Episode XCVI

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Episode XCVI
Season 5
Episode 57
Created by	Genndy Tartakovsky
Production company	Cartoon Network Studios Williams Street
Prod. code	505
Roman Numeral	XCVI
Airdate	April 15, 2017
Episode Guide
Previous	Episode XCV
Next	Episode XCVII

Episode XCVI is the fifth episode of Season 5 and the fifty-seventh episode of Samurai Jack.

Premise

The Scotsman and his clan do battle with Aku. Meanwhile, Jack and Ashi work together to save a group of enslaved children from being harvested as the power source for a monstrous Mega-Robot.

Plot

The episode begins with three armies, including an elderly Scotsman and his one hundred daughters, launching an assault on Aku's lair. Inside, a very bored Aku takes notice and decides to deal with them, believing it will relieve him of his "malaise". Aku swiftly destroys two of the armies, but allows the Scotsman's daughters to escape. The Scotsman himself stays behind to distract Aku and buy his daughters more time. Fed up with the Scotsman's frequent insults and praise for Jack, Aku simply vaporizes him with his eye beams, reducing him to a skeleton that disintegrates into ash, and returns to his lair, wondering why the Scotsman even bothered to mention the samurai. The Scotsman's daughters soon return to mourn their father. Fortunately, thanks to the Celtic runes in his sword, he lives on as a ghost in his prime. The Scotsman and his daughters all agree to find Jack and continue the fight against Aku.

Meanwhile, back on the island, Ashi continues to question her purpose. The moon transforms into the high priestess' face, commanding Ashi to kill Jack in his sleep. Ashi refuses, informing her mother that Jack saved her life and she only wants to know the truth. Shocked at her daughter's "failure" and perceived weakness, the high priestess promptly dismisses her. As the sun comes up, Ashi notices Jack running away and chases him to the water. Jack soon emerges on the back of a water dragon, having tamed it to take them back to the mainland. Once they arrive, Jack thanks the dragon for its help and bids farewell to Ashi. That night, however, after Jack experiences a brief hallucination in his campfire, Ashi catches up with him, demanding to know the truth. Before they go to sleep, Ashi gazes up at the stars, asking if Aku created them. In response, Jack tells her one of his mother's bedtime stories about the creation of stars, and promises to show her the truth in the morning.

The next morning, Jack shows Ashi a single tree surrounded by spikes. It used to be a forest, until Aku destroyed in a display of power, leaving the lone tree as a reminder. He then takes her to the City of Aku. Jack steals some fresh clothes from local vendors to disguise himself, and shows her the dark side of this city. An exiled criminal arrives from another world and is welcomed because of his evil nature. This is able to further convince Ashi that Aku is evil, and she agrees to help defeat him. Jack disagrees, as without his sword, there is no other way to do so. Shortly after, Jack and Ashi come across a wounded blue creature, who informs them that the children of his village were kidnapped and taken to a nearby factory to power a new Mega-Robot.

Upon infiltrating the factory, Jack and Ashi quickly find the children, who start chasing them after going feral from mind control. Jack keeps the children occupied while Ashi searches for the source of the mind control's signal, only to be captured and brought before a guard. He sadistically tortures the "Samurai sympathizer" with electrocution while explaining the factory's plan, stopping only to recharge his armor. Seeing Jack being overwhelmed, Ashi endures the torture and breaks free of her restraints. Fighting back the pain of 10,000 volts, she manages to knock the guard's helmet off and hurl him into the factory's control panel, killing him in the explosion and freeing the children. However, as the children's mind control implants short-circuit, they fall to the ground, appearing lifeless. This causes Jack to cry out in agony and see the mysterious samurai who has been following him. The samurai tells Jack it is time for something, and Jack glumly accompanies him out of the facility. Afterwards, While searching for Jack, Ashi finds the children and discovers they are all alive. She then calls out for Jack, but he is nowhere to be found.

Credits

• Written by
  • Genndy Tartakovsky
  • Bryan Andrews
• Directed by
  • Genndy Tartakovsky
• Storyboards by
  • Genndy Tartakovsky
  • Bryan Andrews
• Voices
  • Phil LaMarr as Jack
  • Greg Baldwin as Aku
  • John DiMaggio as The Scotsman
  • Tara Strong as Ashi
  • Grey Griffin as Flora / The High Priestess
  • Aaron LaPlante as Dominator
• Casting by
  • Karie Gima Pham

Trivia

• This episode features the return of the Scotsman since the fourth season; fifty years ago. However he is killed by Aku effortlessly.
  • He is also revealed to have had a few hundred daughters in between those 50 years.
  • His sword is also revealed to be able to use it's runes to keep him alive as a ghost after death.
• This episode features the first physical confrontation between The Scotsman and Aku.
  • In Episode XI, he previously proclaimed himself to be the most wanted man by Aku until there were many bounty posters about Jack appeared and included a bigger bounty for killing Jack.
• Unlike the rest of the episodes which is rated TV-14 the episode is rated TV-PG V.

Gallery

Main article: Episode XCVI/Gallery