Correction appended.
When Samurai Jack returned in mid-March for its fifth and final season, the titular hero hardly appeared to be himself.
Stranded in the past for 50 years, Jack was unkempt, ragged and just plain dirty. Gone was his signature white robe; his hair, once in a tidy topknot, hung loose at his shoulder; his face, once cleanly shaven, sported a raggedy beard.
This was a very symbolic change. After decades of fruitless fighting, Jack didn’t really care about anything, especially not defeating Aku. He only aimed to overcome the demons tormenting him and return to the past, but even that seemed out of reach. As he repeats in each episode’s title sequence, “Hope is lost.”
His torment finally reached a breaking point last episode, nearly committing seppuku, a ritual samurai suicide. He was only saved because of Ashi — Ashi, who had just shed her original outfit for a leafy look.
Ashi’s transformation represented her final rejection of Aku, her freedom, her redemption. No longer was she a Daughter of Aku. Instead, she’s just Ashi, free and awake to the world. Jack undergoes a similar transition in this week’s episode, albeit in a slightly more roundabout way.
While searching for his lost sword, Jack realizes that he didn’t lose the sword — the sword lost him.
As the flashback at the outset of the episode showed, his sword fell into a deep abyss. Jack and Ashi search it, but Jack realizes he must find it another way.
So he meditates. And he doesn’t stop for anything.
The episode fantastically plays with contrasts. Ashi single-handedly destroys an army of malicious crocodile-man-hybrid-monsters bent on killing Jack. Meanwhile, Jack meditates peacefully, drifting off into a mental trip in which he rows a raft to a hut and makes tea for a monk.
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In the real world, Ashi faces her final challenge, as the Mother emerges. She chastises Ashi for failing and attempts to kill Jack. Eventually, Ashi overcomes the Mother and kills her.
Meanwhile, Jack is still making tea. After a deep sip, the diminutive monk tells him the tea is not good because Jack is not balanced.
An angry red Jack appears, representing his pent-up rage. Jack comes, quite literally, face-to-face with his rage and defeats it, realizing that his furor is what has held him back and what lost him his sword.
“Now you are balanced,” the monk says, and Jack is transported into some sort of ethereal place. Three gods — one Egyptian, one Norse, one Hindu — say Jack must defeat evil and is now worthy once more.
Jack is blasted with light, and when the light fades, he is himself again — white robed, clean-shaven, sword in hand.
Scaramouche is on his way to tell Aku that Jack doesn’t have his sword, but Aku’s recently demoted third-favorite assassin probably isn’t going to win any brownie points with his boss now. Aku could be in for a nasty surprise.
Jack has finally shaken off the last remnants of his fear, his anger and his depression. He’s ready to take on Aku, with Ashi and hopefully the Scotsman behind him, and he’s ready to get back, back to the past.
Samurai Jack airs every Saturday at 11 p.m. on Adult Swim.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated where the three gods were from. The article has been updated to reflect the most accurate information.
