Ash vs Evil Dead: Fire in the Hole

December 12, 2015 8:50 PM - Season 1, Episode 7

Ash and friends visit the local gun enthusiasts where they meet an old friend. Pablo and Kelly go for a walk in the woods and Pablo has an identity crisis. They continue to keep Michigan moist.
posted by selenized (11 comments total)

Overall, I liked this one. My only real problem with it was Fisher going with Ash's flirting - I feel like that should be taking a little longer, or hold a little more ambivalence/skepticism. (Also, I get the impression nobody has clued her in on him being accidentally responsible for everything that's going on. That should be an awkward conversation.)

Stuff I liked:
* Kelly absolutely killed it, per the usual. I loved pretty much everything there, from her rationale for deserving a flamethrower, to her fake horror movie trip followed by knocking down the militia guy. Much as I love Bruce Campbell, I think she might tie with Ash for MVP Ghostbeater.

* Pablo's search for a 'thing' was hilarious. I appreciated that he was genre savvy enough to realize that the Deadite probably wasn't dead from having its lower half crushed. Also, that demonstrated that he possesses an Ash-like mix of cluelessness and quick thinking.

* The fight with Lem was spectacular, even if the solution was a bit nonsensical. "Safety last!" is definitely an Ash workplace rule.

* I could've cheered when Lucy Lawless rose from the ashes of the funeral pyre. I didn't want to wait long for her subplot to pick back up. (Also, I appreciated the additional data point: it's now pretty clear why the Deadites are speaking to her as a real player in whatever game is going on, while they still just taunt Ash. She's obviously done *something* either horribly wrong or horribly right in her search for the Necronomicon.)

* I will admit this episode was especially fun for having the militia guys do *so* badly against the Deadites. I also liked them being Wrong Genre Savvy, thinking they were dealing with, like, rage virus zombies instead of literal demons.
posted by mordax at 6:01 AM on December 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

Yeah, the Ash/Fisher thing was the low point of the episode for me. I have to agree with the AV Club recapper's that Fisher's characterization is the weakest of the new characters, and to worry that her being so easily charmed by Ash is just set-up for her getting fridged at the cabin.

But terrific episode otherwise. Loved Kelly and Pablo in the pick-up truck. Shows/movies always show people using machine guns with ease, seeing someone struggle with the kickback made the scene seem more realistic and funnier.

I wasn't expecting to see Lucy Lawless again so soon (because of something Dana DeLorenzo said in that Mary Sue interview I linked back in the pilot thread), and certainly wasn't expecting to see so much of her. But I never made it past the first episode of the Spartacus series, everybody got pretty naked in that show, no? Anyway, it was a great 'fuck you' to anyone who thinks that a Xena reboot needs an all-new younger cast.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:48 AM on December 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

One more agreement on Ash/Fisher. It's as if Ash went from her worse demon to her savior in the length of the deadite attack on the diner. Surprise of the diner attack: the waitresses' husband in the kitchen who fell into the frying vats didn't make an appearance. Though, at this point, I pretty much expect anyone killed directly or tangently by Deadites to come back in some form or another.

I just get darn uncomfortable when Pablo was kind of fishing for hope for a romantic relationship with Kelly in the beginning. It's a combination of "aww...." and "....OWCH!"

Lucy Lawless, since her big return (in BSG) has just pretty much made every show better by her appearance in it. So is her dagger intended for Ash or the Necronomicon?
posted by Atreides at 9:28 AM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Kelly and Pablo are the real superstars of the show, in my opinion. The show has never managed to consistently retain the frantic energy and visual lunacy of the Sam Raimi-directed pilot, but these two are such great characters that I'm enjoying the show anyway. Pablo, in particular, manages to be a walking visual joke, the show's moral center, and offer the most consistently delightful line-readings, and that's quite a feat.
posted by maxsparber at 5:47 AM on December 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

Pablo, in particular, manages to be a walking visual joke, the show's moral center, and offer the most consistently delightful line-readings, and that's quite a feat.

Pablo is indeed pretty great. I appreciate that he is a *genuinely* good guy, rather than a Nice Guy.

Anyway, it was a great 'fuck you' to anyone who thinks that a Xena reboot needs an all-new younger cast.

Yeah. Rightly so, too. I don't want a Xena reboot with new, young faces. I want more of Lucy Lawless kicking ass. Don't care where, don't care why, she just needs to be pummeling stuff where I can watch and applaud. I actually didn't much care for Xena, just watched it because she's so cool. (I was *sorely* disappointed when she got killed off on SHIELD - I so wanted a Ming Na Wen / Lucy Lawless fight crime thing there.)
posted by mordax at 2:08 PM on December 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Pablo vs. Gas Mask Deadite was just pure physical comedy, distilled to greatness. Ash fighting his own hand in Evil Dead 2 remains my favorite bit of physical comedy ever, but I'll be damned if I don't think that this kid is coming for the title.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:33 PM on December 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Dare I say Roadhouse?!
posted by Literaryhero at 5:32 AM on December 15, 2015

The extra bit of cheesy didn't sit well with me, but Kelly and Pablo are wonderful.

My theory about Ash/Fisher: it's all in Ash's head (he's completely delusional) and Fisher has no idea.
posted by porpoise at 9:18 AM on December 17, 2015

My theory about Ash/Fisher: it's all in Ash's head (he's completely delusional) and Fisher has no idea.

I'd agree, except that they've shown us Ash's fantasy-version of Fisher before, and then real-Fisher reacting to his non-sequitur. There was no double-take in that near-kiss in the bunker, so, I think it has to be counted as reality.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:39 PM on December 17, 2015

Pablo vs. Gas Mask Deadite was just pure physical comedy, distilled to greatness

Yep, that scene, once again, made me cackle with glee. Well-done physical comedy always does. Pablo's face when he turns around, drenched in blood, is perfect. And the punches. Yes.

100% agreed about the Ash/Fisher stuff. I was sure the near-kiss was going to dissolve back into real-world Fisher, but ... no. Unnecessary and incongruous.

Really getting hyped to see the rest of this play out.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:35 AM on December 18, 2015

Pablo is indeed pretty great. I appreciate that he is a *genuinely* good guy, rather than a Nice Guy.

Right? When was the last time we saw an unrequited love thing in a friendship where the dude wasn't gross? Pablo wants, for sure, and edges around about it, but not like he's angling for it or using his friendship in an icky way. I'm honestly not sure, before this, that's I'd have believed it could be pulled off.

Maybe it's my being an aging man myself but I was willing to buy the Fisher stuff. After that level of terror and then team dispatching the threat I could buy her finding his bravado as charming - since it seemed like his ego was deserved in what she's seen of him in action the last 8 hours - when you factor in the biological survival-fuck response.
posted by phearlez at 10:44 AM on January 9, 2016