Featured TV on DVD Review: Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season Three
August 20, 2018
Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season Three - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray
I previously reviewed the first
two seasons of this show and loved it. I was really disappointed to hear season three would be its last. There was an immediate fan campaign to bring the show back; however, that ended as soon as Bruce Campbell said he was happy with the way the series ended and it was time to retire Ash J. Williams. Was he right? Does the show end in a satisfying way? Or does it just end? And does season three live up to the show's high quality regardless?
The season begins with Ash getting the hardware store ready for re-opening, with the help of Pablo. It used to belong to his dad, Brook Williams, but his dad sadly passed away last season. It’s a big deal, because Ash is the hero of Elk Grove, his hometown. Meanwhile, Kelly is running a bar, when she notices someone changed the channel on one of the bar’s TVs and it is playing some sort of Antique Roadshow knockoff. The item being looked at at the moment is... the Necronomicon. As soon as Kelly sees the book, she calls Ash and Pablo, but Pablo doesn’t need a call to know something’s up, as ancient text appears on his stomach. The host of the show, who just happens to speak ancient Sumerian, reads from the book. Yep, he’s waked up the Deadites. Its isn’t long before everyone’s dead and Ruby comes to collect the Necronomicon and it should come as no surprise that she quickly comes after Ash and the rest of Elk Grove.
The first place attacked in Elk Grove is the local high school, specifically two girls: Brandy and Rachel. We soon find out why the evil might be interested in those two. When Candace Barr shows up at Ash’s grand re-opening, she claims to be his wife. He doesn’t remember ever being married. I believe her. They argue for a bit, but soon Brandy calls and Ash agrees to go to the high school to rescue Brandy and along the way, actually remembers marrying Candace. They are able to get to the high school in time to save Brandy, with the help of Kelly and Dalton, a Knight of Sumeria. (We learn more about them later.) However, not everyone survives.
Meanwhile, Ruby performs a ceremony than involves... you know what? I’m not going to say. The goal of the ceremony is to get her pregnant... with Ash’s baby. She must be desperate. While driving from where the Necronomicon was found to Elk Grove, she gives birth nearly crashing her car in the process. This is bad news for a couple of hitchhikers, Eric and Natalie. Eric is turned into food for the spawn, while Natalie is forced to be its babysitter, as Ruby puts her plan into motion. That plan involves pretending to be Brandy’s guidance counselor, in order to convince Brandy to not trust Ash. That should be easy, as Brandy hates Ash.
While that’s going down, Pablo and Kelly are getting reunited, which mostly involves Pablo not trusting Dalton. He does make a good point. If the Knight of Sumeria have been fighting evil for centuries, why are they just showing up now? He has a good answer. What’s coming now is... Well, it’s spoilers. We are barely into episode two and we’ve reached unacceptable spoiler territory. However, that’s par for the course for this show.
First things first, we have to answer the most important question. Does the show get a proper ending? Yes and no. Season three ends with an amazing finale and we get some real character growth and some emotional scenes, so Bruce Campbell was right about that. However, the season also ends with a setup for season four, a season that will never be made. That’s disappointing, but not fatal, as long as the show’s quality lives up to the previous seasons. For the most part, it does. The characters of Brandy and Dalton shake up the sense of family that Ash, Pablo, and Kelly built up over the first two seasons. It works and this is one of the parts that moves the plot forward the most. However, it does feel a little repetitive. We’ve seen the family come together before, so seeing it again doesn’t have the same impact. On the other hand, this only takes up the first few episodes. By the midway point of the season, the show is as good as it has ever been and the new additions to the cast are a real asset. (Or to be more accurate, addition, singular.)
I’m really sad that the show is over, but let’s face, it was a minor miracle that this show existed in the first place and we got 30 more episodes of Ash than anyone thought we would get. I can’t wait to see what the cast does next.
The two-disc set is loaded with extras, starting with audio commentaries on every single episode. Most of these involve one of the two executive producers, the director(s), and some member(s) of the cast. Disc two also has a three-minute long season overview. There are also short Inside the Evil Dead for each episode.
Ash vs. Evil Dead does not give the fans a satisfying send-off, while the season goes over some similar ground we saw before, but that’s the only real complaints I have with this season compared to the first two. The DVD and Blu-ray are loaded with extras, including audio commentary tracks on every episode, so if you are a fan of the show, it is a must have. In fact, it is a Pick of the Week contender.
Video on Demand
The Show
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless, Lee Majors, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Lindsay Farris, Arielle Carver-O'Neill, Katrina Hobbs, Samantha Young