Ok, so this is sort of a random "I think this show episode was totally awesome, and I'm going to gush about why" kind of thread. It can be a show that you don't really like, except for that one episode. It can be a show that is usually a comedy, but did a really awesome drama, or vice versa. Or it can be a show that you think is consistently awesome, but this one episode surpassed all the others.
For me, this is with Samurai Jack. Season 1, Episode 10 - Jack vs The Lava Monster
The beginning of the episode is slow, but that's sort of by design, it has a slow increase of tension, while Jack wanders a desolated land. Once he gets to the dangerous, trap filled area, things quickly pick up, and quite literally become non-stop. While the traps themselves don't really hold much tension for me, the fact that each trap simply leads into another one, without any true pause is quite enjoyable, and helps to hammer home that Jack is in peril. But the true moment that this episode shines, is once he meets the lava monster.
The reveal is appropriately dramatic, and awesome, the massive creature, looming over Jack, while ominous music plays in the background. They toss blows back and forth, and Jack gets a decent strike in, and the monster....does something quite odd. Instead of becoming furious at the injury, he cries out in joy "At laaaaast! A worthy opponent!" This makes Jack raise an eyebrow, and makes the audience mentally go "wtf?' too. Then, the monster becomes furious when Jack refuses to fight him, and refuses to strike him defenseless. Then he goes into his backstory, with a beautiful style to depict the events. Showing a stick figure animation of his life before he was cursed....a life that was painfully similar to Jack's, right down to Aku showing up and destroying it. It's revealed that he is in fact, not a monster at all, but a viking that was cursed by Aku to that rock form. He was then trapped for at least a thousand years, if not longer, imprisoned in a mountain of stone. And since he's a viking, the only way he can reach his afterlife, is dying in combat. So now, Jack has to kill this man to free him, as life is now his prison.
Now, this is where the episode personally goes into the realms of Fucking Awesome.
The monster, basically begs Jack to fight him, so he can join his people in the afterlife, and Jack, quietly unsheathes his sword, and simply says "Prepare yourself" The level of relief in the monster's voice as he says "At last, the gates of Valhalla open to meee!" Gives me chills every time. There was so much emotion delivered by the voice actor, the wonderful Richard McGonagle, in every line he uttered. They get into a very dramatic fight, but the obvious happens, Jack wins. Once he lands the fatal strike, instead of dying, it breaks the curse, and then the viking reverts to his human form, letting out this triumphant, defiant shout against Aku, having finally outsmarted him. The display is so stunning, that even Jack is dumbfounded, and has a bit of an "oh shit" look on his face, as this giant norse warrior is unveiled. Every time I see this part, I get teary eyed. The level of emotional victory in this scene just floors me. Thousands of years of imprisonment and loss, the madness of being trapped in a body not of your own, alone, and struck with the knowledge that the only way your torture can end....is to die. But you can't kill yourself, if you could even pull it off in this new form, no, you have to die at the hands of someone else. Someone strong enough to actually defeat you in fair combat. And you are so strong, so powerful, so many haven't been up to the task. And then finally, this lone warrior shows up, and gives you the one thing you've wanted more than anything. Release, an ending to it all.
And then, as he revels in the restoration of his body, the curse is lifted, and he rapidly ages. This was the one thing that annoyed me about the episode, but I suspect it's to satisfy the likely rule about "you will not show human on human killing in this kid's show", by having the viking die of rapid aging, instead of a sword wound to the stomach. But thinking on the situation, this can't be what actually happened. Dying from old age isn't "dying in combat", which wouldn't get him into Valhalla. So he had to have actually been killed by the sword strike for it to work. Which means, that in this episode, Jack actually killed something other than robots.
Then, as he stands over the fallen warrior, saddened by what he had to do, the sky erupts in shafts of light, and the valkyrie's swoop down on their mounts to reclaim him, the last son of the Norse, who kept faith with them all these ages. The music, the muted sounds of their descent from the heavens, and Jack's reaction, all make for a really emotionally striking conclusion. They scoop him up, and fly off back to the afterlife, so he can finally join his loved ones, so long dead. Jack then carves an image of him on the obelisk of his story, happy, and writes free underneath it. He smiles and then leaves, now walking through an area returning to life, now that the blight of Aku's curse has been lifted. We end with the shot of the viking, standing in the clouds, with the classic Norse pantheon of gods around him.
This episode, man, I just....I love this episode so much. I've been watching it every few months for, shit, 14 years now? And every time, it chokes me up. Hell I got a little teary eyed doing this writeup, remembering some of the scenes. I love this episode because the protagonist, and hero of the episode, actually isn't Jack. It's the Warrior. Jack is just the instrument that facilitates his personal victory over Aku, a victory that was long in the making. I attribute much of my love of this to Richard McGonagle's performance. A stable actor on the television circuit, you've probably seen him in a couple dozen things, usually as a military guy. He brings so much genuine emotion and feeling to the performance, that it always blows me away. He wasn't phoning this shit in, he gave it his all, and it shows. And to this day, it's still my favorite episode of that show, hands down. In fact, I plan on watching it again today when I get home from work.
So, that long thing out of the way. What episode of a show do you love like this? And why?
For me, this is with Samurai Jack. Season 1, Episode 10 - Jack vs The Lava Monster
The beginning of the episode is slow, but that's sort of by design, it has a slow increase of tension, while Jack wanders a desolated land. Once he gets to the dangerous, trap filled area, things quickly pick up, and quite literally become non-stop. While the traps themselves don't really hold much tension for me, the fact that each trap simply leads into another one, without any true pause is quite enjoyable, and helps to hammer home that Jack is in peril. But the true moment that this episode shines, is once he meets the lava monster.
The reveal is appropriately dramatic, and awesome, the massive creature, looming over Jack, while ominous music plays in the background. They toss blows back and forth, and Jack gets a decent strike in, and the monster....does something quite odd. Instead of becoming furious at the injury, he cries out in joy "At laaaaast! A worthy opponent!" This makes Jack raise an eyebrow, and makes the audience mentally go "wtf?' too. Then, the monster becomes furious when Jack refuses to fight him, and refuses to strike him defenseless. Then he goes into his backstory, with a beautiful style to depict the events. Showing a stick figure animation of his life before he was cursed....a life that was painfully similar to Jack's, right down to Aku showing up and destroying it. It's revealed that he is in fact, not a monster at all, but a viking that was cursed by Aku to that rock form. He was then trapped for at least a thousand years, if not longer, imprisoned in a mountain of stone. And since he's a viking, the only way he can reach his afterlife, is dying in combat. So now, Jack has to kill this man to free him, as life is now his prison.
Now, this is where the episode personally goes into the realms of Fucking Awesome.
The monster, basically begs Jack to fight him, so he can join his people in the afterlife, and Jack, quietly unsheathes his sword, and simply says "Prepare yourself" The level of relief in the monster's voice as he says "At last, the gates of Valhalla open to meee!" Gives me chills every time. There was so much emotion delivered by the voice actor, the wonderful Richard McGonagle, in every line he uttered. They get into a very dramatic fight, but the obvious happens, Jack wins. Once he lands the fatal strike, instead of dying, it breaks the curse, and then the viking reverts to his human form, letting out this triumphant, defiant shout against Aku, having finally outsmarted him. The display is so stunning, that even Jack is dumbfounded, and has a bit of an "oh shit" look on his face, as this giant norse warrior is unveiled. Every time I see this part, I get teary eyed. The level of emotional victory in this scene just floors me. Thousands of years of imprisonment and loss, the madness of being trapped in a body not of your own, alone, and struck with the knowledge that the only way your torture can end....is to die. But you can't kill yourself, if you could even pull it off in this new form, no, you have to die at the hands of someone else. Someone strong enough to actually defeat you in fair combat. And you are so strong, so powerful, so many haven't been up to the task. And then finally, this lone warrior shows up, and gives you the one thing you've wanted more than anything. Release, an ending to it all.
And then, as he revels in the restoration of his body, the curse is lifted, and he rapidly ages. This was the one thing that annoyed me about the episode, but I suspect it's to satisfy the likely rule about "you will not show human on human killing in this kid's show", by having the viking die of rapid aging, instead of a sword wound to the stomach. But thinking on the situation, this can't be what actually happened. Dying from old age isn't "dying in combat", which wouldn't get him into Valhalla. So he had to have actually been killed by the sword strike for it to work. Which means, that in this episode, Jack actually killed something other than robots.
Then, as he stands over the fallen warrior, saddened by what he had to do, the sky erupts in shafts of light, and the valkyrie's swoop down on their mounts to reclaim him, the last son of the Norse, who kept faith with them all these ages. The music, the muted sounds of their descent from the heavens, and Jack's reaction, all make for a really emotionally striking conclusion. They scoop him up, and fly off back to the afterlife, so he can finally join his loved ones, so long dead. Jack then carves an image of him on the obelisk of his story, happy, and writes free underneath it. He smiles and then leaves, now walking through an area returning to life, now that the blight of Aku's curse has been lifted. We end with the shot of the viking, standing in the clouds, with the classic Norse pantheon of gods around him.
This episode, man, I just....I love this episode so much. I've been watching it every few months for, shit, 14 years now? And every time, it chokes me up. Hell I got a little teary eyed doing this writeup, remembering some of the scenes. I love this episode because the protagonist, and hero of the episode, actually isn't Jack. It's the Warrior. Jack is just the instrument that facilitates his personal victory over Aku, a victory that was long in the making. I attribute much of my love of this to Richard McGonagle's performance. A stable actor on the television circuit, you've probably seen him in a couple dozen things, usually as a military guy. He brings so much genuine emotion and feeling to the performance, that it always blows me away. He wasn't phoning this shit in, he gave it his all, and it shows. And to this day, it's still my favorite episode of that show, hands down. In fact, I plan on watching it again today when I get home from work.
So, that long thing out of the way. What episode of a show do you love like this? And why?
