As I hoped for, prayed for, and somewhat expected, “Books from Beyond” gets AvED
back on track, weaving some of the show’s threads together and
beginning to fleshing out the world – “fleshing out”, of course, in more
ways than just discussing the binding materials of the Necronomicon.
Charging down the road under the apocalyptic chorus of Verdi’s "Requiem,"
Lucy Lawless’s still-unnamed character arrives at Kelly’s house, now
clearly following the trail of carnage Ash leaves in his wake. This cold
open was fun for a lot of reasons, because it got us off the so-far
very linear track of the “Ghostbeaters” (the so-dumb-it-may-stick name
Pablo gives the main trio), and because Lucy Lawless is fun and badass
in pretty much everything she does. But I also really appreciate the
show’s attention to creepy, practical atmospheric effects in almost
every scene. Here it was Lucy stepping into frame as the windmill spins
behind her and cross rattles below her, just a really nice, spooky
shot. But throughout AvED, insert shots of blowing wind,
flickering lights, ominous clouds, various props rattling and shaking of
their own accord, all used to great effect to remind us that Evil is
lurking.
Anyway, Lucy pulls Kelly’s now deadified-dad out of the ground and
cruci-pales him rather awesomely. She’s grills him for information on
our man Ash, twanging the Deadites eye-fork to wheedle him. It appears
that more than just a bumbling savior of his own hide, Ash is Legend.
Well, he’s at least known and pursued by both her and the Deadites, so
he’s got at least some cosmic significance other than “guy who keeps
accidentally reading the Book Which Should Not Be Read.”
It’s cool to see a Deadite actually interacting with someone in
(slightly) more substantial way than nasty one-liners. These guys
eventually have to be more than one-off encounters, hopefully we’ll get a
least some who have plots and personalities and long-term grudges –a
Big Bad, a Boss Fight– and Kelly’s Dead Dad was our first hint there’s
some deeper scheming going on in the Deadite hive mind. (It is a hive
mind, right? They’re always saying “we”...). Of course he then gets his
face cut/melted off by Lucy’s big, presumably magic, ceremonial dagger,
so BYE-BYE Dead Kelly’s Dad (Though I’m secretly hoping she keeps his
disembodied face so it can come back and yell at us more).
Meanwhile, at Books from Beyond! State Trooper Amanda Fisher and Ash
finally cross paths as Ash brings the book to Lionel, whom Fisher had
been interrogating after finding his business card at the scene of the
trailer park murders. Ash and Lionel concoct a plan to summon a lesser
demon (“a teeny-tiny demon, like a mouse demon!”) to shake down for
information on how they can un-summon what they already have. They
settle on Eligos, “ a demon of the mindscape”, draw a chalk circle, get
to summoning and…
WHOA, when Eligos shows up he’s no mouse; that is one shockingly dope
demon. Seriously, Eligos’ crazy, shifting body was definitely the best
CG effect the show has done yet, and an excellent way to use some
digital enhancements to make a creepy monster suit way creepier. If AvED
keeps coming up with monsters this cool to supplement the classic
(beloved!) white-eyed Deadites, I will be delighted. I can also forgive
some less-than-great graphics work (I’m looking at you, floating
glass shards), if we get the good stuff where it counts (though to be
fair, Lucy Lawless’ face-melting knife also looked pretty cool).
Anyway, after being knocked unconscious and restrained when she tried
to arrest Ash, Amanda convinces Kelly to let her join the fight, where
she...immediately tries to arrest Ash. Their confrontation causes Ash to
smudge the chalk circle containing Eligos and all hell breaks loose
(GET IT?). And just as it looks like Eligos is going to scramble Ash
and Pedro’s brains, Kelly steps in, destroying it by just whacking him
upside the head with the Necronomicon itself. Which is...good to know, I
guess? Turns out knowing ancient Sumerian isn’t really needed for
unleashing the book’s awesome power.
So after a little slight-of-wooden-hand, Ash leaves Amanda handcuffed
at the bookstore (and in the clutches of resurrected Evil Lionel), and
sets off with his crew to find Pedro’s uncle, who just happens to be a
Brujo. They continue to break down Ash’s self-defined status as “an
alone wolf”, only natural after they all keep saving each other’s
lives. And though Ash and Pablo’s whole Don Quixote/Sancho Panza
schtick is still a little one-note to me, Ray Santiago and his goofy
hair keep being charming enough to make it work, and I hope we’ll get to
see him and Dana DeLorenzo grow into badasses of their own rights.
So, I’m glad the show got some more momentum this week and we got
some more information on what exactly our heroes need to do to stop the
evil. Between Lucy Lawless’ hunt for Ash and Lionel telling him the
answer is “inside”, (and of course Pedro’s insistence he’s el Jefe), it
seems Ash may actually have a whole “chosen one” thing going on, which
is always a fun place to put him.
Listen up, Screwheads:
- I swear I heard a little bit of “I Zimbra” in Lionel’s summoning incantation.
- Sadly, it appears Deep Purple’s “Machine Head” is not the only tape Ash has in the Olds. This week we’re listening to the Stooges “Loose”, which of course Ash loves as a good ol’ Detroit boy.
- Ash is unable to stop joking about Pedro’s ethnicity, calling him a “smooth brown einstein” and making sure he knows liking churros is “not a racial thing, that’s just a great desert.” It’s ok because Pedro’s not Mexican, he’s Guatemalan! Har har, etc.