Samurai Jack’s new season has been one of the best yet, but there’s no question the content has been relatively dark. The newest episode, which aired last night after a week’s hiatus, brings back some of the laughs from the first four seasons, and everyone is rejoicing.
[Warning: This will contain spoilers for the fourth episode of Samurai Jack’s fifth season.]
The episode reunited Jack with Ashi, one of the seven Daughters of Aku, whom he fought in the previous episode. Equipped with his newfound wisdom that allows him to kill people so long as his life is in danger, Jack is ready for Ashi’s immediate attack on his person. Jack doesn’t kill Ashi, however, and during one of their fights mid-air, the two literally fall into the belly of a beast. Instead of just killing Ashi and trying to find his way out, he binds her to himself and begins his journey to find a way out for the both of them.
This is where the episode really finds itself. While Jack is still battling inner turmoil about who he is and what he’s become, he has to carry around one of his greatest foes. What ensues is classic back and forth banter of Samurai Jack as Jack finally has another person to talk to who doesn’t exist in his mind. The episode is one of the funniest this season, but it also helps demonstrate how much Jack has grown. The combination of witty snipes at one another, physical comedy and the juxtaposition of the serious, life-threatening presence they’re pitted against is the recipe for comedic greatness.
“Man, I just love this,” one Reddit user commented. “Jack himself has been lost for some time now, so in order to save someone else, he needs to put on his best face. And by way of acting like his old self to try and sway Ashi, he is becoming his old self again.”
I liked this weeks episode of Samurai Jack, it was more light hearted and actually funny
— Nathan Arredondo (@RangerFanNathan) April 9, 2017
This episode was just so funny, I love Jack's new "I don't care but actually I do really care a lot" attitude. #SamuraiJack
— Bridge (@gayelectro) April 9, 2017
This episode is really funny. I guess it had to be after Jack murdered almost everyone in the last episode. #SamuraiJack
— ((Eric)) (@AgeOfMyself) April 9, 2017
Although it was always creator Genndy Tartakovsky’s plan to take Jack down a darker route for the show’s fifth season, the return to comedy was exactly what fans needed after the the first three, darker episodes. People have already begun shipping Ashi and Jack, too, after their adorable dialogue in the episode.
Although Ashi dedicated her entire life trying to kill Jack, after spending the entire episode trying to save her life from the belly of the beast, it ends with Ashi rethinking everything she thought she knew and everything Aku taught her.
Samurai Jack will probably return to its darker elements next episode, as we progress through the rest of the season. Samurai Jack airs Saturday nights at 11 p.m. ET on Adult Swim.