Samurai Jack S5 #05 — World’s Fastest Face Turn
April 15th, 2017
Gee. Don't be too committed to your brain washing or anything.
Impressions:
The narrative of this episode just doesn't make much sense to me, above and beyond the starting bit with the Scottsman which just seemed like the non-T&A brand of blatant fanservice having jack all to do with the rest of the episode. It builds off of the missed opportunities last week to see Ashi as his chance at redemption too. He just kind of tries to get rid of her because she can't be redeemed, then changes her mind, whereupon she's immediately redeemed after a pretty weak montage. Then, after which, she has the personal experience about children being abused and turned into weapons of war for Aku. All the ranting about torturing her just because she knows Jack, the fun and efficiency of child soldiers, and how noble Jack is seemed custom made to be what would trigger a face turn for her… except that it had already happened some five minutes prior. The epiphany came from practically nothing, and then we got the epiphany scene afterward. Did the storyboard get mixed up? Hell, the montage could've even come after he disappeared as she sees the world in a new light and would've worked so much better.
And likewise, Jack's all is lost moment would've had more oomph to it had he seemingly failed to 'fix' Ashi before that point, ie he failed his chance at redemption. His interactions with her continue to be inconsistent and a little baffling. The seeming death of a bunch of kids is still certainly a perfectly valid thing to be upset about, but it was also a little eye-rollingly convenient that they all showed no signs of life until the moment he stepped out of the room. It would've definitely been really punctuated had he believed his ward intentionally (or recklessly) killed them, proving all his inner demons right about her and the no chance for redemption thing. Not even much actiony eyecandy this week either, although I guess hoping they could keep up the quality from the first three episodes was probably expecting a little too much.
Posted in Samurai Jack | 1 Comment »
Kind of agree with you on most of your points here. The Scotsman was indeed obvious fanservice bait. Though I took it hook, line and sinker. Love seeing the Scotsman with a plaid eyepatch and a machine gun leg.
It felt like this episode wanted to speed through things instead of having a steady pace. Stuck on an island? Jack finds a sea dragon immediately. Ashi asks him to tell her about how Aku is evil? Jack declines and then agrees 2 seconds later. The “immigration” of evil people to the planet was a bit on the nose. No inner Jack dialog. Rest of the episode felt good enough, tho.
Highlights of the episode include Jack’s tale of where the stars came from and his Pimp outfit… which he immediately lost. I feel like this show loves to show Jack’s abs.