Jack Learns to Jump Good
Episode numeral: XIV
Original air date: 3/1/02 (produced in 2001)
Samurai Jack has found another time portal, though Aku's minions block the way. Jack cuts his way through the drones, but before he can use the portal Aku arrives and physically yanks the portal out of Jack's reach. Jack tries jumping for the portal, but try as he might Jack just can't jump that high and falls back to the earth in defeat. Aku taunts Jack before flying away with the portal.
In search of the portal, Jack enters a jungle and meets a wild man who can jump so high it appears he can fly. The wild man takes Jack to meet his tribe, who turn out to be a tribe of blue and white apes who can also "jump good" like the wild man. The wild man explains that he is an ex-slave of Aku's who wandered into the jungle and was adopted by the apes at a young age. He doesn't get to say more, for another tribe of red apes come charging in, scattering the blue apes and wrecking all their food and shelter.
Jack drives off the red apes, and the wild man sadly explains that the rival tribe has been harassing them for some time. Every time his tribe tries to settle down, the other comes along and destroys their homes and steals their food, forcing them to relocate. Jack offers to teach the tribe how to defend themselves, and they in turn will teach him how to "jump good". Jack teaches the tribe how to set booby traps for the apes, as well as stave combat with bamboo sticks. That task complete, the tribe strap a giant boulder to Jack's back (with additional rocks around his arms and legs) and set him on a grueling course through the jungle, climbing and running and jumping through the terrain. Jack is slow at first, but soon his strength increases and he's able to move at a decent pace with the boulder. Once the tribe removes the boulder, Jack can indeed "jump good".
Jack is so caught up in his success that he does not hear the red apes returning. However, the wild man and his tribe are ready, routing the apes before catapulting them deep into the jungle with a warning never to return. Satisfied that the tribe can defend itself, Jack departs on his journey. He finds the time portal again and fights his way through Aku's minions, and once more Aku arrives to pull the portal away. Only this time:
- Aku: YOU CAN FLY?!
Jack: No. Jump good! (Cut to credits as Jack takes a swing at Aku's head)
Tropes
- Arc Words: "Jump good!"
- Beware the Nice Ones: Once they learn how to actually defend themselves, the tribe show the bullying apes no mercy.Wild Man: Hungry? Here food! (stuffs food in the red apes' mouths) Still hungry? Here more! Take it! (stuffs more food in their mouths) Never come again. (gives the signal to launch the red apes on a catapult)
- Bolivian Army Ending: The episode ends with Jack jumping sword-first at Aku, and ends on a freeze frame. This is only the first episode of the season though, so don't expect anything to come of that by the next episode.
- Bookends: The episode begins and ends with Jack preparing to enter a time portal, only for Aku to snatch it away from him.
- Evil Is Petty: Aku shows just how petty he is when he tauntingly dangles the time portal in front of Jack, yanking it away like a school bully dangling a shorter victim's lunch over their head.
- Gentle Giant: The Wild Man is as gentle as a flower and incredibly friendly, despite being three times Jack's size with massive, crushing hands.
- Insistent Terminology: The Wild Man and his tribe can't fly, they simply "jump good!"
- Killer Gorilla: The larger, reddish-purple apes terrorize the blue monkeys and take their food.
- Martial Pacifist: Jack, true to form, only attacks the herd of apes after they ignore his nonviolent request to stop eating the tribe's food. Subverted with the tribe themselves, who are peaceful, but don't know how to defend themselves.Wild Man: "We peaceful like flower, know not how to protect ourselves... OTHER TRIBE TAKE FOOD, SMASH HOME, NEVER LEAVE US ALONE!!! ...We pick up pieces, replant somewhere else. We scared... now like before, we find new home..."
- No Ending: The episode abruptly ends after the infamous "jump good" line, leaving Aku and Jack's fate rather ambiguous.
- Oh, Crap!: To quote Aku, "YOU CAN FLY?!"
- Raised by Wolves: The Wild Man tells Jack that, as a child he was a slave to one of Aku's robots until one of the monkeys lured him away.
- Training Montage: Two in a row: the first is Jack teaching the tribe how to set traps and spar with bamboo staffs. The second is the tribe making Jack run, jump and go through various obstacles while weight down with huge rocks to help him learn to "jump good."
- You No Take Candle: The Wild Man has a particular way of speaking to emphasize his Raised by Wolves nature, i.e "Jump good".
