Samurai Jack Review: S5E9 - C (Jack vs The Daughter of Aku)

The penultimate episode of Samurai Jack continues on from the kissing scene of the previous
episode, with Jack and Ashi acting flustered and dorky about their newfound affection for
one another.
While I was hesitant about the two splitting up, I mean, there could be another convict
hiding aboard the crashed space prison somewhere, nothing dangerous occurred from the two scouting
the area separately, other than Jack’s naked form getting peeped on of course.
Jack’s inner self, the old worn-down survivor persona he used to have, doesn’t haunt him
but rather gives him a word of warning.
[“Be careful.”]
Jack has never fallen in love before, and it can lead to new danger and even greater
loss, and this realization stirs up some apprehensiveness in Jack.
Ashi asks about Jack’s past while they munch on a painfully chewy meal, and he reminisces
about the life of leisure he had as an 8 year old child.
I don’t how and where Ashi picked up on indirect language so quickly [Ashi: “Was
there a girl?”] and that actually caught me a bit off guard.
She went from somebody unsure why deer would nuzzle each other to somebody more aware of
such things than a 70 or 80 year old man.
I guess that just goes to show how romantic feelings really never did cross Jack’s mind
a single time during his whole life leading up to this point.
Jack has come to terms with the realization that he won’t ever be able to go back to the past.
[Jack: “It is the only way I will ever see it again – as a memory.”]
Although clearly the thought still pains him.
In a stereotypically cheesy move, he abandons Ashi in the night because he’s afraid tragedy
will befall her if she sticks with him.
Although yeah, in the end, I guess his hunch was correct.
While I don’t have any specific issues with the first portion of the episode, such lukewarm
moments of bonding feel like events that should have occurred earlier in the season, and not
when we’re already in the penultimate episode and quickly approaching the finale.
I couldn’t help but just want things to move along already; their newfound romance
is clearly meant to up the stakes and make things even more of a potential tragedy, but
trying to flesh it out further this late into the game just made me feel impatient rather
than appreciate what I was watching.
Scaramouche unintentionally giving Aku misinformation was minutes of this episode that I thought
could have been skipped altogether.
The scene wasn’t particularly amusing, and just felt like time wasted more than anything else.
Plus, if Aku just showed up with no warning, it would have made a far bigger impact, and
the we could have easily inferred that Scaramouche relaid the information and got his body back
as he was with Aku at the time.
I honestly wish they had just scrapped this scene altogether and allotted the precious
time to… practically anything else.
My interest was peaked, however, when Jack ventured to the portal that the Guardian watched
over in the past.
Aku wasn’t kidding when he said he destroyed every single time portal, because yup, this
one is also no more and the Guardian himself bit the dust as well, showcased by his broken
glasses in the sand.
Really, we should have assumed the time portal was gone already, but I thought it was nice
to get confirmation in this subtle manner.
Although this scene would certainly leave anybody who hasn’t watched the original
series pretty confused.
When Jack and Ashi reunite and are at their most hopeful, Aku shows up and does his usual
taunting, and I have to ask: why did Jack not use the element of surprise to try and
cut Aku down here and now!?
It’s the perfect moment!
Sure, I can understand not jumping at the opportunity in the original, but after all
the pain and anguish Jack has suffered through for 50 years, you’d think he would be more
no-nonsense when finally face to face with Aku with his sword in hand?
But no, Jack-o just draws the sword-o with a glare to let Aku know he has it.
Why Jack?
You big dumb idiot!
Then Scaramouche dies because his plot purpose has been fulfilled.
He brought Jack and Aku together not to accidentally provide Jack with a surprise attack like I
thought was gonna happen, but rather his actions allowed Aku to take control of Ashi!
Turns out this wasn’t merely a random deranged cult; Aku actually visited them, and birth
was given to literal Daughters of Aku after all!
He gave them some of his essence, and drinking said essence will apparently somehow impregnate
you, and yup… one-night stand Aku.
I now want to know why the cult chose to indoctrinate the Daughters of Aku with lies about Aku’s
true nature even more.
Wouldn’t it have been more effective raise them up being evil?
Sadly, since there’s only one episode left, I don’t think I’m going to get the exploration
of the machinations behind this cult that I so desperately crave.
But the action from this point on was… on-point.
It was really freakin’ sweet all the way to the end of the episode.
Jack tries to help Ashi mentally overcome Aku’s control.
[Jack: “Ashi!
You are not your father, you are not your mother, you are your own person.
You are good.
You can defeat him from inside!”]
And I gotta agree with Aku here.
[Aku: “Boring.”]
Had the conflict been resolved with Ashi simply overcoming the control Aku exerts over her,
that would have been a rather boring resolution.
Instead, Ashi gets a badass transformation and becomes so cool!
The combat was completely captivating to watch and the moves Ashi was able to pull off in
Aku-mode were downright awesome!
The fight choreography was really something special.
Ashi manages one final plea after being sliced by Jack’s sword, for him to end her life
and slay Aku, but Jack is shaken and unable to continue.
He drops his sword and renounces his purpose.
I gotta be honest, I do think the scenario had a small amount of cheese to it, and the
music choice during the emotional moment wasn’t doing it for me, but nevertheless it was fairly compelling.
I do think jamming the characters into a romantic entanglement for the purpose of making this
development be more tragic is a bit cheap, and you can clearly see how the script was
stitched together to achieve this purpose, which did dampen my ability to feel emotional
about this scene.
The feeling that Ashi is a plot device was stronger for me than the feeling of how sad
this scenario could potentially be, so I remained somewhat detached.
But that ending art, Aku relishing that he has finally gained pocession of the sword
that has haunted him for so long; aaagh, it was just such a good ending shot!
I loved it.
Ohmyglob it was so glorious!
I’m very curious for what happens next; how will things resolve?
The Scotsman has to come back next episode, there’s absolutely no way they would just
abandon his plotline.
If Ashi is part of Aku, if she does regain some control, could she actually be the one
to open a time portal for Jack?
Perhaps we’ll even have even another timeskip, and the vision the Guardian saw will actually
come true for the finale?
Who knows, there’s so many possibilities, and that gets me really excited.
Overall, I have fairly mixed feelings on this episode.
The fight was cool and the ending scene was amazing, but a lot of the other portions of
the episode didn’t really resonate with me.
I also wish the background design was a bit more interesting; visually I would say this
might be the weakest episode of the bunch, which is a shame as it had one of my favorite
fights in the revival.
A few background designs were sweet, but for the most part this dessert remained rather bland.
But hey, this is not the finale, it’s events leading up to the finale, so I really hope
the conclusion can just blow us all away.

Samurai Jack Review: S5E9 - C (Jack vs The Daughter of Aku)

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