Ash vs Evil Dead S03E10: The Mettle Of Man Discussion [SPOILERS] [SERIES FINALE]

[MaidOfKandar]

And I've managed to make it to the 9 o'clock hour generally unspoiled in my timezone! Will backread as I watch!

The Good

* All of the emotional build-up with Ash and Brandy was actually stellar. The moment with the necklace was well-earned and actually thoughtful - the implication that Ash was doing it for Linda AND Brandy was there, and didn't need to be said.

* Pablo and Kelly advancing to being protective of others. Kelly finally got a little bit of character development in the end, going from being rude and abusive to strangers a'la season 2 and when she was a bouncer to helping them out. And Pablo protecting a little kid was pure him, and a nice callback that shows he's still him under the brujo especial stuff.

* Ash declaring Pablo and Kelly co-leaders of the future.

* The murphy's law moment of Ash getting crushed under an already-expired demon.

* Hah! Ash learned how to drive a tank from playing video games. Now I want to know how he learned how to ride a horse.

* Aww. The KOS preserved the deathcoaster.

* The SFX, especially on Kandar.

* Something of an explanation for Ash's drinking and drug taking, though that doesn't explain why he was toking up when the show opened.

* Brandy taking up the mantle of the many, many women who've given Ash a kick in the butt when he's gone self-defeating. Ash's over-the-top angst about it all was really nice too.

* The random call-back to Ash and Pablo watching the WWE together out of the blue.




The Meh

* The Deadites felt less Evil Dead than Romero or Thriller video castoffs this time. More of a shambling brainless horde than evil, mischievous creatures. Also what the hell was up with several of them shrieking like bats?

* The KOS being utterly useless and failing at intervention - until Ash got squashed by Kandar. Seriously, where were these jokers? And if they're so powerful and so far-reaching, why did their minions suck so hard at DOING anything until now? You want me to believe these people have life-preserving tech and they couldn't follow basic ideas like DON'T SHOOT AT THE EVIL UNDERWORLD PORTHOLE?




The Bad

* OK, I'll be honest - I found the ending really emotionally dissatisfying. I know why they went for it (It's a way to bring the franchise all the way back to apocalypse ending for AOD - that's likely the same cave where he slept the first time, judging from the British tone of the robot-woman, and it pulls a very fist-pumping if funny/juvenile ending where he gets a lot of Totally Cool Rewards For Working Hard). But after everything Ash has been through and how much of the season was built around Ash and Brandy, shipping him off to the post-apocalyptic future where he sits around in a pimp coat driving the deathcoster with his own cyborg woman is only satisfying on one level.

* Some truly atrocious CGI blood when Brandy and Ash killed those Deadites in the sewer.


My Verdict

I liked a lot of things about this episode, but eh, that ending. So many unanswered questions that'll never be answered, and the tacked-on happiness of it felt wrong. A lot of it worked well though.


What I Noticed

* Never run for sheriff in Elk Grove is a good moral for the show.

* Ash's space suit was definitely inspired by the one worn by Bruce in the movie Alien Apocalypse, where he plays Ivan Hood, an astronaut osteopath named after Ivan Raimi.

* The final song is the one Ash danced around to in the first scene of the pilot

* So would Kelly keep on rotting even though she's back in her body? She didn't go back to being fresh as a daisy, which is a new problem for this verse...

* Duct tape!

God, I love this franchise. And honestly? I have a feeling this isn't the end.

@Joem1k - I'm actually really curious to know how much time had passed between the first scene and the last.

 

[Sutter Cane]

* So would Kelly keep on rotting even though she's back in her body? She didn't go back to being fresh as a daisy, which is a new problem for this verse...

@MaidOfKandar : One of the worst illogical concept from S3 was that resurrection arc in the middle of the season. I almost gave up just because of this. Too many death for pure useless drama. All that Underworld stuff did not bring nothing worthy to the story. They should have skip all this. At least. if they had also lost the dagger in that rift, that would be a really good reason to get it back.

 

[Surtur]

And I've managed to make it to the 9 o'clock hour generally unspoiled in my timezone! Will backread as I watch!

The Good

* All of the emotional build-up with Ash and Brandy was actually stellar. The moment with the necklace was well-earned and actually thoughtful - the implication that Ash was doing it for Linda AND Brandy was there, and didn't need to be said.

* Pablo and Kelly advancing to being protective of others. Kelly finally got a little bit of character development in the end, going from being rude and abusive to strangers a'la season 2 and when she was a bouncer to helping them out. And Pablo protecting a little kid was pure him, and a nice callback that shows he's still him under the brujo especial stuff.

* Ash declaring Pablo and Kelly co-leaders of the future.

* The murphy's law moment of Ash getting crushed under an already-expired demon.

* Hah! Ash learned how to drive a tank from playing video games. Now I want to know how he learned how to ride a horse.

* Aww. The KOS preserved the deathcoaster.

* The SFX, especially on Kandar.

* Something of an explanation for Ash's drinking and drug taking, though that doesn't explain why he was toking up when the show opened.

* Brandy taking up the mantle of the many, many women who've given Ash a kick in the butt when he's gone self-defeating. Ash's over-the-top angst about it all was really nice too.

* The random call-back to Ash and Pablo watching the WWE together out of the blue.




The Meh

* The Deadites felt less Evil Dead than Romero or Thriller video castoffs this time. More of a shambling brainless horde than evil, mischievous creatures. Also what the hell was up with several of them shrieking like bats?

* The KOS being utterly useless and failing at intervention - until Ash got squashed by Kandar. Seriously, where were these jokers? And if they're so powerful and so far-reaching, why did their minions suck so hard at DOING anything until now? You want me to believe these people have life-preserving tech and they couldn't follow basic ideas like DON'T SHOOT AT THE EVIL UNDERWORLD PORTHOLE?




The Bad

* OK, I'll be honest - I found the ending really emotionally dissatisfying. I know why they went for it (It's a way to bring the franchise all the way back to apocalypse ending for AOD - that's likely the same cave where he slept the first time, judging from the British tone of the robot-woman, and it pulls a very fist-pumping if funny/juvenile ending . But after everything Ash has been through and how much of the season was built around Ash and Brandy, shipping him off to the post-apocalyptic future where he sits around in a pimp coat driving the deathcoster with his own cyborg woman is only satisfying on one level.

* Some truly atrocious CGI blood when Brandy and Ash killed those Deadites in the sewer.


My Verdict

I liked a lot of things about this episode, but eh, that ending. So many unanswered questions that'll never be answered, and the tacked-on happiness of it felt wrong. A lot of it worked well though.


What I Noticed

* Never run for sheriff in Elk Grove is a good moral for the show.

* Ash's space suit was definitely inspired by the one worn by Bruce in the movie Alien Apocalypse, where he plays Ivan Hood, an astronaut osteopath named after Ivan Raimi.

* The final song is the one Ash danced around to in the first scene of the pilot

* So would Kelly keep on rotting even though she's back in her body? She didn't go back to being fresh as a daisy, which is a new problem for this verse...

* Duct tape!

God, I love this franchise. And honestly? I have a feeling this isn't the end.

@Joem1k - I'm actually really curious to know how much time had passed between the first scene and the last.

Spoiler: Spoiler

as far as the Knights Of Sumeria, I would venture to guess it was Pablo that made that what it is. These are the things that would be nice to know. Perhaps maybe 5 more minutes added in in the future would’ve helped it not be SOOO much of a cliffhanger

 

[Nick el Ass]

So would Kelly keep on rotting even though she's back in her body? She didn't go back to being fresh as a daisy, which is a new problem for this verse...

I thought when Ash brought up Kane for a split second he was name dropping Kain, but when he mentioned Kane was a WWE wrestler who was half good and half bad. I must admit I was kind of disappointed. Also once they got outside Kelly looked a bit fresher, and I was happy her last words were "Get in the fucking truck," and not "Fuck me. I look like Keith Richards" which would have made for a weird epitaph except for when someone is playing the game Oregon Trail after Billy dies of typhoid while on the trip.

 

[MaidOfKandar]

Spoiler: Surtur's spoiler

as far as the Knights Of Sumeria, I would venture to guess it was Pablo that made that what it is. These are the things that would be nice to know. Perhaps maybe 5 more minutes added in in the future would’ve helped it not be SOOO much of a cliffhanger

Spoiler: Me replying!

I 100 percent believe that at the very least the cyborg girl and the dethcoaster were him, but the implication in the quick flashes of consciousness Ash has before being put in the deep freeze is that the KOS shipped him off there. So they've created that life preserving tech on their own, pre-Pablo doing anything is my guess, unless Pablo works super fast.

One other thing I noticed - after we spent so much time in episode 8 focusing on Ash and Brandy and Kelly's hell exit giving the souls down in purgatory some hope, we never go back to them/see them find their own way out. They established the thing and then did nothing with it!

 

[waifugenerator]

It just hit me but Kandar looks JUST like the demons from the first live action Scooby Doo movie. Wow cinematic parallel

 

[HECTOR4]

One other thing I noticed - after we spent so much time in episode 8 focusing on Ash and Brandy and Kelly's hell exit giving the souls down in purgatory some hope, we never go back to them/see them find their own way out. They established the thing and then did nothing with it!

That for the only thing that has served is to reinforce the idea that Kelly can be a good leader.

 

[Muzzlehatch]

Watched it today before work. One Thing that must out before I come back with more things later: I am very happy we Germans got our very own deadite plague.

 

[peltor]

And I've managed to make it to the 9 o'clock hour generally unspoiled in my timezone! Will backread as I watch!

The Good

* All of the emotional build-up with Ash and Brandy was actually stellar. The moment with the necklace was well-earned and actually thoughtful - the implication that Ash was doing it for Linda AND Brandy was there, and didn't need to be said.

* Pablo and Kelly advancing to being protective of others. Kelly finally got a little bit of character development in the end, going from being rude and abusive to strangers a'la season 2 and when she was a bouncer to helping them out. And Pablo protecting a little kid was pure him, and a nice callback that shows he's still him under the brujo especial stuff.

* Ash declaring Pablo and Kelly co-leaders of the future.

* The murphy's law moment of Ash getting crushed under an already-expired demon.

* Hah! Ash learned how to drive a tank from playing video games. Now I want to know how he learned how to ride a horse.

* Aww. The KOS preserved the deathcoaster.

* The SFX, especially on Kandar.

* Something of an explanation for Ash's drinking and drug taking, though that doesn't explain why he was toking up when the show opened.

* Brandy taking up the mantle of the many, many women who've given Ash a kick in the butt when he's gone self-defeating. Ash's over-the-top angst about it all was really nice too.

* The random call-back to Ash and Pablo watching the WWE together out of the blue.




The Meh

* The Deadites felt less Evil Dead than Romero or Thriller video castoffs this time. More of a shambling brainless horde than evil, mischievous creatures. Also what the hell was up with several of them shrieking like bats?

* The KOS being utterly useless and failing at intervention - until Ash got squashed by Kandar. Seriously, where were these jokers? And if they're so powerful and so far-reaching, why did their minions suck so hard at DOING anything until now? You want me to believe these people have life-preserving tech and they couldn't follow basic ideas like DON'T SHOOT AT THE EVIL UNDERWORLD PORTHOLE?




The Bad

* OK, I'll be honest - I found the ending really emotionally dissatisfying. I know why they went for it (It's a way to bring the franchise all the way back to apocalypse ending for AOD - that's likely the same cave where he slept the first time, judging from the British tone of the robot-woman, and it pulls a very fist-pumping if funny/juvenile ending where he gets a lot of Totally Cool Rewards For Working Hard). But after everything Ash has been through and how much of the season was built around Ash and Brandy, shipping him off to the post-apocalyptic future where he sits around in a pimp coat driving the deathcoster with his own cyborg woman is only satisfying on one level.

* Some truly atrocious CGI blood when Brandy and Ash killed those Deadites in the sewer.


My Verdict

I liked a lot of things about this episode, but eh, that ending. So many unanswered questions that'll never be answered, and the tacked-on happiness of it felt wrong. A lot of it worked well though.


What I Noticed

* Never run for sheriff in Elk Grove is a good moral for the show.

* Ash's space suit was definitely inspired by the one worn by Bruce in the movie Alien Apocalypse, where he plays Ivan Hood, an astronaut osteopath named after Ivan Raimi.

* The final song is the one Ash danced around to in the first scene of the pilot

* So would Kelly keep on rotting even though she's back in her body? She didn't go back to being fresh as a daisy, which is a new problem for this verse...

* Duct tape!

God, I love this franchise. And honestly? I have a feeling this isn't the end.

@Joem1k - I'm actually really curious to know how much time had passed between the first scene and the last.

Agreed that it is not the end. A movie looks like the most logical next step. I am sure Bruce will put his spleefs down for a few months and then after go back to his garden.

 

[Muzzlehatch]

The Good

* They really know how to use their budget. The whole apocalypse / military stuff was quite convincing. I would have liked it if they had used a whole season for this scenario.

* The same for the futuristic scenario. Since the first trailers for S3 it was more or less set in stone how the finale would end. The shot with Ash in his space jump suit and with a new hand was already there. So no big surprise. But I feared their portrayal of the future could be too campy or b-movie-ish. SciFi is a rough genre to tackle with a small budget. But I was pleasantly surprised with the whole thing. My only regret here is that they ended the whole show one tiny shot or one montage too early. I would have loved to see the Delta roaring into the glistening sun or through a atomic waste land invaded by mutated demons.

* Brandy / Arielle <3

* The emotional side of Ash. Although I still dislike some bits of the delivery. The written lines are good, but the screaming and whining Bruce regulary does is often to over the top for me.

* The necklace and everything it stands for.

* Kandar. Although I would love to get a Little more mythology exposition about this Little fellow.

* Ash's dyed black hair turning white because of fear just like in ED2.

* The Kane line. Nice throwback to the pilot.

* In general they fulfilled one of my biggest whishes by taking on many of the loose plot lines from S1.


The ... well ...

* Not that much that comes to my mind. I just found the way Ash defeated Kandar not to be that imaginative.

* Deadites hordes mostly acted like brainless zombies.

* Deadites hordes but no chainsaw?! Come on guys! For years I wanted to see Bruce as Ash slicing up a whole football field full of evil. Now there were plenty of them, but no Chainsaw?!

* While I can live with the ending Ash got, I think the rest of gang should have earned something similar.

 

[stephanieis30]

Ugh. This is such a hard pill for me to swallow, coming from a fairly new(er) ED fan. I felt like I was just breaking into such an awesome franchise, discovering its awesomeness and then its gone. Sighs.

I felt pretty satisfied with the finale, overall. I don't feel like there were any cliffhangers per say, more like little bits here and there that could have been picked up later on, in season 4 or a movie. Or something else (coughCOMICScough).

Certain parts were so rushed though; like when Pablo went into the rift to get Kelly. I felt like that could have been drawn out a little more, i.e., him searching for her in the rift. I know time in the rift doesn't match the real world's but I don't feel like he just went in, grabbed her and came back. But...I get it. Show's only half an hour. They could have easily stretched this episode out much longer.

His reunion with Kelly was sweet. And Kelly's reaction to her appearance right after was hilarious LOL.

Loved Ash's reaction over running over Pablito's Fish and Chips. "Sorry Pablo, my bad."

The part where Ash and Pablo talked about WWE made me a little sad. Throwback to season 1! Times were so much simpler.

The little girl Pablo rescued looked like the cyborg too; I'll forever wonder if it ended up being her!

The scene where the knight retrieving Ash is gonna make me forever wonder too. Who is it? Is he/she from the present or the future (I presumed the future but you never know)?

I'd like to go out on a high note and think positively about everyone's fate. I'd like to think the Ghostbeaters survived; I'm sure Pablo had something to do w/ fixing Ash's hand and is a brujo-powered jefe now, alongside Kelly - who, as many others have said - I can see being the leader of the KOS. They are looking after Brandy, who becoming more like Ash everyday.

I can't even imagine where Ash is now. I always imagined Ash having more of a limbo-ed fate; him waking up in the future was a little odd at first although I grew to like the idea of a post-apocalyptic season 4.

All's I can say now is....it's been a wild ride. Thanks for the memories Bruce & co.

 

[Kain]

 

[Nick el Ass]

I wonder if the FarFarAway site will be posting anymore images from the finale, or the rest of season 3 for that matter because in the past they always seemed to dump a bunch of extra ones after a season came to an end.

Ash's dyed black hair turning white because of fear just like in ED2.

It could be that so much time had passed, and no one was able to do any touch ups while Ash was out of action.

 

[DyD]

Ok, I finally got around to watching it (very long weekend here).

I think I have nothing to say that hasn't been said already. It was great. It was what I always wanted to see on this show. That ending was just amazing. Perfect. Not only it was perfectly executed, I'm also incredibly happy that they found a way to take Ash's story back to the original Army of Darkness ending.

I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that in the last 4 episodes they did a complete 180 in tone, atmosphere, writing and characterization and actually managed to fix everything I didn't like about the show. I think my only complaint about this episode would be that stupid pot joke that now feels so forced and out of place in the show that it only made me even more aware of how much they improved everything, specially Ash's characterization and interaction with the world around him. That and maybe the callbacks to lines from the films being a bit too lazy and gratuitous (except for the final "groovy", which was just perfect). But those complaints are just superficial nitpicking at this point, really.

And rewatching those shadowy figures dragging Ash's body from under the demon, I gotta say that my biggest disappointment with this season remains that they never properly developed Dalton and the Knights of Sumeria while still wasting precious running time on far less interesting scenes and plot lines. Oh, well. Wasted opportunities are something I've grown accustomed to when watching the show, so it is what it is. Now excuse me while I rewatch those last 5 minutes for the 100th time today.

 

[Nick el Ass]

Yeah, they really knocked it out of the ballpark with the the last half of the season.

 

[MaidOfKandar]

@stephanieis30 - if you ever want any comic recs, I'd be happy to pass along some - no need for your fannish happiness to end here!

 

[Surtur]

@stephanieis30 - if you ever want any comic recs, I'd be happy to pass along some - no need for your fannish happiness to end here!

I actually have not read them in a long time and I haven’t delved into the comics thread here yet- which did you like most?

 

[Nick el Ass]

Farfarawaysite added some final images for episodes 8-10. I'm still disappointed we didn't get to see anymore official hd images of Ash in the tank while dealing with Kandar from the finale.

 

[MaidOfKandar]

I actually have not read them in a long time and I haven’t delved into the comics thread here yet- which did you like most?

My byword is always Ash and the Army of Darkness and Ash Gets Hitched. ALWAYS. Best comics they ever put out. Space Goat's Evil Dead 2 comics are also fun, as is the Freddy/Jason/Ash comic series. Otherwise the first part of the Dynamite original arc is pretty good.

 

[Muzzlehatch]

My byword is always Ash and the Army of Darkness and Ash Gets Hitched. ALWAYS. Best comics they ever put out. Space Goat's Evil Dead 2 comics are also fun, as is the Freddy/Jason/Ash comic series. Otherwise the first part of the Dynamite original arc is pretty good.

Yeah, I also really enjoyed Dynamite's original arc (Ashes 2 Ashes and the Re-Animator crossover). My opinion the best regarding writing and a suitable visual style.​

A few years ago friends gave me a digital pack of dozens of AoD/ED Comics as a birthday present. To be honest, the most of them were quite meh in comparison.