Whilst it could be argued that Friday The 13th: The Series was the first mainstream horror film to get it's own TV series it is something that we do see happening more and these days with both Scream and the Child's Play film having there own TV shows. Yet not alot of people remember or even know about the fact that Evil Dead has one as well and it's the second episode of that show that i'm going to be talking about today as this show really was really good when it first came out in 2015 and so then join me as I review the episode that proves that dinner with your parents can be killer with the episode is question being called simply just "Bait" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is mere moments after killing a deadite in his trailer home Ash and Pablo have to rush to their friends Kelly's parents house when she thinks that her dead mother is back alive and well. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the plot of episode being as fun as the first episodes plot was but also being serious enough for us the audience to buy into the danger that the characters currently find themselves in with this being something that is pretty much in alot of this shows episodes as they all do have plots that can be seen as being goofy and silly and that don't take themselves to seriously but that is apart of the charm of this show and it is something that does work well enough with this episode as while the episodes plot isn't as strong as the first episodes plot was it was still a plot that knew exactly what it's strengths were and wasn't afraid of being something where you don't have to think to hard. Would it have been nice if this episode did have more of the series overall plot in it yes as given that this first season was only ten episodes long they should have started getting more into the series overall plot but interms of the episodes plot it was about as good as it was ever going to get this is despite the fact that the plot of the episode would have been alot more better if it was more stronger and was more focused on it's main plot rather then picking up and dropping it's plot alot of the time with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is this shows executive producer Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams and Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar. Also starring in this episode is Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly Maxwell , Jill Marie Jones as Amanda Fisher , Damien Garvey as Mr. Roper , Mimi Rogers as Suzy Maxwell , Phil Peleton as Mr. Maxwell , Andrew Grainger as Lieutenant Boyle , Joseph Wycoff as Phil , Jacque Drew as June and Zhi Wen Gong as The Police Sketch Artist.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This was something that was genuinely quite surprising due to the fact that all of this episodes actors aren't that well known and therefor we would have no idea of what to expect from them from an acting point of view with the only known actor in this episode being Bruce Campbell and while that might be seen as a being a bad thing here it is something that does oddly work in this episodes favor as it does allow us to stop seeing the actor and to start seeing the character something which even true for Bruce Campbell coming as Ash as he is so well known in the role that it is easy to just see that character in quite literally anything that he's in. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being none other then Bruce Campbell himself with this being due mainly to the fact that he has had decades to really know Ash as a character as he did play him technically in four feature films and therefor of course he's going to be the best actor in this episode. However tho that's not to say that the rest of the actors in this episode are bad because there not infact alot of them are indeed really good in the episode it's just that Bruce has the expirence of playing the character for so long on his side with the acting thats in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Character wise this episode does start to faulter a little bit as outside of the four main characters this episodes characters just aren't that interesting. As Kelly's parents don't have much all that going for them with her dad being someone who just believes whatever his wife says to him and that's really it and her mother while she does have a reason for acting how she does in this episode is someone who comes across as the stereotypical stay at home mom only she has nothing all that interesting about her that makes her a fully formed character however tho this is something that does make sense given just what her mother really is and is therefor kind of forgivable. What isn't forgivable tho is the fact that the father also has nothing going for him and yet they do set up something that could have been interesting as they mentioned a few times in the episode that her father is a hunter and yet it never comes into play in the episode which makes it a pointless thing to include as it feels like it was something that was only added into the episode to be the payoff to a joke which would have been fine the first time around but then they mention it again moments later during the dinner scene which is something that makes it feel like it was going to be more important. The Amanda character might as well as not even be in the episode as all of her stuff is literally the side plot of the episode with none of it doing a good job of setting up who she is a character due to the fact that alot of her scenes have her either arguing with her boss or questioning Ash's former neighbors and that's and that's great for the series overall plot but when it comes to this episode it doesn't give us a good insight into her character with both Pablo and Kelly coming across as being OK which does make sense as they are the main characters of the show with the same thing even being true for Ash himself.
This episode does start something that does play a big role in the rest of this first season that being the fact that the police are hunting down Ash. This is due to the fact that they believe that he is killing alot of innocent people which is an interesting thing to include and it does make sense that they would set up this story in this episode due to the fact that the first episode was for obvious reason alot more focused on setting up the main plot and the main characters of the show and therefor it wouldn't have had the time to set up something that is essentially the side plot of the next couple of episodes as it would have made sense for them to do that in that episode. Yet here in this episode it something that does work really well due to the fact that it does make Ash's quest to stop the evil that he himself helped to unleash now have this almost ticking bomb element as we can now assume that the police are going to be red hot on the trail of our heroes even if our heroes don't know it. This is something that would have made for a great side plot for the rest of this season due to that ticking bomb element as now we the audience would be left wondering if this is going to the be the episode where they finally catch up with our heroes or if our heroes are just going to avoid them like is usually the case and yet for one reason or another it is something that does get dropped from the show and while it doesn't harm the show in a major way as it does serve as a logical way for Amanda to show up at all of these places it still would have been nice to see this looming threat in this first season of the show and while it doesn't take away anything from this episode it would have been nice if we did get a few more scenes devoted to this side plot as it is something that could have worked really well in the show as a whole.
It is hard to say exactly just what this show is as not only in this episode but in the show as a whole they have elements of both action and comedy. With them both being blended together really well in this episode infact that was one if the things that this episode did get a lot of praise for not only from the critics but also from the fans of The Evil Dead franchise on the whole and to be fair it's not that hard to see why as the action in this episode was really well done with the episode giving all of the main characters apart from Kelly a chance to shine and we do get to see alot of really cool moves be it from Ash and his chainsaw arm or from any of the two deadites that we get in this episode with both of them helping to make the action in this episode be alot of more better then what it really had any right to be. However not to be outdone by the action is the episodes comedy as while yes granted alot of the episodes jokes boil down to Ash being as dumb as a rock that is something that was also in alot of the other Evil Dead films as well with the episode finding a great balance between having an action scene and telling a joke with the jokes not getting in the way of the tension of the scene heck it could be argued that the jokes in this episode feel very character driven as of course Ash would make up a bad excuse as to why he and Pablo are covered in blood and of course he would make a comment about he and Kelly being gorgeous as he does have a huge ego and that is something that does play into that. Yet the episode itself does know when to get rid of the jokes and focus purely on the action as while yes we do get quips near the end from Ask talking about Kelly's now officially confirmed dead moms cooking they feel more like a cool way to end an action scene much like how they would have an action star make a quip in any eighties action film.
Part of what makes this episode be as good as it is is the fact that we do get to Ash and Pablo work out if Kelly's mom really is alive or if she actually is a deadite or not. With this being something that the episode does take great pride in as we get alot of scenes with them at Kelly's parents house with Ash trying and failing several attempts to get the deadite to show herself all the while Pablo is just happy that Kelly finally has her mother back this is something that could have been the entire episode as it was fun seeing Ash trying all of these different ways and yet it never got old when it very easily could have done. Maybe it was due to the fact that we all knew that she was actually going to be a deadite that kept it from getting old and therefor it seemed like Ash was going on the offensive instead of always being on the defensive when it comes to the deadites but if the makers of this show really wanted to put a new spin on it there's something that they very easily could have done and that's have it actually be her mother alive and well as that would then cause Kelly to question if Ash is really the hero of this story or not and it was force Ash to question literally everything that he knows about these creatures and yet while the episode does indeed play it safe when it comes to there reveal it's not something that hurts the episode as it does give us exactly what we came to expect from not only these films but the show on the whole and to be fair the final fight between Ash and Kelly's mother is a pretty cool fight and was the perfect way to end this episode but at the same time tho one can't help but wonder just not only how different this show would have been but how different the character of sh would have been if it did turn out to be Kelly's mother and not a deadite.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirty minuets and one second. With this being pretty much the grand total running time for the rest of the show moving forward this is despite the fact that the first episode of this show was around forty minuets but given how much that that episode had to set up and establish it does make sense why that episode was as along as it was with this episode even having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place and with this episode basically being the second part of the first episode it does make sense that this episode would be a lot more shorter as this episode has nothing to establish and is basically just about getting the main heroes on the same team. The episode does kind of use its running time very wisely as the episode does give us as fully developed of a plot that it really could have done as this is a show that doesn't really require that much of a well developed plot in order for it to work it just has to give us all of the things that we've come to expect from the Evil Dead films only now on TV and that's it and to be fair that's exactly what this episode did do. However tho the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop alot of it's characters and while this is understandable for Ash as you could make the argument that he got his character development over the course of the films which would be a fair point to make none of the episodes other characters be it Kelly's parents , Amanda or even Kelly herself get any kind of character development and while yes the latter two very well could get there's in future episodes the groundwork for that development needed to be layed down in this episode and sadly it wasn't but I really will admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episode giving us all of the over the top gore and violence that helped to make the latter Evil Dead sequels be as well known as they are and while having over the top gore and violence would be understandably enough to put people off watching this show in this franchise it's done to a degree where they both become comical much like how the violence in Tom & Jerry cartoons is always over the top. With the best kill in the whole entire episode being Suzy Maxwell as she and Ash have this long drawn out fight which takes them all over the house starting in the kitchen and ending in up in what might be the living room with jumping onto the ceiling to get a good attack in on Ash and him using both his chainsaw and gun at several points in the whole fight and heck even Pablo gets in on the action by stabbing her through the top of her head which of course doesn't work but it does slow her down enough for Ask to use his chainsaw and stick it through her chest and then cut off her head which is just such a beautifully over the top kill for this episode to have with the fact that we see all three characters just get completely covered head to toe in blood being the icing on the cake with the rest of the episodes kills being just as good with the thing that does let them all down however being the fact that there might be some CGI blood which is something that will always look bad in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this show does deserve to be remembered as it was a really good show and this episode is a good example of that as the episode does have a really good mixture of horror , action and comedy whilst also being a really fun filled episode to watch in it's own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in tis very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.