Samurai Jack Season 5 Episode 1 Review (Spoilers)

Samurai Jack Season 5 Episode 1 Review (Spoilers)

Robert Knuckles

Jack’s Back

Samurai Jack is back after over a decade absence. I honestly thought this day would never come but I’m glad I was wrong. I mean we never got a true ending so they needed another season. Now let’s talk the premiere of Samurai Jack Season 5 on Adult Swim. Note Spoilers ahead.

The episode starts off with a family running away from Aku’s robots. They were ready to accept their fate until an armored warrior riding a motorcycle comes in time to save them. As the robots scratch off the mask the family notice that it’s Jack…. A really aged Jack. He’s got the beard game growing strong and his hair looks pretty bad. Now at the bat you notice Jack doesn’t use a motorcycle and the biggest thing that struck me is that he’s using a gun….  Correct me if I’m wrong but Jack doesn’t use guns or at least I haven’t seen him using it in the past seasons. Jack makes pretty easy work of Aku’s robots and rides off.

We get going to the intro of the series. Instead of Aku saying the intro we have Jack speaking. “50 years have passed but I do not age. Time has lost its effect on me, yet the suffering continues. Aku's grasp chokes the past, present and future. All hope is lost. Got to get back. Back to the past. Samurai Jack.”

After hearing the intro I could already tell that this is going to be a dark themed show. I just got that vibe and I was excited.

After the intro we see a stone pillar of Aku with a bunch of women dressed like him. We see a women giving birth to seven baby girls. The mother whose name wasn’t mentioned said to the statue of Aku that these seven girls will finish what you started.

Jack rides into a forest to drink some water. There he starts having hallucinations of his parents and the people of his kingdom saying that you’ve abandoned us and left us to die.. He tells his father that Aku had destroyed all the time portals which prevents Jack from going home. While he’s having hallucinations we keep seeing a horseman which we can only guess will be a key factor in this show as it progresses. That right there was a huge moment because what can you do if you’re Jack? Without the time portals how can Jack return home? After dealing with his hallucinations Jack rides off.

While Jack is riding off the seven baby girls who are the daughters of Aku have already aged into little girls. They are being trained by their mother to kill Jack. Failure means death for the girls. There is no room for the weak. You already know that their childhood has been taken from them. As the girls are training they are confronted by a huge monster. As they are fighting them one of the girls notice the light and sees peace but the mother tells Ashi only one out of the seven whose name we have heard to not lose sight of her goal. You see Ashi being tested again as a teenager when she’s hanging on a cliff her mother strikes a staff on her hand saying “are you weak?” Bringing the fire of Aku in all of them.

Jack comes across a destroyed village that was caused by a robot assassin named Scaramouch. Destroying the temple would get Jack’s attention. Scaramouch is a Sammy Davis Jr musical themed character. Bringing the comedy in the show. I’m glad they did that although this a dark themed show we still get the comedy to show there is still some Cartoon Network essence there. Before Jack faces off Scaramouch he asked Jack a very important question. Where is your sword? We see a flashback of Jack losing his sword but we never see what was the cause of it. I’m sure we’ll get it soon. Scaramouch calls Aku to tell him the news but Jack destroys the phone and they start fighting. As they are fighting Jack is hallucinated again with children from his village telling him to save them and once again we see the horseman. Jack defeats Scaramouch and rides off. Back to Aku’s shrine The Daughters of Aku have completed their training and run off to kill Jack thus ending the first episode.

Overall I liked this premiere episode. We see a different side of Jack who has lost all hope. His fighting style is different using firearms. Like I said before we don’t see Jack using guns. I liked the daughters of Aku as well. In a way you feel sorry for them because you already get a feeling that a sad fate awaits them but maybe not Ashi. She’s the only one with a name. She also seems to be the leader. I get a feeling she’ll be an important character in this season. We also don’t know how Jack lost his sword and who is this horseman? There are many questions unanswered but I’m very excited for the next episodes! Let me know what you guys think of the premiere.