Ash VS Evil Dead is coming to an end and Why I’m gonna let it be…

It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything – poetry, stories, or my thoughts – here on my blog. I’ve been away dealing with a plethora of things in my life such as taking care of my family and trying to figure out how to get my business going steady. At times, that can get quite stressful and I do have moments where I’ll escape in certain T.V. shows or actors.

One of the escapes I’ve had, perhaps biggest one, was watching Bruce Campbell. I dig the man and think he is one hell of an actor. It all started with me watching Evil Dead – the movie that made me love horror films. Though, it wasn’t the first horror flick I saw – that was Hell Raiser and I thought Pinhead rocked. See, my brother is big into horror movies and I wasn’t so keen into that genre.

So, after a quick search on Netflix one night, I saw Hell Raiser and decided to watch it. It was cool and I asked my brother what else he recommended.

And, three years ago, I watched 5 friends travel to a cabin in the woods and get possessed after reading the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (roughly translated – The Book of the Dead).

You read that in Professor Knowby’s voice, didn’t ya? 😉 

Without question, we pulled up Evil Dead 2 and binged watched all the way to Army of Darkness. There was this man with nothing more than his quick wit, boomstick, and chainsaw to fight the evil as well as losing those he was close to. I won’t give too much away in case you’ve not seen it. I won’t give you any shit for it either because I had just turned 33 when I first saw it myself. As luck would have it, as I became enthralled in this Universe back in 2015, it was announced that Ash VS Evil Dead was going to turn into a series on Starz and I had to watch it.

What sparked my interest was the man playing Ashley J. Williams. I loved the way the actor portrayed this character and that led me into becoming a fan of Bruce Campbell.

I’ve watched all of Burn Notice and enjoyed watching him as Sam Axe. I will say, there is a scene that sticks out in my mind from that show where he thought that this woman was going to kill him and he calls his girlfriend up and he nearly breaks down crying as he’s leaving her a voicemail; telling her he wouldn’t be able to make it for their date. Seeing Bruce cry or being hurt kills me, my friend.

I’ve seen him playing a conservative role in Ellen and a genie in Weird Science who’s a cad – albeit, a very handsome cad.

The list truly goes on and on – Brisco County JR, Maniac Cop, My Name is Bruce, and (one of my personal favorites) Running Time. The camera work in that one and Bruce’s facial expressions draw me into that world. Not to mention his roles as Autolycus, Jack Stiles, and even Santa Clause.

So, what I’m saying is this:

You see, for the past three years, I’ve had a lot of shitty moments in my life go down. The entire reason I came to Tennessee to begin with back in 2015 was to help my brother tend to my Dad who had just had a terrible vehicle accident that nearly took his life. My marriage was also failing and has officially died. And my work history has suffered. That’s life and it happens.

We also have, in this life, things to take our minds off those shitty moments. I enjoy writing (when the mood strikes), painting, drawing, and losing myself in films with a good story and fantastic acting.

Bruce does exactly that whether he’s playing Ash Williams or the Devil on the X-Files. He’s amazing at what he does as an actor and has come a long way from the first time he stepped into the role of Ash Williams all the way back in the late 1970s. And he’s done remarkable in playing that role just as Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert have made it all come to life.

But it’s come to an end.

Starz cancelled the show and made the announcement this past Friday. The fan part of me of that universe doesn’t want it to go. I kinda hate endings.

The story is mesmerizing and I love the whole idea behind it. An average guy kicking some evil dead ass, ya know? Now, I have said that I’m going to cancel Starz over on Twitter and have made my disapproval known for their decision to cancel the show. However, I’m cancelling because Ash Vs. Evil Dead was truly the only reason I had my subscription. I didn’t watch any of their other shows, so it is a waste of money on my end. I won’t end it till after next week when the final episode airs and I’ve watched it.

As far as signing petitions and all that for another network to pick the show up or participating in the New #BringBackBoomstick Movement, I think I’ll do what Bruce said on his FaceBook post and just “Let it be”.

He’s happy with the final two episodes and cites them as his favorites. From the way he’s spoken in recent interviews and Twitter posts, I feel that he wants to put an end to this chapter in his career and I can’t blame him. You can check out that interview here by Abbie Bernstein.

After all, we got three feature length films from the Evil Dead Universe and 30 episodes from the series over the course of the last, nearly, 40 years. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think anyone expected that to even happen and we’re exceedingly lucky to get that. From what I understand, they wanted to make sure that they had free range for their creativity and Starz gave them that.

In turn, they gave us fans the ride of a lifetime.

We got to meet Dana DeLorenzo as the badass Kelly Maxwell who will fuck your face with bullets and El Brujo Especial Pablo Bolivar played by Ray Santiago. Ted Raimi came back as Chet (Ash’s Best Bud) and reprised his role as Henrietta. Even  freakin’ Lee Majors made an appearance as Ash’s Dad. And Lucy Lawless kicked ass in her role as Ruby, too.

Seriously, I have no doubt that next week’s episode will be groovy as hell and it won’t disappoint.

And, to be unapologetically cheesy here, I’m sad that it’s over but I’m fucking glad that it even happened.

I’m excited to see what other projects Bruce has in the future and what he’d like to work on (after he’s had a chance to take a break and relax). The man deserves it. I’ll be keeping an eye on Dana and Ray’s work as well as Lindsay Farris.

I wish everyone well who worked to make Ash Vs Evil Dead a reality and the absolute best. Even Starz. Seriously. They stepped up and gave the show a shot. It didn’t work out the way they expected and  I get it from a business viewpoint why they made their decision. Though, I rather dislike it from a fan perspective.

In any case, I’m just going to let it be and enjoy the final episode next Sunday on Starz. I really think it’s going to make me cry. I’ve got this aching feeling that Ash isn’t going to make it…

I hope my intuition is wrong.

 

Much love to y’all and stay groovy!

~Susan Moore

P.S. If you wanna check out Ash VS Evil Dead, you can get the app here and you’ll get a 7 Day Free Trial.

P.S.S. I made a Birthday Tribute for Bruce last year if you wanna check it out. I like editing things…it’s fun.