Recap / Samurai Jack S 3 E 8 Jack And The Swamp Wizard

Jack and the Swamp Wizard

Episode numeral: XXXIV

Original air date: 5/10/03 (produced in 2002)

Seeking the Gems of Cronos as a means to get back home, Jack travels to a swamp to request the aid of a crotchety old wizard that lives there. Unbeknownst to him, the wizard is actually Aku in disguise, hoping to both gain Cronos' power for himself and kill Jack in the process.

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This episode provides examples of:

• Batman Gambit: Aku's plan was to use Jack and collect Cronos's power.
  • Then it turns out that the demon is part of Jack's real plan. He works with Aku to get the pieces of Cronos's power so that he can destroy them in one spot.
• Call-Back: This episode seems to be a massive one to "Jack and the Warrior Woman" where Jack gets fooled by Aku in disguise. Thankfully, Jack's gotten wiser since last time and had already prepared for this again, while Aku has taken less effort to disguise himself and made it all the more apparent even to the viewers.
  • The three-eyed female alien who gives Jack information on the old swamp wizard is the same alien who informs Aku that Samurai Jack has arrived to the future in "The Samurai Called Jack". She is colored differently though.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: Jack manages to run rings around Aku for most of their fight. The latter however does hit him with a painful looking shockwave early on.
  Aku: Bah, I say! BAAAAHHHH!
• Failed a Spot Check: When Aku brings Cronus to life to destroy Jack, he fails to notice the Eye of Cronus is not in the Helmet. He begins to notice one of Cronus' Gauntlets come flying off, then Jack reveals he took the Eye of Cronus, Aku then notices and without it, Cronus collapses.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Aku's disguise is revealed to the audience — well, explicitly revealed — via his reflection on the surface of the swamp water. Aku notices, and summons a flying alligator to raise them high above the water to keep Jack from seeing.
• Oh, Crap!: Aku gets a Rule of Three: 1) when Cronos starts falling apart; 2) when Jack reveals he has the Eye of Cronos; and 3) when Jack reveals that he saw through his plan and, most of all, his Paper-Thin Disguise the whole time.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The reason why this time, Aku had been found out. Not only does the hermit disguise reek of Morphic Resonance (green skin, big fanged lips), but he barely even tries to cover up his voice and Evil Is Hammy mannerisms.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Aku gives one to Jack mocking him for being too blinded for his quest home and didn't see the truth is in his face.
  • However, Jack in return gives him one after revealing he was aware of his plan all along.
    Jack: You have deceived me many times, Aku, but you have become careless. Your lust to destroy me left you the blinded one. And now, my trap is sprung.
• Rewatch Bonus: The moment Aku brings Cronos to life, the Eye of Cronos is missing before Jack reveals he took it.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Jack notes that Aku has been making plenty of mistakes over the course of the series.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: A variant. Aku's plan is revealed to the audience early on while Jack's is kept secret until the very end, and for the first time Jack fully pulls one over on the demon.
• Villain Ball: Aku's deception was pretty flimsy compared to his previous ones such as "Jack and the Warrior Woman". Justified since, as Jack lampshaded, Aku had gotten arrogant after fooling him so often.
• We Have Become Complacent: A villain example. Jack lampshades that Aku successfully duping him before made him particularly lazy with this scheme.