The Four Seasons of Death
Episode numeral: XLIX
Original air date: 9/25/04 (produced in 2003)
Across the span of a year, Jack deals with four evils that coincide with each season.
Summer:
- All Just a Dream: Mirage variant; turns out the sand creatures attacking Jack are hallucinations brought on by heat exhaustion as Jack crosses a desert.
- Desert Skull: Jack wanders by one. Doubles as Ribcage Ridge because the rest of the deceased animal’s body can be seen.
- Thirsty Desert: Jack is crossing one in this segment when he's attacked by vicious sand creatures.
Fall:
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Jack kills the scientist by spitting the scientist's poison into his mouth, turning him into a pile of leaves.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: The mischievous short scientist has one within an old windmill. A tricky thing about it is waiting for a blade to pass by the entrance.
Winter:
- All for Nothing: Most of the episode consists of the Yeti people going through the lengthy, arduous task of forging a magic crystal sword, followed by a MacGuffin Melee to determine the warrior worthy of wielding it. The chosen warrior brandishing the crystal sword then confronts Jack — who cuts it in half with one swing.
- Forging Scene: The yetis go through a lot of effort to create a magic sword - grinding and melting crystals to shape and mold it, dropping it into a frozen crevasse to quench it, melting the resulting ice block with focused sunlight, tempering it with dragon's fire, having every blacksmith in their tribe hone and sharpen it, and finally one of their priests sacrificing himself to empower it with lightning. All for naught.
- MacGuffin Melee: All of the warriors of the yeti tribe compete in a single massive melee to determine the strongest warrior, who then takes up the blade and goes to wait for Jack.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: After everything the yeti creatures went through: an extensive and graphic process to create a sword to defeat Jack, followed by a Battle Royale to find the warrior worthy enough to wield it. When the mightiest warrior confronts Jack, Jack effortlessly slashes the sword in two and carries on his journey without stopping.
- Senseless Sacrifice: The yeti priest who empowered the sword with lightning was destroyed in the process due to the bolt blasting the stone platform he was on. His efforts were as much in vain as everything else the yeti's did.
- Single-Stroke Battle: Jack hacks the yeti's sword in half with one strike before moving on.
Spring:
- All There in the Manual: The mysterious forest spirit Jack encounters is not named on-screen, but the credits refer to her as Spring.
- Ambiguous Situation: It is a bit unclear if Spring is actually a malicious foe trying to stop Jack on his journey or is simply testing him. She continuously tells him to stay with her, eventually shouting at him to stay and attacking him with a smile when he refuses. When Jack successfully escapes from her, she is seen watching him, but instead of showing any visible signs of anger at this, she gives an almost knowing but unsettling smile. It is unclear if this was in approval of Jack for his actions, or if it was a Psychotic Smirk with her planning to see Jack again somehow.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: Spring tempts Jack with a paradise realm where he can relax and not worry about the world. He snaps out of it and tries to leave, but she takes this poorly.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Spring gets close to Jack while tempting him to take a break from his quest and rest, having him sleep in her lap. When Jack insists he must go one time too many, she forcibly pulls him back into her lap while shouting he will stay with her.
- Not Good with Rejection: Spring continuously tempts Jack to stay with her, but when he refuses and tries to leave she reacts poorly, attacking him with several vines to try to force him to stay.
- Or Was It a Dream?: When he finally slashes himself free, Jack finds the forest spirit nowhere in sight and the forest itself looking a lot more drab and mundane. But as he runs away, the spirit pops out to reveal she was Real After All.
- Suddenly Shouting: Spring speaks mostly in a calm and peaceful voice as she attempts to seduce Jack and get him to rest and stay with her instead of continuing on his quest. But when he insists he must go one too many times, she shouts at him demanding he stay.Jack: I must go!
(Spring forcibly pulls him back into her lap)
Spring: NO! YOU WILL STAY! - Villainesses Want Heroes: This is implied to be Spring's feelings toward Jack. She constantly tempts him to stay with her with all he could ever need, with implications she is also offering herself to him.
- Villainous Breakdown: Zig-zagged, but when Jack finally states he must leaves, with Spring failing to convince him to stay, she forces him back into her lap and screams at him not to leave her, and instead tries to force him to stay with her, revealing her true Yandere colors. However, when she begins attacking him with vines, she does so with a smile instead of the angry face she just had. When Jack successfully escapes, she is seen watching with an ominous smile, with it being unclear if she is pleased by this or is planning something for him.
- Vine Tentacles: Jack finds himself tangled in several thorny vines by the forest spirit, and she launches several more at him when he attacks her.
- Yandere: Spring does not take kindly to Jack's attempts to leave her glade (though she smiles when he does successfully escape, so it's possible that's what she really wanted).
