User blog:AustinDR/Episode XCVIII (Review)

Onto episode 7. In this episode, Jack recounts the events that led to him losing his sword. To me, this was Aku at his most worst. Now, Aku had done several horrible things in the series from genocides, ordering robots to decimate a city even though he told the scientist that his village would be spared, masquerading as a woman to further thrust the knife into Jack, etc. But here, to me, serves as a reminder that while Aku is comedic, that doesn't take away from the fact that he is pure evil. In the flashback, three goat-like creatures help Jack find a time portal, and Jack actually manages to enter into it. But then Aku pulls him out before he could return to the past, only to then destroy the time portal, gloating that it was the last one in existence. Of course, this is one of the many times where Aku is a troll, but what he does next pushes the envelope more; before he left, he corrupts the goats with his evil, transforming them into monstrous abominations that Jack is forced to kill. The shock of him taking three innocent lives ultimately causes the sword to leave him, thus driving him to a 50+ years long depression. So, Jack has to go into his subconscious to recover his sword.

Meanwhile, Ashi keeps guard of Jack's unconscious body, and from there is where the episode really takes off. When an army of ogre (or orc; I don't know) soldiers approach the mountain intent on killing Jack, to say that Ashi kicks their asses is an understatement. She completely mops the floor with the army, massacring them without breaking a sweat. This goes to show that while she was on Jack's side this time, she was still a formidable warrior who could easily take out other opponents sans Jack himself. But then my jaw hit the floor. The High Priestess actually showed up in this episode, somehow knowing that Ashi failed her. I don't know how barring offscreen magic and whatever. I especially loved that when the High Priestess was berating Ashi for "betraying her family," Ashi tears into her, completely destroying all of her claims by throwing all of her accusations onto her. It also addresses a question that I had when Ashi joined Jack: considering how he killed her sisters, how would she respond to it? Well, this episode goes to show that Ashi doesn't hold anything against Jack, realizing that he had no other choice. And then there was the fight between Ashi and her mother. It was insane; I hadn't expected the High Priestess to be a formidable fighter, but she honestly put up more of a fight than the army did. Of course, Ashi kills her by throwing an arrow into her, and she topples from the cliff, but I can't honestly say that we're through with the Priestess. She was able to bear septulets and get up as if it were nothing, I'd doubt that an arrow to the spine or a fall off a cliff would really put her down for good. She must be a black magic type of woman.

I also loved how drastic the scenes between Ashi and Jack were. Ashi would be impaling soldiers one moment, whereas Jack would be slowly making tea for a monk. It came off as hilarious, and somewhat jarring. Of course, there was also the scene where Jack expels his angry self from him, realizing that him losing his temper was what led to the sword abandoning him. And lastly, there's the callback to the Emperor receiving the sword in "The Birth of Evil." Jack encounters Ra, Odin, and Rama, and they all declare him worthy of the sword. Keep in mind, Jack inherited the sword from his father, so he never really earned it. He also receives his classical outfit, and it looks like he is now ready to defeat Aku once and for all.

I'm going to miss his beard though.