TV Review: Ash Vs Evil Dead Season 2

Ash Vs Evil Dead Season 2 (2016) produced by Craig Digregorio

Ash (Bruce Campbell) tries to live the good life in Florida, with booze and women aplenty. That life is disrupted when a local hottie turns Deadite and starts wrecking the place. Soon enough, Ash is on his way back home to Michigan to help Ruby (Lucy Lawless) deal with Necronomicon-related problems. On arrival, he discovers you really can't go home again. The locals call him "Ashy Slashy" and consider him a boogey man. He did kill four of his friends at that cabin in the woods thirty years ago, didn't he? Ash also sees his dad, Brock Williams (Lee Majors), who is a boozy womanizer with little understanding of and sympathy for others (guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree). Deadites start showing up all over the place (including the local morgue and the bar where Ash's old friend Chet (Ted Raimi) works). Mayhem ensues.

As I predicted in my review of Season 1, I forgot that I really didn't like the first season and gave season two a try. The return to Ash's home town brought up a lot of interesting possibilities and some paid off quite well. The overall story arc is better crafted and more engaging in this season. Still, the series suffers from too much reliance on over-the-top gore as comedy (which I know is a staple in the Evil Dead but there's a difference between campy bad taste and no taste at all). I honestly wish I could unwatch two particular scenes that were so extreme as to be unenjoyable in any way. Also, splashing blood (or other gory fluid) in people's faces isn't that funny--certainly don't do it every episode! The other comedy (Ash's bumbling, his history, and the generally smart-alecky nature of all the characters) works well.

Not recommended, unless you're an Evil Dead completist.