04.16
Stands in 12 weeks. Maybe.
Even though he had little to do with the main plot of the episode, I can’t not talk about the Scotsman. Every fan has been hyping him up since that grainy picture of his showed up on Twitter. We were all thinking that the Scotsman was going to die a hero’s death to save Jack. And while it would have been astounding to see him have a final duel with Aku that would go on for the entire episode, with fight scenes that would make the Grievous fight in Clone Wars look mediocre, I can live with the actual result. It showed that even though Aku is depressed and apathetic, he’s still enough of a threat to destroy armies with ease. And not even an army of Scots can even faze him. We get an establishing shot of these warriors riding giant rhinos and tanks to swarm Aku, and yet they all become so tiny and insignificant when he strikes them like a literal wrecking ball. It’s a simple fight, but a visually striking one. One that reminds you how screwed Jack is without his sword or his wits, and that maybe his dour mindset might be correct.
I am intrigued by what the Scotsman’s ghost has planning regarding his forces. Along with next episode’s promo showing the Woolies returning, I presume that many of Jack’s past friends may be reuniting to aid him in his final duel. If so, it would mean having to reintroduce many characters and having to reacquaint them after a decade-long absence. Unless Tartakovsky decides that his viewers should instantly know who the Lebidopterins or Exdor are without needing to check the wiki.
Onto Jack and Ashi, it’s nice to see their teacher-mentor relationship develop. Like with Jack telling Ashi how the sun and moon children made the stars, effectively teaching her a creation myth that doesn’t involve Aku, ending her view of him as a godly figure. He even sends her to a giant tree, because… it reminds the viewer of Yggdrasil? If all of Jack’s allies are coming back, Odin and his friends should be among them, so maybe that’s foreshadowing. So when they show up, Jack can point at them and go “Aku is not the true god, these three are!” To truly affirm where Ashi’s beliefs are.
When Ashi finally becomes good, she becomes what Jack used to be in his very first episode, a lonely warrior hoping to do some good for the world. Someone who can break out of impossible situation through sheer willpower while saving innocents that she barely knows. But that contrasts with the Jack she meets, who’s still too nihilistic to believe things can be improved in this universe. When he fights these blue alien children who have become feral and single-minded like Ashi once was, he instantly breaks down when he thinks they’ve died. He doesn’t even try to resuscitate them. He just instantly assumes they’re dead and goes off with the evil samurai seen in his visions. Only for Ashi to find them waking up a minute later. It’s annoying that Jack doesn’t wait a few minutes or check the children’s pulses before assuming they’re dead, but I can kind of understand because of how addled he is. And past traumas have probably led him to always assume the worst, but you would think Jack would be more savvy than that. He’s become too consumed by his agony to assess the situation, and might need to hand his sword to another for Aku to finally die.
Oh, no.