Ash vs Evil Dead
Episode 2.7 “Delusion”
Directed by Mark Beesley
Written by Hank Chilton
Created by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Lucy Lawless, Samara Weaving, Indiana Evans, Ido Drent, Rebekkah Farrell, Joel Tobeck
Starz
Air date: Sunday, November 13, 2016

Spoilers below for Ash vs Evil Dead…

Last week’s Ash vs Evil Dead saw the epic return of sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) and she was conjured through Pablo’s Necronomicon-scarred body. With Ash (Bruce Campbell) and the gang trapped in his old house, and an angry mob outside, Ash is forced to battle Cheryl again, while Ruby (Lucy Lawless) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) try to help Pablo (Ray Santiago), who is being ripped apart physically and mentally. When Ash finally kills Cheryl in spectacular class Evil Dead fashion, the townsfolk realize he may not having been full of crap about the whole demon thing, but before he can celebrate, Baal (Joel Tobeck) knocks him out.

Ash vs Evil Dead
Episode 2.6 “Trapped Inside”
Directed by Mark Beesley
Written by James E. Eagan
Created by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Lucy Lawless, Samara Weaving, Indiana Evans, Ido Drent, Rebekkah Farrell
Starz
Air date: Sunday, November 6, 2016, 8pm

Spoilers below for Ash vs Evil Dead…

Last week we met Baal (Jeff Tobeck), the father of the demon spawn that Ash (Bruce Campbell) and the gang have been battling since last season. Baal has a knack for hiding in other people’s skin… literally. After getting arrested by his old rival, Sheriff Emery (Stephen Lovatt), everyone converges at the jail. Ash’s compatriots, Ruby (Lucy Lawless), Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo), and Pablo (Ray Santiago) are joined by the Sheriff’s family, Linda (Michelle Hurd), who happens to also be Ash’s old flame, and their daughter Lacey (Pepi Sonuga). Baal messes with their minds before Ash and Ruby team up to shred a deadite in typical graphic fashion. The real story though is poor Pablo. His body is turning against him, his skin becoming the Necronomicon… although that may be what’s necessary to inevitably defeat Baal.

Spoilers for this week’s episode of AvED:

Ash vs Evil Dead
Episode 2.5 “Confinement”
Directed by Michael J. Bassett
Written by William Bromell
Created by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Lucy Lawless, Samara Weaving, Indiana Evans, Ido Drent, Rebekkah Farrell
Starz
Air date: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 8pm

Spoilers below for Ash vs Evil Dead…

Sorry for the delay, but I’m back with a recap of this week’s Ash vs Evil Dead, Episode 2.5 “Confinement.” But first, let’s catch up with last week: Our heroes were divided as Ash (Bruce Campbell) with his old buddy Chet (Ted Raimi) along for the ride did battle against his possessed car, the Delta, which had Pablo (Ray Santiago) trapped inside. Sadly, Brock Williams (Lee Majors), Ash’s recently forgiving father, is dead, run down and brain squashed by his own possessed automobile. Meanwhile, Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) and Ruby (Lucy Lawless) form an unlikely alliance to defeat her demon spawn. Pablo gets another vision from the book of his death, but he and Ash find a portal to Hell in the trunk of the Delta and finally appear to have ridded themselves of the Necronomicon once and for all. But of course then there wouldn’t be anymore show. The demon spawn’s daddy is coming”¦

Ash vs Evil Dead was unquestionably my favorite new show of last year. Debuting on the Starz network on Halloween, it picked up with a now older and not yet wiser Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), who mistakenly awoke the evil dead by reading from the Necronomicon, while getting high with a lady friend. Things did not go well from then and he was forced to once again don the chainsaw and boomstick to fight evil. Only this time he wasn’t alone. He had sidekicks Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) along for the ride, with Ruby (Lucy Lawless) in hot pursuit.

Now, the network has released the Season 2 premiere episode, “Home,” early for online viewers for free at their site. It’s also available now through on STARZ On Demand. The premiere will air on the Starz cable channel this Sunday, October 2, 2016 at 8pm EST.

I go back over 25 years with the Evil Dead franchise. As a small child, I was mesmerized by the posters and big plastic cassette boxes in the video store. My father let me wander through the horror section and occasionally get some tapes, you know, as long as I “didn’t tell mom.” My walls in college were adorned with those same Evil Dead posters I used to see in the stores, and I own various copies of the trilogy on video, DVD, and Blu-Ray. I sat front and center at NYCC last Fall to see the premiere episode of Starz’s series Ash vs Evil Dead, and I’ve reviewed every episode for this site. So it came with great pride and pleasure that I was given a chance to interview several members of the cast while on vacation with my family in Orlando. One of those members was Ash’s new sidekick, Pablo Simon Bolivar, aka Ray Santiago. Somehow I found a quiet spot outside Diagon Alley in Universal Studios.

Check out the interview below.