- Title: Samurai Jack – Episode IV: Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites
- wiki: link
An initial error in judgement by Samurai Jack (Phil LaMarr) is put right in “Episode IV.” Witnessing a runaway Woolie burst through the forest, Jack wrangles the animal and returns it to the mounted Chritchellites who were perusing it on other Woolies. Invited to their village, a starving Jack accepts despite having serious objections to how the the strangers are treating the Woolies. Learning that the Woolies, tortured for the Chritchellites amusement, can speak, Jack decides something must be done about the situation. A dream leads Jack on the proper course of action. Freeing the Woolie he helped capture, Jack and the creature help break the Chritchellites’ dominance of the Woolies, freeing the creatures and sending the aliens back into the spaceships to flee.
“Episode IV” introduces several common themes to what will become the show’s trademark: Jack stopping to help those in need, a vision or dream leading to answers, Jack encountering a situation which isn’t what it initially appears to be, and (of course) no real progress made on the samurai’s long journey home. By the end of the episode some good has been done in the horrific future controlled by Aku (Mako), but our hero is still no closer to returning home and undoing the future that is Aku.
