History Recap / SamuraiJackS5E7XCVIII

Jack and Ashi leave what is now the grave one of the fallen sheep. They return to the surface and thank the bird for helping them, and when Jack makes further plans to find his sword and Ashi offers to help him look for it. But Jack, not that he doesn't want Ashi's help, explains that he has to do it alone--the journey to get his sword is a spiritual journey (through meditation) rather than a physical journey that Ashi could travel with Jack on. Jack goes to meditate, leaving Ashi to wait however long it will take. She doesn't wait long as an army arrives to kill Jack. After they laugh off her calm declaration she will stop them, Ashi does just that. She turns back to the mountain to see one more figure racing up the mountain to kill Jack.

Ashi continues to fight her mother, finally forced to kill her to save Jack, by sending an arrow straight through her spine, which leads to the High Priestess plummeting down the side of the mountain. Ashi's adrenaline rush finally wears off now that the fighting is all over. She falls in exhaustion the instant no new threats appear.

* BatmanGambit: It's strongly implied that the army was just the ''diversion'' for the High Priestess, keeping Ashi occupied while the High Priestess sneaks up the mountain.

* DisneyVillainDeath: Downplayed, the High Priestess is impaled mid-jump by Ashi, and her body falls from the mountaintop.

* FreezeFrameBonus: During her (rather bloody) rampage through the Ogre/Orc army, Ashi is very briefly seen with her old pre-HeelFaceTurn hairstyle.

* PostVictoryCollapse: After killing her mother, Ashi faints.

* SelfMadeOrphan: Ashi kills her mother in battle to protect Jack, throwing an arrow through her, sending her off a cliff.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Ashi's mother notes that she was always the strongest of her group physically, but she was also the most unfocused when it came to the rhetoric.

* Villainball: It was awfully sporting of Aku to simply toss Jack aside when he was in his grasp. Furthermore, when Jack makes a run for the portal, Aku blasts it rather than incinerate him there and then. Aku being [[EvilIsPetty Aku]], simply had to forego these easy chances in favor of letting Jack live with the pain that he was finally trapped in the future forever.

Jack and Ashi leave what is now the grave one of the fallen sheep. They return to the surface and thank the bird for helping them, and when Jack makes further plans to find his sword and Ashi offers to help him look for it. But Jack tells her that he has to do it alone--not that he doesn't want Ashi's help, but his journey to get his sword back is spiritual journey rather than physical place that she could go with him too. Jack goes to meditate, leaving Ashi to wait however long it will take. She doesn't wait long as an army arrives to kill Jack. After they laugh off her calm declaration she will stop them, Ashi does just that. She turns back to the mountain to see one more figure racing up the mountain to kill Jack.

* KirkSummation: Ashi tells her mother that she's the one responsible for leading her sisters to their deaths, not Jack, because she gave Ashi and her sisters no other fate.

* PetTheDog: A very brief one, to the point of considering her a WorthyOpponent--the High Priestess acknowledges that, out of all seven daughters, Ashi was the strongest and most skilled when it came to fighting skills.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Ashi's mother notes that she was always the strongest of her group physically, but she was also the most unfocused when it came to the rhetoric.

* EvilIsPetty: It's implied that Aku has been destroying time portals ''right'' before Jack gets to them solely for kicks, and when Jack shows up earlier than expected to the last one, destroys that one right in front of him, mocks him for his failure, and transforms three sheep into monsters to trick the enraged Jack into attacking them.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted heavily this time. Ashi is bathed in the orc army's blood by the end of all the bacchanalia, though she's instantly clean for the fight against the High Priestess.

* NeverTrustATrailer: Not so much the "Next Episode" trailer, but the description text prior to the airing of the episode. Jack was supposedly going to undergo a series of dangerous physical and spiritual tests in order to prove himself worthy to wield the sword. However, the only thing he was required to do was to make some tea, and then confront his inner "Mad Jack" self. The only real danger for Jack came from the physical side as the high priestess and her army was trying to kill him.

* PetTheDog: A very brief one--the High Priestess acknowledges that, out of all seven daughters, Ashi was the strongest and most skilled when it came to fighting skills.

* ShownTheirWork: Jack's spiritual journey involves performing a tea ceremony, which is a Japanese custom where the server's spiritual balance is expressed through the quality of the tea. The tea's awful quality highlights that Jack is spiritually unbalanced and what causes Jack to confront the anger within. It's also rather accurately performed.

Jack and Ashi leave what is now the grave one of the fallen sheep. They return to the surface and thank the bird for helping them, and Jack tells Ashi he must embark on a spiritual quest to find his sword. Ashi asks if she can go with him, but Jack explains it is something he must do on his own. He goes to meditate, leaving Ashi to wait however long it will take. She doesn't wait long as an army arrives to kill Jack. After they laugh off her calm declaration she will stop them, Ashi does just that. She turns back to the mountain to see one more figure racing to kill Jack.

Ashi whistles for the help of the bird once more. Confronting the archer firing at Jack, this particular archer turns out to be none other than Ashi's mother, the High Priestess of the Cult of Aku, here to finish the job her daughters could/would not. She offers Ashi redemption if she will kill Jack. Ashi refuses and fights her mother to protect Jack.

Ashi continues to fight her mother, finally forced to kill her to save Jack, pelting her with an arrow that strikes her down and sends the High Priestess plummeting to her down. Ashi's adrenaline rush finally wears off now that the fighting is all over. She falls in exhaustion the instant no new threats appear.

* AccidentalMurder: Jack let his rage dictate that those three monsters in front of him needed to be slain. Had he been of sound mind, he would have realized Aku did not conjure these beasts out of thin air... he turned harmless little animals into his pawns.

* BreakingSpeech: The High Priestess berates Ashi for being the most unfocused of her sisters, always questioning everything, and betraying her family. She also gets very angry at Ashi for choosing to side with the man who took her siblings' lives.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: After Ashi takes out an army easily, she has to fight the High Priestess, and struggles. Of course, the whole ''fighting an army" bit means she was likely exhausted.

** The High Priestess is obsessed with killing Jack, to the point of ignoring tactical factors like Ashi when the chance to kill appears. Had she focused on killing Ashi first, she'd have won.

** Also, Jack stumbling upon the dead bones of the sheep that fell into the chasm all those years ago is incredibly painful to behold. It shows that Jack was so distraught that day so long ago he didn't even bother to bury the sheep he slew, he just hightailed it off the mountain after failing to find his sword. There's even an eerie bleating noise, as though the restless spirit of the sheep is crying out in bleating lament, like it's telling Jack, "Why?"

* PetTheDog: A very brief one--the High Priestess acknowledges that, out of all seven daughters, Ashi was the strongest fighter.

* YankTheDogsChain: In a long chain of hope crushing moments, this is probably the cruelest example of the series. Jack had finally found a portal, and managed to jump in... only for Aku to literally yank him out, destroy the last time portal left and corrupt the young sheep into monsters. To top it off, the slaying of the corrupted sheep causes Jack to lose his sword (with the implications that the sword ''vanished'' because of Jack giving into wrath of that moment).

Jack leaps into the time portal without hesitation, and as he falls toward the past, a long evil arm reaches in from above and plucks Jack out, returning him to the mountain. Aku remarks at what a close call for him that was, destroys the portal, and casually mentions that was the very last one in all of existence. Jack reacts with UnstoppableRage to this revelation. Aku takes his leave, but not before distorting the tiny sheep into evil monsters. Jack, still enraged, brutally kills them, but is jarred out of his berserker fury by seeing them revert back to the tiny, cute sheep who helped him. Remorse and grief cause him to [[DramaticDrop drop his sword]] and gaze in horror at [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone having killed innocent creatures]]. By the time he comes back to himself, his sword teeters on the edge of the pit created when Aku destroyed the portal. Jack lunges for it, but it falls into darkness and is lost.

Now, though, astride a giant cockatiel, Jack, with Ashi at his side, have returned to this location to seek the sword. The pit is unfathomably deep and dark. They have to stop so the bird can rest before finally completing their descent. At the bottom, they search but the sword is simply not there. Instead, Jack stumbles upon his past crime of murder, spying the lifeless bones of the sheep that fell down the chasm Aku created when he destroyed the final time portal. Looking on at the brutal evidence he stole away life, Jack realizes that he didn't lose the sword so much as become unworthy of it. Ashi glances at him with equal parts empathy and fright when Jack surmises the sword left him.

Ashi continues to fight her mother, finally forced to kill her to save Jack. She falls in exhaustion the instant no new threats appear.

Now, though, astride a giant cockatiel, Jack, with Ashi at his side, have returned to this location to seek the sword. The pit is unfathomably deep and dark. They have to stop so the bird can rest before finally completing their descent. At the bottom, they search but the sword is simply not there.

They return to the surface and thank the bird for helping them, and Jack realizes that he didn't lose the sword so much as become unworthy of it. He goes to meditate, leaving Ashi to wait however long it will take. She doesn't wait long as an army arrives to kill Jack. After they laugh off her calm declaration she will stop them, Ashi does just that. She turns back to the mountain to see one more figure racing to kill Jack.

* GrievousHarmWithABody: Ashi does this several times to the orc army, starting with the leader.
* HannibalLecture: The High Priestess berates Ashi for being the most unfocused of her sisters, always questioning everything, and betraying her family. She also gets very angry at Ashi for choosing to side with the man who took her siblings' lives.

* OneWomanArmy: Ashi completely slaughters an entire battalion of orc-like warriors that have come to kill Jack. ''With her bare hands'', no less.

* ShutUpHannibal: Ashi tells her mother that she's the one responsible for leading her sisters to their deaths, not Jack, because she gave Ashi and her sisters no other fate.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The second half of the episode is split between Jack on an inner journey to get his sword back, and Ashi protecting Jack's physical body from those come to kill him while he's vulnerable. This is then PlayedForLaughs, as it repeatedly cuts between Ashi brutally slaughtering an entire army, and Jack making tea.

* YankTheDogsChain: Probably the cruelest example of the series. Jack had finally found a portal, and managed to jump in... only for Aku to literally yank him out, destroy the last time portal left and corrupt the young sheep into monsters. And to top it off, the slaying of the corrupted sheep causes Jack to lose his sword (with the implications that the sword ''vanished'' because of Jack giving into wrath of that moment).

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dog.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:TheDogBitesBack... [[YankTheDogsChain and gets smacked for it.]] ]]

* DarkestHour: The last time portal destroyed, forced to kill innocents, losing his sword immediately after...no wonder Jack became so jaded and haunted at the start of the season.

* DisneyVillainDeath: Downplayed, the High Priestess is impaled mid-jump by Ashi, and her body falls from the mountaintop. Whether or not this did her in is anyone's guess, because unlike that mountain of defeated orcs, [[NeverFoundTheBody the High Priestess didn't turn up after she fell...]]

* IFellForHours: Jack and Ashi descend the hole where Jack lost his sword on the back of giant bird, but it still takes them several hours, if not days to reach the bottom. They actually camp out on the way down so the bird can rest.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Ashi (presumably) kills her mother by throwing an arrow through her back and also kills several orc-like soldiers by tossing them onto spears. Another solder is seen with a sword hanging out of his gut.

* PostVictoryCollapse: After (presumably) killing her mother, Ashi faints.

* SelfMadeOrphan: Ashi (presumably) kills her mother in battle to protect Jack, throwing an arrow through her, sending her off a cliff.

* YankTheDogsChain: Probably the cruelest example of the series. Jack had finally found a portal, and managed to jump in...only for Aku to literally yank him out, destroy the last time portal left and corrupt the young sheep into monsters. And to top it off, the slaying of the corrupted sheep causes Jack to lose his sword (with the implications that the sword ''vanished'' because of Jack giving into wrath of that moment).

* ClothingDamage: During her fight with the orcs, Ashi's clothes take a beating. Ashi loses the flower on her shoulder, as well as her grassy armband, [[{{Fanservice}} some of the foliage covering her bosom and skirt gets torn up]], and [[LosingAShoeInTheStruggle her grass-woven shoes start to rip and unravel at the sides and the tips]], leaving her barefoot.

* ClothingDamage: During her fight with the orcs, Ashi's clothes take a beating. Ashi loses the flower on her shoulder, as well as her grassy armband, [[{{Fanservice}} some of the foliage covering her buxom and skirt gets torn up]], and [[LosingAShoeInTheStruggle her grass-woven shoes start to rip and unravel at the sides and the tips]], leaving her barefoot.

* MyGreatestFailure: Peering at the haunting image of the bones of the sheep he knocked down the hole, Jack realizes how his murderous rage lost him his sword and left behind a permanent reminder of what he did. It's gut-wrenching enough to see the skeletal remnants of what was once a RidiculouslyCuteCritter, but to know those bones are your work is sickening.

* MoodWhiplash: Scenes of Jack quietly making tea abruptly cut to Ashi in the middle of her ultra-violent rampage and then back.