Books from Beyond

Ruby Knowby (lovely Lucy Lawless) follows Ash's path of destruction, keen to lay her hands on his Necronomicon. Ash and his pals have taken the ancient tome (bound in human flesh and written in blood) to a book specialist who summons a demon (a wimpy one, teeny tiny like a mouse) to help them reverse the spell that has released an ancient evil into the world. Their plan doesn't go smoothly and they end up battling the demon.

This episode seems to be a little less gory than the previous two blood-soaked efforts, but makes up for the toned down gore with some cracking lines of dialogue ("I'm an alone wolf"), a really creepy demon, and the aforementioned warrior princess, Ms. Lawless, making it lots of fun for fans of both fantasy and horror. I'm still hooked.

We left the band with an objective in mind: go to the bookstore and talk to the guy there, who could read the book and help them in sending the deadites back to where they came from. The police detective was also going there, so a meeting there was expected. The third, but more mysterious of the threads so far, was about Xena... I mean, Lucy Lawless's character. Who is she and what is her purpose?

This episode doesn't advance the story much, but we get a couple of funny quotes and some cool action, even though I felt that the levels of blood and splatter had cooled down a little bit. Must be a one episode thing, as I am pretty sure it will be back next episode with a vengeance. Cambpell owns the character, so I have the feeling he could do Ash in his sleep and we wouldn't notice and still enjoy it. His "team" does a good job too, as they are not annoying and couple well with Ash.

The most important point of this third episode, for me, was that we get to see a little bit more of Lucy Lawless character, and we get some nice information that I'm pretty sure will be important in latter episodes.

Fun but the weakest so far.

'Books from Beyond' is a slight comedown from the first two episodes of 'Ash vs. Evil Dead', if only in the sense that it's not as lively and outrageous. It mostly serves as exposition and set-up, with Ash and company going to the title weirdo bookstore to see about translating the language in the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. Unfortunately, Ash gets the "bright" idea to have the proprietor, Lionel Hawkins (Kelson Henderson), summon Eligos (Ben Fransham), a minor demon, so that he can pose the question of how to stop the madness. The demon, of course, has other ideas.

There are some good lines, and the easygoing chemistry between Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, and Dana DeLorenzo is maintained. Ruby Knowby (Lucy Lawless) is given more to do here, as *she* begins picking up Ash's trail, arriving at Kelly's homestead and conducting her own interrogation (of Kelly's still quite lively dad). Trooper Amanda Fisher meets up with Ash and gang, or the "Ghost Beaters", as Pablo likes to think of them, and almost ruins everything by persisting in her efforts to arrest Ash.

Perhaps most intriguing is Ruby. At this point we don't know what her deal is, or what side she's on. All we know is that she's after the book.

All in all, this series is proving to be a highly agreeable continuation of the themes from the feature films.

Seven out of 10.

I like the way this show starts – you get a quick recap of what's what, before the series thrusts you into the action – much like the beginning of Evil Dead II.

In this episode Ash, Kelly and Pablo (who keenly names the group "The Ghost Beaters") head to the store where Ash originally brought the book from. We are treated to some interesting mythology here, as the creation of the Necronomicon is explained to us.

Ash has the clever idea of releasing a demon from the book to ask him to explain how to get rid of all the chaos and destruction that is going on. Needless to say it doesn't turn out as he hoped, and the team is left to fend off Eligos, one of the creepiest looking creatures I've seen on TV is some years. The effect on the creature are superb - really movie level stuff. And if you look carefully after Kelly bashes him on the head with the Necronomicon, he'll probably be back soon.

A mysterious new character, Ruby Knowby, is introduced. She's clearly up to something (though I hope the actress playing her improves in the coming episodes).

'Books from Beyond' opens on just the right note: Lucy Lawless, in hot pursuit as well as a bad mood; who she is isn't clear yet, and she's obviously after the Necronomicon - either way, a good-looking woman tearing asphalt in a Challenger, that's a personal button.

This episode doesn't have the electricity of its precursors, and most of it is spent in a dusty bookstore dealing with an awakened demon (who oddly sounds like Dr. Claw); I got a real '90s vibe from the occult goings-on and it almost felt like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". That said, the wicked banter is still alive and well and this is far from a boring 30 minutes.

7/10