µ-Blog – Jack and the Gangsters

µ-Blog – Too long to tweet, too short to call a real post

Robots gather at bar, nice film noir feel here

The fifth season of Samurai Jack started last month. In the fifth season, fifty years have elapsed, and Jack has not aged, but lost hope of ever defeating the evil demon, Aku. In watching it, I realized that many of the characters had appeared previously in the series. I was sort of haphazard in watching the first four seasons, so I wanted go back and watch them all.

As I got toward the end of season 1, I watched Episode 12, Jack and the Gangsters. Jack goes to what can only be described as a Prohibition Era speakeasy. Inside the men are wearing tuxes and the women flapper dresses and Deco-inspired evening-wear. Jack ends up fighting, pinstrip suit, fedora, and spats wearing/Tommy gun wielding robot gangsters. 

Jack meets gang leader, Edward G. Robinson

Invertantly, Jack protects a group of gangsters, led by none other than Edward G. Robinson, whose gang includes a parodies of Micheal Madsen and Steve Buscemi from Reservoir Dogs. The attention to detail is excellent. Jack enters the speakeasy after being examined through a peephole. The nightclub has a jazz band and a torch singer, and there are Art Deco patterns on the columns in the background.

I always thought that Samurai Jack was innovative and artistically amazing, and if anything, Season 5 surpasses the original series. The last thing I expected was Edward G. Robinson and Quintin Tarantino. Well done. Even If you don't care about the series, this episode is well worth it just for the great film parodies. The series is currently streaming on Hulu.