Samurai Jack Season 5 Episode 5 Review & Recap: XCVI, Things Get Interesting

Tonight was the fifth episode of Samurai Jack season 5. This episode

In last week's episode 4 of Samurai Jack, Jack was swallowed by a giant creature, and he spent the entire episode trying to escape.

But he wasn't alone: one of the Daughters of Aku, Ashi was with him -- and even though she was purely interested in killing him, he saved her life and managed to extricate her from the creature.

You can read our recap here.

At the end of episode 4, Ashi had the opportunity to kill Jack, but she decided not to. So what happens next? read on...

Samurai Jack Season 5 Episode 5 Recap

Tonight's episode begins in the desert. An army of men on tanks lines up on the battlefield, while several women in Scottish clothing play bagpipes. The men on tanks charge forward. The target? Aku's lair.

Aku emerges from his lair as a fireball, and he destroys much of he army. The women (Heather Blossoms) run while their father tries to take on Aku by himself.

He taunts Aku by telling him that the Samurai (Jack) is still out there. Aku gets angry and kills the man.

The man's daughters vow to avenge their father. From beyond the grave, the father returns, and plans to defeat Aku.

We then return to Ashi, who is still watching Jack, trying to determine what to do about him.

She has a vision of the high priestess, who insists that Aku is the one to follow. Ashi asks for the truth, but the priestess becomes angry and says that Ashi failed Aku.

Jack awakens and asks Ashi to get on a sea creature with him. They travel across the water, and eventually they reach land.

Jack thanks the sea creature, and then he bids goodbye to Ashi. But Ashi refuses to leave. She wants Jack to prove that he is good.

Jack eventually agrees to show Ashi the full truth.

He walks her through the forest, showing her the trees that Aku destroyed. He then takes her to the city of Aku, where he shows her the criminals whom Aku associates with.

Eventually, Ashi believes...and she wants to help. But Jack says "there's no hope."

Among the rubble, Jack and Ashi find a blue man, who tells them that all of the children have been taken, and they are now in Aku's factory.

Jack and Ashi find the children, and they are under a sound-based mind-control.

Ashi looks for the source of the sound, but she is caught by Aku's robots. One of the robots shocks her, while the children tear apart Samurai Jack.

Ashi and the robot get into an epic fight scene, and Ashi seems to gain some sort of shock powers.

She unmasks the robot and throws him against the electronics in the room. That appears to send a powerful sound which knocks out all of the children.

Jack is devastated, and he walks out following the man on the horse from his visions; he disappears into the fog.

Ashi enters the room with the children, and finds them awakening. But Jack is gone. She screams his name but hears no response. Where has he gone? We'll find out next time.

Samurai Jack Season 5 Episode 5 Review

This is definitely a can't miss episode. Until now, although the animation was amazing, the action was minimal. This episode (along with the final seconds of the last) is the first time we see the characters really develop.

We learn that there is another dimension to Ashi, and that the Daughters of Aku aren't purely robots. And we also start to understand how Jack can feel so conflicted about his destiny.

There's no doubt that next episode will be a can't miss one.

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