History Recap / SamuraiJackS5E2XCIII

* DownerEnding: While escaping the daughters of Aku, Jack kills a person for the first time ever and is seriously injured after getting stabbed by one of the daughters.

* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: After fighting the Daughters for the first time, a vision of Jack's younger self talks to him in a way that doesn't sound like him at all, telling him it's pointless and that he should give up. (Amazingly, the "real" Jack sounds more lucid and more in-character than the vision, even though the vision resembles the younger one.)

* BeingEvilSucks: More like Being Evil Is unsatisfactory, but Aku is clearly a mess after 50 years of dealing with Jack, no longer satisfied with tyrannically ruling the world and no longer finding any enjoyment in his evil deeds. Jack says he hasn't been seen in years, possibly indicating he's become a recluse, and he's talking to himself (literally) the way a shrink would to a patient. Clearly, he's not happy. (Although, unlike Jack, he seems to be coping better.)

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ill_find_a_way.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{BFG}} "I'll find a way.]] [[TheDeterminator I always have."]] ]]

* BeingEvilSucks: Aku is clearly a mess after 50 years of dealing with Jack, no longer satisfied with tyrannically ruling the world and no longer finding any enjoyment in his evil deeds. Jack says he hasn't been seen in years, possibly indicating he's become a recluse, and he's talking to himself (literally) the way a shrink would to a patient. Clearly, he's not happy. (Although, unlike Jack, he seems to be coping better.)

* SoundTrackDissonance: To spite ending on the biggest DownerEnding in the show's history, they still play the theme song as normal.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_daughters_of_aku.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Seven decisively deadly dames stalk our samurai.]]

* WreckedWeapon: Jack's bike, armor, and all his weapons except Scaramouche's dagger are destroyed by the Daughters of Aku.

Meanwhile, Aku has grown weary of the battle against Jack. He's no longer the enthusiastic conqueror he used to be, and more or less putters around his lair like a tired old geezer, wondering what to do about that one that won't go away.

[[caption-width-right:350:Seven decisively deadly dames.]]

Meanwhile, Aku has grown weary of the battle against Jack.

* TheWorfEffect: Almost, but ultimately downplayed. Jack's first battle against the Daughters doesn't go well, with Jack wounded, outmatched, and actually frightened. However, Jack manages to kill one of the, and trap the rest in an exploding tomb - plus, for all the threat they presented, the Daughters only ever land a single blow against Jack. It's a deep stab wound, sure, but still.

* TheWorfEffect: Almost, but ultimately downplayed. Jack's first battle against the Daughters doesn't go well, with Jack wounded, outmatched, and actually frightened. However, Jack does better when facing only one of them and it would seem ''they'' have suffered a casualty as well.

* NotSoDifferent: It turns out ''both'' Jack and Aku have started talking to themselves within the past fifty years. Aku, however, uses the conversations to cope with his depression while Jack's hallucinations suggest [[DrivenToSuicide ending it all]].

** When scientists say they've built new beetle drones to kill Jack, Aku ignores them--saying he's a new Aku. This is a subtle acknowledgment of both[[TheOtherDarrin a new actor playing the character]] and of the despair brought about by years of hunkering down.

The Daughters of Aku make their move, thrusting Jack into a wild run for survival against his most deadly enemies yet. The chase leads them to the tomb of a warrior-king where in the darkness, Jack finds that his longtime experience with robots will have a nasty surprise in store.

* DavidVsGoliath: The wolf vs. the alien tigers. It wins, but at the cost of its own life.

** When scientists say they've built new beetle drones to kill Jack, Aku ignores them--saying he's a new Aku. This is a subtle acknowledgment of both a new actor playing the character and of the despair brought about by years of hunkering down.

* RealityEnsues:
** No. A lone wolf [[ShootTheShaggyDog can't]] defeat three alien tigers in an awesome fashion and live to fight another day.
** During the mausoleum scene, Jack grabs the Battle Axe of the King/Warlord/General at the center of the crypt. In another story, a legendary blade would be a hero's salvation during their DarkestHour. Unfortunately, ''legendary'' also means ''old'', and it breaks after a few hits.

** The wolf vs. the alien tigers parallels Jack's struggle: a lone wolf against multiple, powerful foes. In the end, Jack is gravely wounded after killing one Daughter of Aku, and we see that the wolf was mortally wounded after killing the alien tigers.

* ShoutOut: The song playing during the tomb search is a remix of Music/EnnioMorricone's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOr0na6mKJQ "The Ecstasy of Gold"]].

* SoundTrackDissonance: To spite ending on the biggest DownerEnding in the shows history they still play the theme song as normal.
* StatusQuoIsGod: Deconstructed, both Jack and Aku are tired of their stalemate, which changed their personalities a lot.

* AnimalMetaphor: Jack fighting the Daughters of Aku is interspersed by a subplot of a lone white wolf walking through the forest being ambushed by a pack of alien tigers. The episode ends with a shot of the tigers lying dead in pools of [[AlienBlood green blood]], and a trail of red blood leading to the body of the wolf a short distance away, itself lying dead in a pool of blood.

** Jack's battle with the Daughters moves from the forest into a crypt, with Jack hiding in a stone coffin. This is the closest Jack has come to death

* SurvivalMantra: Jack tells himself "They are just nuts and bolts. Just nuts and bolts." while hiding from the Daughters of Aku. Unfortunately, as he later learns, the Daughters are not machines as he is use to fighting.

* TalkingToThemself: Aku is undergoing "therapy" sessions, which consist of him talking to a clone of himself that talks, acts, and is dressed like TheShrink.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: This episode ends with Jack suffering what seems to be another decent towards the DespairEventHorizon after he kills one of the daughters. Previews for the season show that Jack will pick himself back up by the next episode so he can turn the tables on the Daughters.

* UnroboticReveal: For his whole fight with the Daughters, Jack fights like they were just more machines thrown at his way. Then one of them bleeds...

* DramaticIrony: Aku is depressed and fearful of an effectively immortal Jack eventually killing him, but viewers know Jack's already lost the one weapon that could actually do that.