4x01 XL

[8.8/10] Hey! It’s the very rare episode of Samurai Jack that I’d actually seen before I started this watch through of the series. Frankly, I’m not sure why this episode didn’t convince me to go through the series back in 2003, because it’s great.

I love the setup of the balck ninja being specifically trained by Aku to go after Jack. As in the doppelganger episode, there’s a sense in which the ninja feels like Jack’s equal and opposite, another sword-wielding, gi-wearing badass who stalks through forests and nudlings. That makes him feel like an appropriately challenging threat for Jack as the show kicks off its fourth season (and the last one of its original run.)

I’ll admit that I didn’t love Jack’s interlude fighting the giant lobster bot. It’s not that it didn’t have its cool moments. Jack's slashes of the biggest one’s abdomen and him running into the water to rescue the little boy’s mom were particularly cool moments. But we’ve just seen this sort of thing from jack so many times that it’s started to lose some of its novelty.

Still, that sequence does what it needs to. For one, it establishes Jack;s connection with the kid and his mom, thereby making it that much more urgent when the ninja is holding the kiddo hostage. It also includes several scenes of the ninja stalking and watching Jack, with the subtet that the ninja is learning Jack’s moves and styles and weaknesses.

The actual standoff between the two of them is the best part of the episode. Even before the episode goes a little more impressionistic, it’s just cool to see the pair of them going at it in a setting of scaffolding and beams. It makes for a nice kung fu jungle gym for the two warriors to do battle in.

But once the pair descend into the shadows and light respectively, the episode finds another gear. It is ridiculously cool and stylistic to watch the pair fight in black and white silhouette for the final act. The sinking sun adds a sense of urgency, and the two feel equally matched in a way that few of Jack’s opponents do. The show finds some really creative ways to use the yin yang conceit between them, not to mention the shifts in perspective and stealth that the art shift brings.

Plus, Jack winning the day at the last minute with a sword through is a cool move I don’t think we’ve seen before. The way that the track is mostly quiet here, helping convey the evenness of their match, only to go a little industrial when the fight starts in earnest, helps sell the coolness of the moment.

Overall, this is a supremely exciting episode that’s enjoyable throughout, but which really soars once it gets to its showpiece black and white finale. Here’s to the start of a good season!