The Tale of X-9
Episode numeral: L
Original air date: 9/25/04 (produced in 2003)
A robot named X-9 is forced to come out of retirement and go after Jack.
Tropes:
- Arc Words: "Lulu, sweet thing".
- Bait-and-Switch: At first, it seems that Lulu is a girl X-9 fell in love with, then she's revealed to be a dog.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jack survives X-9's assassination attempt but X-9 is dead and the same fate may be in store for Lulu.
- Crosses into Downer Ending territory when one considers that X-9 was forced to hunt down Jack and can be considered as another Aku victim.
- Forced into Evil: After giving up his life as an assassin, X-9 is forced to hunt down Jack after Aku kidnaps Lulu. Tragically Jack doesn't know this and kills X-9.
- Hero Antagonist: This episode focuses on X-9 and his mission to kill Jack. Sadly for him, as just stated, he has to kill Jack.
- Hitman with a Heart: Fits X-9 to a T.
- Kick the Dog: Aku kidnaps X-9's pet dog in order to force him to do one last job.
- Last of His Kind: The other X models were wiped out long ago, as X-9's emotion chip made him the only one who cared whether or not he survived a battle.
- Last Request: "Lulu, take care of Lulu".
- Noir Episode: This episode is stylised heavily on old film noir, which includes 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-9's perspective.
- Shout-Out: The scientists who built X-9 bear a very close resemblance to Dr. Robotnik and Dr. Wily. The one who placed 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-9 failed? It's never explained.
