Episode XCIV

Episode XCIV is the third episode of Season 5 and the fifty-fifth episode in Samurai Jack. While the fifth-season episodes are untitled, this episode can be unofficially titled Jack vs. the Daughters of Aku, Part 2.

Premise
Samurai Jack is gravely injured, but still decides to face one of the deadliest foes he's ever faced, Assassins from the Cult of Aku.

Plot
Jack, barely alive, continues to float downriver. After Jack manages to grab hold of a floating log, a frog hops on, warning him that the Daughters aren't far behind. Eventually, Jack reaches the shore and makes his way to a cave, all the while being stalked by the mysterious samurai. Inside the cave, Jack pulls the knife from his side and passes out. Upon waking up, his hallucination of himself taunts him over his first human kill, coming to the conclusion that Jack wanted the Daughters to kill him, though Jack himself denies this. The next morning, a blood-soaked Jack prepares to defend himself. Instead, an equally blood-soaked wolf enters the cave (the same wolf from the previous episode) and Jack passes out again. While unconscious, Jack remembers a time when his father defended their family from a band of outlaws who had ambushed their carriage. Waking up again, Jack bonds with the wolf and nurses himself back to health. Remembering his father's lesson, Jack and the wolf part ways and Jack prepares himself for another confrontation with the Daughters of Aku.

Soon enough, the remaining six Daughters break out of the ruined temple and continue their mission, leaving their fallen sister's body behind. Following the river and traces of Jack's blood, the Daughters track him back to his location. In the forest, the daughters spend a moment observing a deer, having never seen one before. A male deer arrives and the Daughters mistake it for another of Aku's minions due to its antlers. Unnerved by their courting ritual, the Daughters frighten the deer off and continue their search. Finally, as the snow begins to fall, Jack reveals himself.

Echoing his father's words, a hidden Jack offers the Daughters an ultimatum: Leave, or face their destiny. The Daughters refuse, claiming their destiny is to destroy him. Jack obliges and emerges from the snow, impaling one of the Daughters with a thrown wooden spear. Using the terrain and weather to his advantage, Jack kills a second Daughter with another spear and steals a kanabo from a third before impaling her against a tree with a thrown butterfly sword. The three remaining Daughters combine into one in an attempt to kill him, but Jack manages to split them up again, luring the three to a fallen tree hanging over a cliff. Discarding the stolen kanabo, Jack sends two of the Daughters falling to their deaths before confronting the last one (revealed to be Ashi). Ignoring her threats of Aku, Jack simply unwraps her chain from his arm to her apparent death. Unfortunately, the tree finally collapses from the struggle, sending Jack falling into the valley below.

Credits

 * Written by
 * David Krentz
 * Genndy Tartakovsky


 * Directed by
 * Genndy Tartakovsky


 * Storyboards by
 * David Krentz
 * Genndy Tartakovsky


 * Voices
 * Phil LaMarr as Samurai Jack / Frog / Inner Jack
 * Sab Shimono as The Emperor
 * Tara Strong as Ashi and Avi
 * Kari Wahlgren as Ami and Aki
 * Keone Young as Bandit


 * Casting by
 * Karie Gima Pham

Trivia

 * Ashi and the other Daughters of Aku wittnessing deer show affection for each other could foreshadowing Jack and Ashi's relationship in Episode XCIX.
 * It was revealed that the wolf from the previous episode is an actual creature within the Samurai Jack Universe and not simply a storytelling device.
 * It was also revealed that the wolf from the previous episode had survived its fight with the tigers.
 * As of this episode, Jack has killed a total of six people.
 * It was revealed in this episode that Jack's father has killed people before and how Jack witnessed him killing bandits.
 * The Emperor cites one of the eight virtues of Bushido after killing the bandits, which in this case is Honor.
 * The Bandit who tried to kill The Emperor is voiced by Keone Young, ironically, Keone voiced a younger version of The Emperor in The Birth of Evil, Part 1 and The Birth of Evil, Part 2
 * The Frog which Jack encounters is most likely a hallucination as it disappears when Jack loses consciousness and also could not have known who the Daughters of Aku are or whether they're chasing Jack now.
 * The bandits who ambushed Jack's family strongly resemble those who confronted the samurai in Jack Remembers the Past. This suggests both bands belong to the same affiliation.
 * Both groups ambush two respective samurais, suggesting a motive of the former's efforts is the elimination of the latter.

Goofs

 * In the previous episode, the sister that Jack had killed was shown bleeding from her neck after she died. However, there are no marks or blood on her neck at the beginning of this episode.
 * When Jack is first seen floating, his dagger is not seen until he was about to fall down the waterfall.
 * When Jack first enters the cave, he's shown covered in blood from his hair and body, but as he sits down, his blood is only on his body.
 * When the Daughters are alerted to Jack's presence and form a circle, two of them have the same weapons (Dual Sai).
 * When the Daughter throws one of her Sai at the bird, she stills has them both when Jack throws his spear at them.
 * When Jack is tired and runs away from the 3 remaining Daughters, two of them are in front of him whilst Ashi is behind. But as the chase goes on, somehow Ashi is with her sisters at the front, rather than the back.