The Tale of X-49
Episode numeral: L
Original air date: 9/25/04 (produced in 2003)
A retired robot enforcer named X-49 narrates his origins as the only member of a defunct Aku robot force with emotions and how Aku blackmailed him into pursuing Jack by kidnapping his pet dog Lulu.
Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: It's very hard not to feel sorry for X-49. Aku becomes desperate and decides that he has to pull his greatest assassin out of retirement by holding Lulu hostage; Jack knows nothing of this, and when X-49 launches his attack, Jack cuts him down just as effortlessly as he would any other mook. X-49's final words are asking Jack to finish caring for his now abandoned charge.
- Arc Words: "Lulu, sweet thing."
- Bait-and-Switch: At first, it seems that Lulu is a girl X-49 fell in love with, then she's revealed to be a dog.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jack survives X-49's assassination attempt but X-49 is dead and the same fate may be in store for Lulu. Crosses into Downer Ending territory when one considers that X4-9 was forced to hunt down Jack and can be considered as another Aku victim.
- Fantastic Noir: The episode distinctly follows this route despite it set in the far future. X-49 wields a laser Tommy and drives a hover-Hudson.
- Forced into Evil: After giving up his life as an assassin, X-49 is forced to hunt down Jack after Aku kidnaps Lulu. Tragically Jack doesn't know this and kills X-49.
- Hero Antagonist: This episode focuses on X-49 and his mission to kill Jack. Sadly for him, as just stated, he has to kill Jack.
- Heroic Bloodshed: The episode draws heavily from this and Film Noir.
- Hitman with a Heart: Fits X-49 to a T, to the point he provides the page image. Unlike the other robots of the X's series, he has a heart due to an Emotion Chip installed in his brain. He's so sympathetic to the audience that his death against Jack is one of the saddest moments of the series. The plot is part of the show's deconstruction of What Measure Is a Non-Human?: censorship rules meant that Jack couldn't harm living things even if they were entirely evil, but could wholesale slaughter mechanical lifeforms. X-49 demonstrates the folly of applying the rule so arbitrarily.
- Kick the Dog: Aku kidnaps X-49's pet dog in order to force him to do one last job.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: X-49 says that this is why he survived longer than the other X-units, seeing as the Emotion Chip inside him gave him a sense of self-preservation that let him run when he knew he was in danger. As he explains it, "The other X-units, they didn't care. I cared."
- Last of His Kind: The other X models were wiped out long ago, as X-49's emotion chip made him the only one who cared whether or not he survived a battle.
- Last Request: "Lulu... Take care of Lulu."
- Mechanical Evolution: The episode starts with X-49 telling how Aku's evil scientists developed their master's robot armies. The first ones were "crude", one resembling a bunch of junk in a vaguely robotic form with wheels, then a "cleaner" version of that one, then a rickety, fully humanoid robot, then one that seemed like a typical robot soldier. Finally, they came up with the model which X-49 is, which seemed to be the first efficient models, used as assassins. Eventually, this model was retired in favor of the Beetle-Bots that are usually seen in the series proper.
- Noir Episode: This episode is stylised heavily on old Film Noir, including Chiaroscuro look, lots of rain, an atmosphere of hopelessness, a protagonist with a Dark and Troubled Past (who even resembles Sam Spade) and a Downer Ending from X-49's perspective.
- One Last Job: Ex-assassin X-49 is forced out of retirement by Aku (who has his dog) and sent to kill Jack.
- Private Eye Monologue: The episode is almost wholly done in this style, to great effect.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: Aku gathered all of the world's top roboticists to build a robot military police force. Despite a few of the scientists resembling villains from other franchises, they are portrayed as simply following orders, though it's unclear if they're doing so because they just really want to make robots or if they're doing so at gunpoint.
- Shout-Out:
- The scientists who built X-49 bear a very close resemblance to Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Wily. The one who places the emotion chip into him, in turn, looks quite a bit like Dr. Clayton Forrester.
- One of the scientists' early robot prototypes looks like the Tin Woodman.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What's going to happen to Lulu since X-49 failed? It's never explained.
