Season 2, Episode 8: Ashy Slashy
SUMMARY: Pablo (Ray Santiago), Kelly (Dana De Lorenzo) and Ruby (Lucy Lawless) try to free Ash (Bruce Campbell) from his delusion, but Baal (Joel Tobeck) is not letting him go without a fight.
REVIEW: As expected, it didn’t take long for the “Ash vs Evil Dead” show-runners to wrap-up Ash’s mental hospital plot-line. In fact, we start the episode picking up with Pablo, Kelly and Ruby, having tracked Ash down thanks to his stupid “pet tracker” idea, bent on rescuing him from his delusion. Pablo is now the human vessel for the Necronomicon, but seems to be doing alright, not allowing his dire predicament to mess with his sense of humor – basically he’s the same old Pablo.
Before the credits roll, the sheriff who’s been pestering Ash is dead, with his now-possessed daughter following within minutes thanks to Dana. All this leaves Michelle Hurd’s Linda bent on vengeance against Baal. For his part, the demon seems to be controlling Ash, who’s off-screen for about the first two-thirds of the episode, only being seen in an automated, psycho state. Meanwhile, Dana gets a vintage EVIL DEAD slapstick fight with the Ashy Slashy puppet, blowing its head-off after taking a bit of a wallop.
Obviously, it’s no surprise when Ash turns-out not to have been possessed at all. Rather, it was all part of his “plan” to get Pablo and Baal in the same room, hoping they’ll be able to do him-in once and for all. They succeed but the episode ends with a shocker, with Pablo having been torn in-half by the Necronomicon while killing Baal. Is he dead?
While part of me thinks the show-runners wouldn’t do away with Pablo, I must admit he looks pretty dead. He may come back in some form due to him essentially being the incarnation of the Necronomicon, but will Santiago return? It’s really a toss-up, because this is a show that’s not afraid to kill regulars, and when they’re dead they stay that way, like Jill Marie Scott in season one, and Lee Majors a few episodes ago. If indeed he’s gone, Santiago will be missed big-time, as his chemistry with Ash has always been good, and a potential romance with Kelly seemed in the cards…or not.
Whatever the case, this was another decent episode. While I still think last week’s, and episode three of this season are the best so far, this is one of the consistently good outings. With only two episodes to go before the end of the season, it’ll be interesting to see who the big bad is, with Baal dead. Will it be some version of Pablo? We’ll see!