Ok I did watched the second half of season 2...
The whole asylum moment is still enjoyable. Except from bad dialogues and bad sex jokes, the whole sequence is still creepy. There's flaws but the Asylum part is still "The highlight" of the second season. The only disapointement I have is, all this lead to nowhere...I'll explain later.
Then the characters go back in time to save Pablo....So here we go again, a big compilation of everything they already done in the previous movies in the last two episodes.
I'm not going into detail of the whole cabin arch. It's a mess. They tried very hard to add a twist and a give us a big reveal with Pablo's Death, but it just missed the target. They put everything and everyone available to make it as big as possible. Unfortunately too much is just like not enough. Too much recycled ideas from the previous movies, too much characters, to much repetition. It's a poor's man Evil Dead II with elements of AoD : Simply unoriginal and bland. It's not even nostalgia, simply bad rip off.
They even repeated the deal idea from S1 and oh! Don't forget to add a scapegoat that will eventually die. In S1 it was the camp girl and S2 the student.
Now I think I kinda explain the time travel mess. It's not explained at all but everything was about THE DEAL They went back in time to change it but instead it turn into another deal. So they did win the deal, save Pablo (Because this is what the deal was all about) and went back to their OWN timeline. The deal was not about anything else, so they send back everyone where they belong. I know it still a mess, and not is fully explained because of bad writing, but it's the most logical thing I've found.
As I told earlier, everything lead to nowhere. The biggest flaw of the season is there's no real consequence. I mean they fought Baal. They should have gain or lost something along the way. Baal left no heritage. Someone should have gain a power, be cursed, or anything that should affect them on season 3. Baal is just a forgetable character that left no trace in S3. Yes they get Pablo back but he still the guy with the Necronomicon power. Nothing more.
S2 is not worthy just because of that. Because the writers push the reset button at the end of the season. So only half of the season have some valuable information for S3. The rest didn't really happened. Just like every sitcom. Everything must be exaclty the same at the end of the story.
I'm not going to watch S3 soon. It's still fresh and I'll wait a bit before watching it again....
Season 2 = few good moments, that's all.
It's a shame that anyone didn't enjoy this season or any of the series or thought that it was a waste of time.
There were consequences, there was meaning.
Ash discovered/realized/remembered that he wasn't responsible all those years ago for unleashing the evil through that book, it was Knowby. That's gotta be somewhat of a relief of burden on his mind/psyche. That this wasn't all completely his fault, that maybe he can move on from this.
It wasn't just about getting Pablo back. It was about undoing everything from that point forward (1982) before him and his friends went to that cabin. Fighting Baal led to the cabin burning down and a lone evil Ruby (that killed the Good Ruby).
They did change things and did not go back to their old timeline (remember the burned down cabin in Season 3 and the ending of Season 2). But Fate remains very similar. There is a prophecy to fulfill and it always finds a way. Ash and his friends still went to the cabin (in Tennessee, as seen in the first film, because the one they were going to go to in Michigan burned down). So things play out very similarly. And now, Ruby is surveilling Ash instead of looking for him (like in the last timeline). She's preparing and we see the results of that in Season 3.
And while fighting Baal, Ash faced the guilt of his family/friends dying: Chet, Cheryl, and Brock.
Regret (and Betrayal) are the themes of the season. Also, paranoia and fear. And the past.
Ruby - "Part of me is already regretting calling you here."
Ash - "Get used to that feeling."
It starts with Fear, the obvious.
Fear of the past.
Fear of the town that Ash ran from.
Fear of the place that betrayed Ash due to paranoia.
Fear of Kelly not having a purpose/path.
Fear of Pablo's future that he sees where he's constantly killed (by his own friends).
Fear/paranoia of what's inside Pablo and if he'll turn on them and betray them.
Baal symbolized the enemy within: Regret/Fear/Paranoia/Betrayal (hiding inside all of us).
Just as Ruby regrets getting involved with Baal (leading to betraying him), Ash regrets going to that cabin and finding that book, he regrets how things went down with his father, how he couldn't save Cheryl or Chet or any of his friends.
Just as Ruby regrets who she was, she regrets having those kids (who betrayed her).
Kelly regrets following Ash.
Brock comes to regret not believing Ash.
Which leads to fear/paranoia.
The town fearing Ashy Slashy and Ash fearing himself and what he's done (very much explored in the asylum).
Ash fearing his failure as a son and a person (driven home in the bar episode).
Kelly fearing an aimless path (again, the bar episode).
Pablo was their voice of encouragement for both Ash and Kelly in that bar.
Which is why Pablo is what saves them in the asylum when all hope seemed lost.
Which is why Pablo is what they seek in the end of the season:
Pablo represents their courage/innocence-lost.
He's paranoid and full of fear throughout the season, but then is courageous and literally kills that Regret/Fear/Paranoia/Betrayal (Baal).
Hey,
BAAL is hiding within
BetrAyAL.
It's what he does best.
Which leads to the betrayal within them all.
That time Kelly sees herself (the evil version) telling her that they don't need Ash.
Kelly always reminding Ash that it is his fault.
Pablo having visions of betrayal.
The Delta betraying Ash.
Ruby betraying her kids and killing them.
Emery betraying his wife.
Hey, we find out that Cheryl betrayed Ash by locking him in the trunk.
So Ash gets her back by killing her again in front of everyone.
Ash betraying and killing Pablo and Kelly (their imagined counterparts) in the asylum.
Then Linda betrays Ash to get her daughter back.
Kelly initially betrays Linda by lying about her daughter dying.
Ash seemingly betraying them all as Ashy Slashy.
"Pablo" seemingly betraying them by refusing to take them back home to 2013 (though that was Bill).
Knowby betraying the student from Wisconsin.
Henrietta betraying Ash.
Ruby betraying Ruby because she finds out that she betrayed her kids who betrayed her because of Baal, who she betrayed.
Ash, in a way, betraying Kelly at the end by using her life as a bargaining chip. (Baal also means 'dominion' or 'husbandry'; to take a wife; ownership)
Ruby betraying Baal once again.
That's after Baal betrayed Ash by not honoring the deal.
Which happened after "Chet" reminded Ash that he betrayed him and let Cheryl kill him.
And then Ash betraying his "father" by drowning him.
There are many examples of this, even with minor characters, throughout the season.
Ash even betrays and punches Pablo in the face after he saves the world. But then he apologizes.
Even ends with a hint of foreshadowing betrayal from Kelly, who looks at Ash and Pablo with sly disapproval when Ash says they are here to stay in Elk Grove (she leaves them, as we discover in Season 3).
And this even reverberates to the plot of Season 3: Ruby betraying Brandy to manipulate her into betraying Ash, as well as using Kelly's body (Kaya) to betray Pablo and Ash.
So there's your heritage, pal.