Samurai Jack Season 05 Episode 08 Review

One of the problems with seasons of TV shows that have a seasonal narrative is that inevitably you’re going to get an episode that’s filler. Meaning, that it serves little to no purpose and doesn’t advance the plot. Sadly, Samurai Jack Season 05 Episode 08 was that episode, and what’s worse, is that because of that, the entire fate of the series, not just the season, rests on now two episodes.

I’m trying not to be bitter here, because overall this season has been great, last week’s episode was another fantastic episode. But here, there was literally nothing about Aku, nothing about Jack facing him, it was pure filler. And in a ten episode season, you can’t have filler! You just can’t!

Long story short, Jack and Ashi are on their way to find Aku, and after dealing with some of his goons (which admittedly was pretty fun and funny) they had to travel on foot. During a sandstorm, they find a crashed slab that looks to be perfect to protect them from the storm. Surprise surprise, the slab is actually a prison, and the inmates are out. And of course, the worst of the lot attacks Jack and Ashi.

Now on principle alone, this isn’t a bad idea, it’s not. It actually would’ve been perfect for Season 01-04 of the series. But this is Season 05, and there’s only 10 episodes, there’s no time for something as simple and straightforward as this, not 8 episodes in. And while the villain (Lazarus 92) was pretty impressive as a monster, and the battle with him led to funny moments, inevitably, it was killed and the episode was done.

But for me, and I know I’ll get hated for this but I truly mean this, the worst part of the episode was the romantic relationship between Jack and Ashi. Now before you gripe, here me out. Could they have a relationship? Sure. Do they have a logical basis for a relationship? Sure. Should they have a relationship? …no.

My reasoning is this. A) We have no idea how old Ashi is. At best? She’s mid-20’s, at BEST! B) Jack is 70+ years old at minimum, MINIMUM!!!! Even if we ignored the age difference, why go this angle? C) With a very strict time limit, why dedicate time to this relationship when it could end in two episodes? If anything, Jack would be the perfect father figure to Ashi, showing her what life is meant to be, like what he did in the previous episodes. Not to mention, she could be a successor to him should the worst happen in the finale, a very viable storyline. But instead? We got them being a couple…right…

And because of that, we got awkward scenes, tons of innuendo, and numerous ways of showing off the Adult Swim tag. Funny? Sure, I guess. But was it really necessary? I really don’t think so.

Plus, while I know that the kiss at the end will make a lot of fans happy, I also know it won’t please others, and for very legitimate reasons. Some of which I have listed above.

One last note, though I love that Jack is back to his classic attire (including bringing back the hat!!!!) there were parts of the art and animation that weren’t as crisp as the others. I know the style isn’t an exact match to the previous seasons due to new art styles and technology, but it stood out at points.

The fact of the matter is this, Samurai Jack Season 05 Episode 08 should’ve been the true beginning of the end. Could you imagine if Samurai Jack had a 3-part epic showdown to end it all? It would be awesome! Instead? We got this, and now I worry about what the last two episodes will be like. That’s sad given the quality this season has had so far.