Review: Samurai Jack “Episode XCV”

Back with more Jack!

Some Spoilers Below

I gotta say, it’s quite satisfying to watch Samurai Jack slice through hordes of enemies with ease. With that being said, this week Jack found himself trapped inside of a giant worm-like creature alongside Ashi the assassin. Ashi is one of the assassins from the Daughters of Aku and is obsessed with ending Jack’s life. I thought she may have perished in the fall from the top of the trees but she is alive and deadly. Are her other sisters alive as well?

It was interesting to see Jack argue with his subconscious once again. They are opposites side of the same coin. Jack good hearted nature wants to save Ashi and show her the errors of her ways and even goes as far as to refer to her as an innocent. Jack’s subconscious, however, thinks they would be better off if she was, “removed” from the picture. Hysterically enough, even Jack’s subconscious knows that talking him out of saving her life is futile when she is briefly abducted by a carnivorous creature that inhabited the insides of this larger creature. Jack is convinced that Ashi just needs to be shown the light in order to see the error of her ways.

This proves to be a different type of episode that presents Jack with an actual obstacle to overcome instead of nonstop fighting. One thing that Samurai Jack did well in the past, had entertaining episodes that didn’t solely revolve around slicing and dicing Aku’s minions. This episode proves that Samurai Jack still hasn’t lost its touch and is able to do more than just rely on an action-packed fighting scene. That being said, this episode is still very entertaining and still has a ton of action packed into it. I was fascinated by the interesting sights of the environment of the belly of the giant worm and found these same sights to be visually stimulating and cause a sense of wonder and awe. With past episodes of Jack being set in a futuristic world filled with bright neon lights, it was pretty cool to see these psychedelic scenes that contrast futuristic feel and could be similar to what life is like in the deepest depths of the ocean. We even get to see Jack’s adaptability as he makes some sweet looking armor out of the leftover carcass of a parasite. Clearly, Jack hasn’t completely lost his mind.

When Jack finally escapes the worm with Ashi in tow we find our hero in a new environment. They are seemingly stranded in the middle of a large body of water on a very small island. Here, Ashi has a flashback of her own. When she was younger, she had stopped a sparring exercise in order to ensure the safety of a ladybug who had intruded in the fighting space. Her master had then proceeded to kill the ladybug, claiming it was of no importance to the mission of killing Jack. Ashi was confused and possibly hurt by this event. While they are stranded on this island together she sees a swarm of ladybugs gather around Jack. She has to be wondering how do these ladybugs find Jack to be kind enough of a spirit to want to land on him knowing they will be unharmed, while her master would’ve killed these same creatures with no remorse.

I had a thought from an earlier episode that if there was one daughter of Aku who could be swayed it would be Ashi. It could be possible, Jack sure seems to see the good left in her and after all, how evil can she be if she has a soft spot for ladybugs? Jack seems confident that once she sees that Aku is the true evil that she will change her ways. Right now Ashi’s faith in what she knows definitely seems to be shaken and leaves me wondering how her character will grow and what will her future relationship with Jack be?

It was a refreshing break from the action-packed premieres we just had, yet still had enough excitement to deliver some adrenaline-fueled scenes that we know and love Samurai Jack for while showcasing another, more versatile side to our favorite time traveling samurai. I have yet to be disappointed and this series continues to deliver.