Season 3, Episode 4: Unfinished Business
SUMMARY: Ash’s (Bruce Campbell) dead father (Lee Majors) returns from the grave to help his son find the missing pages of the Necronomicon.
REVIEW: After three weeks of inspired lunacy, “Ash Vs Evil Dead” finally slows down a bit this week for a so-so episode that would feel like filler, were it not for the pitch-perfect chemistry between Bruce Campbell and Lee Majors, who makes a welcome return to the series. Last week, he was back as a deadite, but here he’s back as Ash’s real dad, albeit a ghost version.
Most of the episode is about Ash and his dad heading back to the hardware store to dig up the corpse of a former Sumerian knight his dad accidentally killed a few years back. Turns out, the poor guy was trying to help Ash, but alas. Majors is having fun, while Campbell once again seems to relish acting opposite the old guy, but it’s ultimately filler.
The same thing goes for Kelly and Brandy’s storyline, which finds them trapped by a possessed Pablo, while Dalton is shown to indeed be as dead as he seemed last week, although Ruby briefly brings him back to interrogate him. The heroic knight kills himself rather than turn evil, a surprisingly nice touch. It’s too bad he was written out so fast, but then again, with Brandy entering the fray there’s no room for anyone else. I hope that as the season goes on, the focus stays on Ash/Brandy, as that’s really where the season is hitting its stride.
The only really important thing to happen is that Ash finally meets the hellspawn son Ruby conjured up, with the episode ending with the promise of another slapstick showdown next week. Overall, this is an ok twenty-five minutes, but I still think Ash would be better off with shorter seasons, as it always feels dragged out a bit, and this is one of those kinds of episodes.