"Judgement Day" is the ninth episode of the third season of Ash vs Evil Dead and the twenty ninth episode overall in the series. It was written and directed by Rick Jacobson. It premiered on April 22, 2018.
Plot Synopsis[]
Inside the Prevett Mansion, Zoë jolts herself awake, shocked to discover she's been handcuffed to an old wooden chair as hoses running directly into her neck and wrists gather her blood in large glass jar. As she pulls at the cuffs, her captors, Ruby and Kaya (inside the body of Kelly Maxwell) enter the room. As Ruby flips through the pages of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, Kaya suggests that they stop wasting time and start running, fearing The Dark Ones will arrive at any moment. Ruby responds by saying running would be pointless, and they need to make a stand and fight. Pulling out a small knife, Ruby says she's going to make a new page of the book, one which will mask the scent of the Ex-Mortis from The Dark Ones, and walks over to their prisoner. With Kaya holding her down, Zoë begins to scream as Ruby's knife cuts into the flesh of her back, realizing the new page of the Book of The Dead will be made with her skin and blood. As Ruby begins to ink the page, Zoë flips back in her chair, escaping the handcuffs and making a run for the mansion's entrance. Weak from blood-loss and slipping in a pool of her own blood, Zoë cries as she realizes escape is futile. Kaya slowly turns the corner and approaches, and proceeds to gouge Zoë's eyes out.
The Oldsmobile comes to a screeching halt outside the Williams homestead, as Ash, a nauseous Brandy, and Pablo head inside. Taking a seat in a recliner, Brandy apologizes to Ash and Pablo for not believing in them, and puts the blame of Kelly's death on herself. Ash says it's not her fault, that Ruby is the one to blame. Having grown tired of losing so many loved ones, Ash decides it's time to take down Ruby once and for all. Before Pablo can intervene, his connection to the Necronomicon allows him to see through the book's eyes. Upon seeing "Kelly" walking around the mansion, Pablo realizes why Kelly's soul couldn't return with them from the Deadlands. Upon his "release" from seeing through the eyes of the book, Ash tells Pablo to get over to the hardware store and seal the rift before The Dark Ones arrive, while he goes after Ruby and recovers Kelly's body. Though Brandy wants to join them, Ash tells her she's too weak to fight, and leaves her with his trusty Boomstick to defend herself with should something other than them come back to the house. Father and daughter hug, and Ash departs.
Pablo arrives at the hardware store and races into the cellar, where the rift between worlds is already open. Placing his hands upon the incantations painted on the cellar wall and reciting it's passages, Pablo begins to panic as the spell fails to close the gateway.
Meanwhile, Ash drives through the night, eating and drinking Shemp's potato chips and beer whilst rocking out to Stormbringer by Deep Purple. Ash replies to the song's lyrics, saying "Stormbringer's comin' aright. Comin' for you Ruby! Time to die!"
Back in the cellar, Pablo pulls out the missing pages of the Necronomicon, hoping to find an answer as to why the rift won't close. Before he can even look at the pages, The Dark Ones themselves emerge from the gateway. Miles away, Ruby senses their return on the earthly plane, simply telling Kaya "They're here". At the hardware store, a Dark One turns it's attention to Pablo, stunning him as it snatches the lost pages of the Ex-Mortis from his grip. Just as quickly as they appeared, the cloaked demons vanish into the darkness.
Moments later, all hell breaks loose inside the Elk Lounge Bar, as patrons and employees begin to transform into manic Deadites. Pablo emerges from the hardware store and sees the chaos at the bar, narrowly avoiding being struck by the growling Kandarian Demon roaming through the street. As rain begins to pour and lightning fills the sky, Pablo warns the frightened denizens of Elk Grove to go back inside and lock their doors.
Back at the Williams home, Brandy peers through the window blinds as police sirens ring out and frightened people run down the street. A sound from inside the house startles her, to which she quickly goes to investigate with the Boomstick in her hands. Suddenly, the Kandarian Demon bursts through the front door, chasing Brandy throughout the house until she is forced to take refuge inside the tool shed at the end of the driveway. Though the demon retreats, Brandy remains trapped inside, where she receives a phone call from her dead mother. Suddenly, her cell phone comes to life, growing a flesh-like case with sharp teeth that clamp-down on her thumb. Shaking the demonic device off, she screams in horror as blood spurts out from her partially missing thumb.
At Prevett's house, Kaya prepares for the coming of The Dark Ones by making a protective ring of blood across the floors and walls. Just as Ruby inserts her new page into the Necronomicon's flesh binding, Ash arrives, taking "Kelly" hostage and demanding that Ruby remove whatever spirit is inside his friend's body. Before either Ruby or Ash can make their move, the eyeless Deadite Zoë digs her claws into Ash's calf, which he quickly deals with by using his chainsaw to lop off her arm.
Inside the tool shed, Brandy begins to panic as evil begins to toy with her mind, using her mother's voice to taunt her. Growing irritated with ridicule, she hunts down the phone (now having grown arms, legs, and large eyes) and eventually manages to obliterate the possessed phone with an old snow plow. Outside the shed, Brandy hears Pablo calling for her. Running to the safety of his car, Pablo tells Brandy that The Dark Ones have made it through the rift and have the lost pages, and that they have to find Ash before the demons can reunite the pages with the book itself.
Back at Prevett's, Ash is getting tossed around the living room by Ruby as she demands to know where the rift is. As Ash goes to jab her with his chainsaw, Ruby rips the weapon right off his stump and crushes it with her bare hands. As Kaya goes to attack Ash herself, The Dark Ones suddenly materialize inside the house. From beneath a table, Ash watches as Kaya's soul is ripped out of Kelly's body, where it is then placed back into Kaya's original body. Ruby watches in horror as her companion's body burst into flame, screaming in agony as The Dark Ones inflict their punishment upon her until she is nothing but a charred skeleton. As The Dark Ones turn their attention to Ruby, Ash emerges from his hiding spot and drags Kelly's lifeless body to safety and grabbing the Necronomicon. Ruby defiantly tells The Dark Ones that soon they will suffer the same fate, and humanity's savior will destroy all of them. Then, her soul is absorbed by The Dark One which holds her in it's grasp as her body turns into a brittle husk which shatters upon the floor.
Behind the wheel of his car, Ash celebrates Ruby's death with a Shemp's as he speeds back into town. Using the Necronomicon, Ash speaks directly to Pablo, letting him know he's on his way back to the rift at the hardware store so they can retrieve Kelly's soul. Pablo begs Ash not to go to the rift, though his cries are not heard by Williams. Suddenly, Ash plows into two Deadites standing on the road, both of which explode into bloody blobs on his windshield. Its then that Ash hears a broadcast on the car's radio about rioting on the streets of Elk Grove, which he sees for himself upon arriving back in town. Just as Pablo and Brandy make the turn onto the main road through Elk Grove, Ash swerves out of their way, sending the Oldsmobile directly into the front of the Elk Lounge. Before Pablo and Brandy can exit, The Dark Ones arrive on-scene, ripping Ash out of his car and obtaining the Necronomicon. Brandy rushes over to him as Pablo sneaks closer to The Dark Ones, who are placing the lost pages back into the Ex-Mortis itself. He runs into the bar, only for The Dark Ones to swat him away as if he were a fly. With the book completed, the cloaked demons vanish once more.
Pablo runs over to Ash, telling him that The Dark Ones have the book. Suddenly, an ominous demonic chant fills the air about Elk Grove, and the blacktop streets begin to crack in half before an enormous sinkhole opens several yards away from the trio. The three step closer, only for a giant hand to emerge from the depths of the hole...
Cast[]
Starring |
Guest Starring
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Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Behind The Scenes[]
Soundtrack[]
- Stormbringer - Deep Purple (Stormbringer; 1974) (Heard during Ash's drive to the Prevett Mansion)
- Vehicle - The Ides of March (Vehicle; 1970) (Heard during the Deadite outbreak inside the Elk Lounge Bar)
- Human - Rag'n'Bone Man (Human; 2016) (Heard during end credits)
Trivia[]
- References to other Ash vs Evil Dead episodes:
- Ash mentions his father and Chet Kaminski among those he couldn't save from evil. Brock Williams died in Last Call, and Chet in Trapped Inside.
- Upon making his presence known in the Prevett house, Ash tells Ruby to "get the gum out of your ears and listen up", a line he previously used in the Season Two episode Home.
- References to The Evil Dead:
- References to Evil Dead II:
- Brandy's chase throughout the house by the Kandarian Demon is an homage to the scene in Evil Dead II where Ash is chased by the same demon through the Knowby cabin.
- Brandy's vision of lopping off her evil infected hand is an homage to Ash's cutting off his own hand in the cabin's kitchen.
- Two lines of dialogue Brandy uses during her fight with her possessed phone ("You're going down!" and "Who's laughing now?") were first used by Ash in Evil Dead II.
- References to Army of Darkness:
- Ash warns Brandy about the Boomstick having a hair trigger, a feature which he explicitly mentioned during his famous "Boomstick" speech in Army of Darkness.
- The scene in which Brandy holds the door of the tool shed shut with her body as it is attacked by the Kandarian Demon mirrors the scene in Army of Darkness in which Ash runs into the windmill and braces the door with his own body to prevent the demon from breaking in.
- Brandy tells her possessed phone to "Come get some", which was a line first spoken by Ash during the "S-Mart ending" of Army of Darkness.
- The show on Ash's television when Brandy is alone in the house is The Ghoul Show, a low-budget syndicated "horror host" television show hosted by Ron "The Ghoul" Sweed. In the mid-1970s, Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi made several appearances on The Ghoul Show during the time in which the program was exclusively produced and broadcasted in Detroit (from 1977 to 1979). A poster for The Ghoul Show had previously appeared in Ash's bedroom in the Season Two episode The Morgue.
- All licensed songs appearing in this episode (Stormbringer, Vehicle, and Human) were released on albums which used the titles of the song as the name of the album.