Jack and the Baby
Episode numeral: LII
Original air date: 9/25/04
Jack comes across a group of robotic ogres and their planned meal: a helpless baby they kidnapped. After freeing the child and escaping the ogres, Jack goes on a quest to return the baby to its parents while dealing with both a bounty hunter and the hassle of taking care of an infant.
This episode provides examples of:
- Badass and Baby: The bulk of this episode follows Jack taking care of the baby on his quest to return her to her parents, while also fighting a dangerous robot assassin with a French accent and the ogres.
- Eats Babies: The ogres were explicitly going to eat the child, discussing how to prepare/cook the baby before Jack comes in and frees her.
- Innocence Lost: After being exposed to Jack's noble but brutally violent heroism, the baby ends up receiving the "spirit of the samurai" and becomes stern-faced. Unlike most examples, the story treats this as a positive (or at least hopeful) development as it heavily implies that the child's destined to grow up into a strong, heroic figure in her own right, inspired by Jack and the stories of legendary Kid Hero Momotaro that she heard from him.
- Samus Is a Girl: Jack calls the baby "he" throughout the episode, but
Word of God later stated in 2016 that the Baby is a girl. - Season Finale: Serves the final episode of season 4. It might have also been the final episode of the entire series if [adult swim] hadn't revived it in 2017.
- Shout-Out: Jack tells the story of Momotarō to the baby to help her sleep.
