“CI” Recap – Samurai Jack
By: Justin Cummings
Justin Cummings and Michelle Anderer discuss the Season 5 Finale of Samurai Jack, “CI”.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS
Justin Cummings
I'm currently studying Communication at Lynchburg College with an emphasis in Electronic Media and a double minor in business and gender studies. I've been a huge fan of animation since I was little and thus have very eclectic tastes. Outside of animation I love Survivor, comic books, and a whole treasure trove of other things.
5 Comments
Yeah I’m happy we saw the ending most of yearned to jack returning to the past & undoing Aku’s evil future (even undoing all the adventures & the friends had)
I predicted that Ashi would have used her powers to travel back in time, but i really hat what they did at the end with her.
Although had she kept existing I bet people would have complained about the “and the lived happily ever after” conclusion.
I feel conflicted about the whole season 5 deal…
Aging SJ up is a smart move considering how time has passed since it first aired and a lot of fans are adults, but part of me misses the good old robot-slashing days where episodes that weren’t as serious existed… like the episode where Aku gathers a bunch of kids and tries to convince them he’s the good guy while Jack is the bad guy using a bunch of fairy tales (the Shining reference completely flew over my head, but the episode was still enjoyable for me as a pre-teen). At least we can put it to rest I guess.
Well I more of casual fans of SJ, so the ending didn’t bother me as much as you guys. I just wanted to see how it end.
Also didn’t notice the part of Jack pointing out that Ashi has Aku’s powers at first viewing, that is bad. I thought they were just trying to tell the viewers by stating the obvious they just did it the wrong way.
I am glad you guys are continuing your SJ coverage, and excited about the Mike Tyson’s Mysteries coverage, and congratulations to Andy for being part of a regular series coverage podcast,
I thought it would have been a lot better if right before Aku got killed he tried to dissuade Jack by saying how all the people he met in the future, including Ashi, wouldn’t exist if Jack went through with it. That would have given Jack more of a personal struggle in the final battle and given voice to what I’m sure a lot of fans were feeling while making what happened to Ashi feel less contrived. Maybe Ashi could have been the one to convince Jack to go through with it, or better yet she could have grabbed the sword herself to strike the finishing blow, giving her more agency. It might have felt a little unnatural for Jack to have a long conversation with Aku in such a situation and for Aku to bring that up when he has no idea whom Jack met in the future, but I still think it would have been an improvement.
#FuckTheRomance
At least my theory that Episode 8 was just a 22-minute fanfic in preparation to deal with this ending for Ashi now has more ground.
As for the show as a whole, those first seven episodes was one of the greatest stretches of television I’ve ever watched, and it took a nosedive from episode 8 on. The finale was fine, but not good enough to redeem the downward slide.