With last week’s team building exercise out of the way, Ash’s team is now free to move the story forward.  Also free to make an appearance is Lucy Lawless’ Ruby, who opens the ep hot on Ash’s trail.  She arrives at Kelly’s house, where she has a run in with Kelly’s now deadite daddy.  The deadite is no match for Ruby, though.  She handles him like a rag doll, impaling him on a cross while inflicting pain to gain answers on Ash’s whereabouts.  When the deadite gets a little too cheeky, she pulls out a large, carved bone hilted knife that seems similar to the one in Evil Dead II.  This one seems far more dangerous, though, as it melts the deadite’s face when she presses the blade to its skin.  Not only do we now know Ruby is a total badass, but she has really fun toys, too.

Ash and his gang arrive at the Books From Beyond shop, and the bonding continues as Pablo names their team the Ghost Beaters.  Though Ash is convinced team won’t be needed after this point, promising the group churros after this whole evil apocalypse is sent back inside the book.  Detective Fisher is leaving the shop as Ash steps inside.  He’s attracted; she’s suspicious.  Never one to dwell, Ash moves on to business, presenting the shop owner with the Necronomicon.

When the owner opens the book, Ruby feels it elsewhere.  She’s connected to the book. Interesting.

When the remaining Ghost Beaters see Fisher returning to the store with gun in hand, they follow her to aid Ash.  With Fisher knocked out and handcuffed, the gang is free to learn about the source of their problems.  The shop owner, too smitten with having the book in his possession, isn’t fazed by the unconscious cop and explains, over an animated sequence, that the book is actually harmless; it’s just the passageway for the evil on the other side to get through. Which means there’s some serious evil on the other end.

Ash, always the clever one, decides the best way to figure out how to undo his error is to summon a weak demon and simply ask how to put the evil back.  Meanwhile Kelly is on babysitting duty in the back of the shop.  Fisher wastes no time working on Kelly to release her when she comes to. Pablo is unable to convince Ash or the shop owner that summoning a demon is bad news, and they settle on a “nerd” demon that preys on the spiritually weak.

Nerd demon proves to be the wrong choice, though, when it’s far scarier than the book’s picture indicated.  As if there were a right choice. It’s ok, though, because the shop owner contained the demon in a salted circle.  That is until Fisher runs into the room trigger happy, and Ash releases the demon when he steps into the circle. Way to go, Kelly.

The battle with the demon proves difficult as he phases in and out, with Fisher once again getting knocked unconscious and the shop owner losing his life.  The demon preys on Ash’s brain until Pablo steps in.  When he, too, gets caught in the demon’s powers Kelly uses the Necronomicon as a literal weapon.  With the demon gone, Ash leaves Fisher handcuffed inside the shop and coaches the Ghost Beaters on an important lesson; cops don’t help.  They leave before more show up.

While their attempt to fix everything proved disastrous, it wasn’t fruitless.  We learned that the answer to ridding the world of evil is within Ash.  Where do the Ghost Beaters go now?  Pablo suggests his uncle, a brujo, though they haven’t exactly been on good terms.  What could go wrong?

The episode ends with Fisher in peril.  She finds herself handcuffed to the furniture and weaponless.  The shop owner rises from the dead and sees lunch.

This episode marked a perfect trifecta of narrative, character development, and humor.  Fisher and Ash finally crossed paths, though they didn’t play well together. Ruby’s brief appearance at the beginning made a huge impact.  Not only is she coming straight for Ash, and if he knew he’d be terrified, but it expanded the Evil Dead universe in such a huge way.  There are larger forces at play beyond just our plucky hero.  We got a glimpse of a demon that seemed a few pay grades higher than the deadites we’ve been accustomed to. While the show is still honoring everything we love about the Evil Dead series, it’s boldly taking steps forward into something new. It’s exciting.

While this episode gave us so many questions, one immediate question needs answering:  did the demon’s meddling in Ash’s brain have any lingering effects?