Jack's looms large over season 5, episode 6 of "Samurai Jack," despite being (mostly) absent

The legend of Samurai Jack 

Who is Samurai Jack?

When I reviewed last week's episode, which focused on Aku's evil, I naturally focused on the shapeshifting master of darkness himself. And that made sense; Aku was actually in the first act, and the rest of the episode showed what evil Aku had wrought upon the Earth. This week's episode is a sort of mirror image companion to last week's, focusing on the goodness of Jack instead of the darkness of Aku. But while the previous episode opened with a demonstration of Aku's evil from Aku himself, in this episode, we don't see Jack directly until the final act. We instead see him indirectly, in the effect he has had on Ashi, and on the world at large. And even though Jack is technically absent from most of this episode, through these indirect expressions, he looms large over this episode.

We open on Ashi, a now-reformed Daughter of Aku, searching the world for Jack after he disappeared at the end of last week's episode. That she cares enough about Jack to go searching for him says much about how much (and how quickly) her character has changed from the homicidal monomania on which she was raised. Yet we get to see more of Ashi in this episode than just this. In a highly symbolic gesture, she uses a pool of clean water to wash off the dark costume that a flashback reveals to us was literally burned onto her as a child. When she emerges, she clothes herself in garments sewn from nature, a fitting culmination of her character's consistent wonder for the natural world (indeed, this is what drew her away from Aku, and toward Jack). The new Ashi is still a fierce warrior, but she has now fully separated herself from the darkness of her past. It's a fairly quick journey for Ashi's character, but credibly portrayed nonetheless.

Ashi, reborn through nature.

Ashi spends this episode following clues and leads to track down Jack. In doing so, she begins to get a sense of Jack's impact on the world. She has multiple encounters with people whose paths crossed Jack's in the past: the once-subjugated elephantine people Jack freed in "Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites"; the once-cursed archers from "Jack and the Three Blind Archers" whose curse Jack broke at his own expense; the once-enslaved rave-dancing mob whom Jack freed (and taught how to dance...and they remembered the dance, and even made him a song!); the once-arrogant would-be samurai from "Samurai vs. Samurai" whom Jack humbled*. Ashi's search montage is not only a fun treat for fans (like me) who have watched the show from the very beginning, and clear proof of the advantage in a long-awaited sequel of returning virtually all of the on- and off-screen principals, who can then remember things like this.** The gratitude of those whom Ashi finds is also a testament to something the original series did not dwell on too much: the legend of Samurai Jack that has grown up in the world from all the people he has helped. It makes perfect sense in-universe that he would become a legend, and I'm glad the show is expanding on this idea. I have a feeling it won't be the last time we see some of Jack's old friends.

The legend of Samurai Jack even has its own Mockingjay symbol. 

When this episode finally does find Jack, he is in a dark place: a cemetery (possibly the one from "Jack and the Zombies," but I'm not sure). It turns out the ominous green samurai that has haunted his visions is a spirit who has been trying to convince him that seppuku -- samurai suicide -- is the only honorable course, that hope is "just a fleeting sentiment" while Jack's failure "is real" and "death follows in your wake." This spectral samurai says that Jack must "face the consequences of your dishonor, or bear the guilt of your failure for all eternity."

The end of Samurai Jack? 

Ashi confronts him just as he is about to give up. And this time, unlike last week, she's the one who dissuades Jack from an errant path. It is the proof she offers that he has made a difference in the world, in her life and the "countless innocents" that he has saved, that convinces him to stay his hand. That this new season of Samurai Jack would be willing to show Jack go down a path so dark shows how well it is taking advantage of a new rating and a new network to mature with its audience. But now that he has vanquished this inner turmoil, and regained confidence that there is hope, the conclusion of this episode leaves us no doubt that he will turn to Aku's evil next.

What happens next? For the first time this season, I am beginning to get some idea. Jack and Ashi will search for Jack's sword. Meanwhile, Scaramouch, the musical assassin Jack thought he had dispatched in this season's first episode but who survived (as merely a head), will succeed in his comical*** quest to alert Aku that Jack is currently swordless. Who will win that race? Who knows. Whatever happens, though we now know that Jack has many allies willing to fight on his side. In the end, the main journey of Jack's character may be to learn to abandon the persistent, stoic solitude to which his mission has accustomed him, and to accept the help, the companionship, and perhaps even the love of others. It would be a fitting journey for the great samurai -- and the good man -- who is Samurai Jack.

*Ashi also encounters Demongo, a formidable antagonist from season 2 whom I hope we see again, and  a short, mysterious, cloaked figure whose identity is kept from us. I hope we learn who it was. I have no idea.
**Will they remember the Guardian?
***Scaramouch's journey provides us a Samurai Jack first: the appearance of the word "penis" in the show (also now the first time the word has appeared on this blog).