I was completely in shock and awe of this episode because of all the things happening so far. The episode took a completely dark turn since the last one on a psychological level as i shall explain shortly.
In the beginning, we see the Scotsman and his army including his daughters rallying against Aku. The Scotsman has clearly aged and intends on attacking Aku in his own domain. Aku comes out of his lair and the Scotsman realizes he needs to stall Aku to allow his army to flee. Aku realizes that he may as well annihilate them all. The Scotsman distracts Aku with words until he mentions Jack and Aku kills him. His daughters vow to avenge him only to find his soul appear due to Celtic magic. His plan is to guide him and call for Jack's help.
Ashi finds that Jack has disappeared and thinks that he deserted her. She realizes that Jack is on a sea creature and rides onto dry land. He then says "good bye" and leaves. She's not satisfied and demands that he tells her the truth about Aku, reverting back to her old hateful ways. Jack is reluctant seeing that she hasn't changed until Ashi begins to doubt him and leaves. Jack then agrees to show her but only until morning. As to why he does this, i think he did it to test her out. There's no point in trying to show her if she refuses the truth. She could've kept attacking him at that point but leaves instead. Jack then realizes that there's a chance she might change so he agrees to show her the truth.
In the night, she hallucinates of her mother demanding that she kill Jack and insulting her in the process. Ashi refuses to listen stating that Jack saved her life.
They go through several lands where Aku's corruption seeps through the land and destroys mother nature. Ashi begins to slowly realize that Jack was right all along. As they come into his city, they find a bounty hunter who intends on exterminating an entire village for selfish reasons.
Ashi finally has enough and asks Jack what their next course of action is to defeat Aku. Perhaps the most shocking answer that Jack gave was nothing. He explains that he's been fighting Aku for centuries and has seen countless people die. Since he's lost his sword, he's been devastated and in despair. He doesn't want to win but doesn't want to lose either. He simply wants to exist in a never-ending stalemate.
Both Ashi and Jack find that the children of the blue creatures were taken to a factory. They go to rescue them only to find that they've been mind-controlled by an unknown enemy. They fight them off as Ashi searches for the mastermind. Ashi is captured and tortured by the man in the factory. Ashi succumbs to the pain and helplessness until he says "Would you look at that. Righteous fool. After everything, he still can't hurt an innocent. Turning those little brats into weapons pretty ingenious, right? Children are foolish little things, easily manipulated. Surgically implant a chip in their neck, and the right audio frequency does the rest..." That's when she becomes enraged because she realizes she was lied to and manipulated the same way as a child by the high priestess. She uses that hate and rage to endure the pain then frees herself as she defeats him.
Jack suddenly finds the children fall unconscious and assumes they are dead. Jack loses his mind and despairs until he sees a vision of the mysterious samurai who says "it is time!" Jack agrees and follows him. Why does he do this? He realizes that he can no longer to take losing more innocents. As long as Aku is alive, the world will continue to be destroyed. Jack follows the samurai as they both are seen leaving. This is one of the reasons why i believe the samurai in the mist is none other than Jack's ideal self.
What are my predictions for the next episode? Jack is going to find his sword but before that, he's going to do alot of soul-searching to find his purpose and purify himself of past failures. He has to see himself worthy of holding his sword again and not be so self-centered as he has become. As for Ashi, she may also have to find her purpose in the world after realizing that Jack is not her enemy. In conclusion, i'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode and the next one.
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