s Ruby taking off on a quest of their own. Maybe she’ll become the new keeper of the Necronomicon? Either way, this is a really cool installment, and while it’s a drag Majors (probably – you never can tell in a show like this) won’t be around anymore, he goes out on a high note.