Hey guys Kris here and it’s finally time, after so many years Jack’s story has officially come to an end. It’s almost surreal considering not too long ago we didn’t even think a true ending for this amazing show was even possible, so enough stalling let’s get on with the review of the final episode of Samurai Jack.
First off someone has got to pick up that phone because I FUCKING CALLED IT! Ever since episode XCVII I knew that the people that Jack saved in the past would come back to help him out and man was it just nostalgic as fuck to see so many people come together. From the The Scottsman and his daughters, dog archaeologists, Samurai Mech, Spartans, etc. Seeing everyone come together to save Jack this time, I couldn't but to give out a huge FUCK YEAH!!!
I also gotta give mad props to Greg Baldwin for his performance as Aku in this episode. He really gave it his all during Aku’s speech of Jack’s live execution. Wanting to use Jack’s death as an example to anyone who might want to oppose in the future that anyone to opposes his rule is doomed. What I didn’t expect was them to use part of the actual intro of the show during the episode. Just hearing Mako’s voice again just brought the feels right out of me.
Now despite the overwhelming amount of nostalgia I have some mixed things about the episode. One is how Ashi finally got back control of her body, basically it was...
Yeah, it took Jack confessing his love for Ashi for her to be able to gain back control, now I get it but I still felt like it was a bit too cliche and not too mention rather quick. Actually my main issue is that I felt the episode was too short to cover this final confrontation. In no time at all Ashi breaks Aku’s control over her, helps Jack get back to the past and then Aku is then finally destroyed. It happened so fast I kinda did a double take, makes me wish this episode was a hour instead, Jack didn’t even get to say goodbye to all the people that he’s helped. I was hoping for some kind of heart felt goodbye, but nne of that happens, he even has only one short conversation with The Scottsman which was rather disappointing.
I think because of how fast the pacing of this episode some of the feels didn’t hit me as hard as I thought they would've, not to mention Jack’s final battle with Aku was also disappointingly short, wish he fought Aku in the future then finished him off once he got sent back to the past.
I kinda wish we know what became of everyone else since Aku was killed in the past, how drastically different is everyone’s lives in the future. Time travel is a rather difficult thing to do in media, it’s either depicted as shown here with the future being changed due to events of the past, as in time is one straight line. Or it’s depicted with alternate realities, depending on the actions of people in the past (example of this is Dragon Ball Z). It makes me think that since Jack killed Aku in the past then Ashi never existed but then if Ashi never existed how does Jack still have those memories of her, but if she never exist then...
Time travel is just a bitch to deal with, so let’s just roll with it shall we.
Now enough about the negatives, let’s talk more about the positives, more importantly I gotta give everyone who predicted that because Ashi is Aku’s actual daughter she will be the one who gets Jack back to the past major props. I love when irony is what ultimately defeats the bad guy, first the High Priestess created the Daughters of Aku in order to kill Jack, then one of them not only saves Jack from killing himself, but she also falls in love with him. Then Aku unlocks Ashi’s powers which allows her to send Jack back to the past at the exact moment Jack got sent to future. You can see it in Aku’s face once he realizes that he fucked himself over.
And though I felt Jack and Aku’s final battle was a bit too short it was rather bittersweet seeing Jack finally destroy his long time nemesis once and for all. Relief that after 50 years Jack has finally accomplished his mission and kinda sad because I just love Aku as a character, he had such a larger then life personality, thanks in due to the excellent vice acting and he almost feels unreal that we finally see Aku get slain after so many years.
And one more thing we got to talk about that bittersweet ending, with Jack and Ashi looking like they are about to be married, Ashi then literally disappears out of existence right when she was walking down the aisle. Really Gendy, you had give one more good stab at Jack’s heart right at the end. At least we and Jack can take solace that Jack will always have those memories of Ashi and that her sacrifice saved the world.
So that’s all I really got to say, all in all despite the issues with it’s pacing this was a great finale to this series. Seeing Jack finally end this 50 year long battle with Aku, with the help of the people he’s saved, was just a sigh a relief. And I just have to say thank you so much to Gendy Tartakovsky for such an amazing series. Everyone can tell just how much heart and soul was put into this show by you and everyone else that worked on this show and big thank you for finishing Jack’s story at last after 10 years. I’m going to miss this show and I believe this series will continue to go down in history of being one of the greatest works of animation. So until then see you guys next time, I might do a season 5 review, but it’s not a guarantee though, so PEACE!
P.S. GOTTA GET BACK, BACK TO THE PAST, SAMURAI JACK! WATCH OUT!
