[9.8/10] You can either die or deal out death. That’s the choice Jack is faced with on a harrowing, but oddly uplifting episode of the show’s already brilliant fifth season. After so much intensity so quickly, “XCIV” takes some time to slow down, let Jack recover in heartening terms, and grapple with whether to give into his longing for this all to be over or whether to value his quest and his life more than the flesh and blood human being raring to extinguish both.
It’s one of the most beautiful meditations on taking a life that I’ve ever seen. We see Jack grappling with a manifestation of his own self-doubt, this time more caricatured and exaggerated to convey the messiness and unruliness of his thoughts. We see him painstakingly dig a dagger out of his own gut, a reminder of the added mortal costs of real humans fighting and killing one another, apart from the nuts and bolts of Jack’s usual foes.
And in his fever dream, we see a flashback to Jack’s childhood, where his father dealt with bandits and attackers in just as lethal, just as bloody terms, to the shock of his young son. There is a subtle message in these memories, where Jack’s father tries to show mercy to the foes apt to do harm to those he loves, but when pushed, does not hesitate to spill blood. When your loved ones face a mortal threat, that self-defense, even in lethal terms, takes on a different moral character, something Jack has to reckon with and ultimately accept here.
There’s also a not so subtle message there, that we are defined by our choices and the actions we take. Those bandits from Jack’s childhood, the Daughters of Aku, are each given a choice to walk away from the fight and not face mortal comeuppance. Jack himself chooses to define himself as someone who perseveres, who like his father will defend his loved ones even if it means taking a life, who will swallow his own fifty years of hardship in pursuit of a greater cause even when it would be so easy to just let go. For so many shows, death is such cheap currency, and whether I fully agree with its take or not, it’s nice to see Samurai Jack deal with the issue in such thoughtful, artistic tones.
It’s also nice to see Jack get a chance to slow down and heal and recover. So much of this season’s early going has been up after up after up. Letting the audience bask in the tactile, gut-wrenching, but ultimately soothing process of Jack healing from his stab wound is a pleasant break in some ways. There’s a slowness and steadiness that the show would often engage with in its original run, and we see it again here, with dusky blue hues and a more relaxed pace that lets us fully appreciate Jack’s struggle, conundrum, and resolution.
We also get to see him bond with a wolf! I wondered if the little vignette we saw in the last episode was just going to remain as a sort of visual metaphor for Jack’s own brutal fight, or if it would connect in some way. Seeing Jack bond with that wolf (who, and this is a reach, may represent his father in some way?), is so heartening. The way they share meals, treat one another’s wounds, and even curl up in the cold together, shows that for all the brutality each is capable of, they are each essentially kind, compassionate, even gentle creatures, and that what they have to do to save their own lives doesn't neutralize that.
The fight scene that follows may be this show’s most virtuoso bit of combat ever, which is high praise. There is a spiritual element to Jack knowingly breaking the bonds of life and death for the first time. His emergence through the white rush of snow is stunning. The fluid, kinetic progression of his fisticuffs with the Daughters of Aku features some of the show’s very best choreography and cinematography. And his weaponless stand-off against the final three on the edge of a tree branch feels so simultaneously solemn and badass, an affirmation of Jack finding his center and his will to go on again, which allows him to defeat even these fearsome enemies.
There’s a parallel drawn there between Jack and the Daughters of Aku. When we see his mutual kindness with the wolf, we recognize that despite Jack’s fierceness in battle, he is a gentle soul, one raised to appreciate that sort of compassion by his parents. In contrast, as we see the Daughters of Aku on their gorgeous, relentless march through the river lands, we see them utterly baffled by a strong stag showing affection to a doe. They know only strength and destruction, not love. If I may be so bold, it is that love that revives Jack, and which gives him a truer weapon against the spiritual emptiness of the poor abused girls she squares off against and allows him to win the day.
I don’t know folks. Recency bias is a hell of a thing, but if you put a magic sword to my throat right now, I might call this one the best Samurai Jack episode ever. It is so deep in its meditations on killing, so potent in its depictions of healing and recovery, and so brilliant in the way it conveys this meaningful, furious fight between masters of their form. Whether or not it’s the apotheosis of the whole show, this is a damn high water mark, and i can’t wait to see what more is in store.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-13T15:08:47Z
[9.8/10] You can either die or deal out death. That’s the choice Jack is faced with on a harrowing, but oddly uplifting episode of the show’s already brilliant fifth season. After so much intensity so quickly, “XCIV” takes some time to slow down, let Jack recover in heartening terms, and grapple with whether to give into his longing for this all to be over or whether to value his quest and his life more than the flesh and blood human being raring to extinguish both.
It’s one of the most beautiful meditations on taking a life that I’ve ever seen. We see Jack grappling with a manifestation of his own self-doubt, this time more caricatured and exaggerated to convey the messiness and unruliness of his thoughts. We see him painstakingly dig a dagger out of his own gut, a reminder of the added mortal costs of real humans fighting and killing one another, apart from the nuts and bolts of Jack’s usual foes.
And in his fever dream, we see a flashback to Jack’s childhood, where his father dealt with bandits and attackers in just as lethal, just as bloody terms, to the shock of his young son. There is a subtle message in these memories, where Jack’s father tries to show mercy to the foes apt to do harm to those he loves, but when pushed, does not hesitate to spill blood. When your loved ones face a mortal threat, that self-defense, even in lethal terms, takes on a different moral character, something Jack has to reckon with and ultimately accept here.
There’s also a not so subtle message there, that we are defined by our choices and the actions we take. Those bandits from Jack’s childhood, the Daughters of Aku, are each given a choice to walk away from the fight and not face mortal comeuppance. Jack himself chooses to define himself as someone who perseveres, who like his father will defend his loved ones even if it means taking a life, who will swallow his own fifty years of hardship in pursuit of a greater cause even when it would be so easy to just let go. For so many shows, death is such cheap currency, and whether I fully agree with its take or not, it’s nice to see Samurai Jack deal with the issue in such thoughtful, artistic tones.
It’s also nice to see Jack get a chance to slow down and heal and recover. So much of this season’s early going has been up after up after up. Letting the audience bask in the tactile, gut-wrenching, but ultimately soothing process of Jack healing from his stab wound is a pleasant break in some ways. There’s a slowness and steadiness that the show would often engage with in its original run, and we see it again here, with dusky blue hues and a more relaxed pace that lets us fully appreciate Jack’s struggle, conundrum, and resolution.
We also get to see him bond with a wolf! I wondered if the little vignette we saw in the last episode was just going to remain as a sort of visual metaphor for Jack’s own brutal fight, or if it would connect in some way. Seeing Jack bond with that wolf (who, and this is a reach, may represent his father in some way?), is so heartening. The way they share meals, treat one another’s wounds, and even curl up in the cold together, shows that for all the brutality each is capable of, they are each essentially kind, compassionate, even gentle creatures, and that what they have to do to save their own lives doesn't neutralize that.
The fight scene that follows may be this show’s most virtuoso bit of combat ever, which is high praise. There is a spiritual element to Jack knowingly breaking the bonds of life and death for the first time. His emergence through the white rush of snow is stunning. The fluid, kinetic progression of his fisticuffs with the Daughters of Aku features some of the show’s very best choreography and cinematography. And his weaponless stand-off against the final three on the edge of a tree branch feels so simultaneously solemn and badass, an affirmation of Jack finding his center and his will to go on again, which allows him to defeat even these fearsome enemies.
There’s a parallel drawn there between Jack and the Daughters of Aku. When we see his mutual kindness with the wolf, we recognize that despite Jack’s fierceness in battle, he is a gentle soul, one raised to appreciate that sort of compassion by his parents. In contrast, as we see the Daughters of Aku on their gorgeous, relentless march through the river lands, we see them utterly baffled by a strong stag showing affection to a doe. They know only strength and destruction, not love. If I may be so bold, it is that love that revives Jack, and which gives him a truer weapon against the spiritual emptiness of the poor abused girls she squares off against and allows him to win the day.
I don’t know folks. Recency bias is a hell of a thing, but if you put a magic sword to my throat right now, I might call this one the best Samurai Jack episode ever. It is so deep in its meditations on killing, so potent in its depictions of healing and recovery, and so brilliant in the way it conveys this meaningful, furious fight between masters of their form. Whether or not it’s the apotheosis of the whole show, this is a damn high water mark, and i can’t wait to see what more is in store.