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Tough Luck
Season 2 Episode 31
Episode 44
General Information
Setting San Francisco, USA
Killarney, Ireland
Aired on March 16, 2002
Production Number 44
Credits
Written by Dean Stefan
Directed by Andy Thom
Produced by Dean Stefan
Episode Guide
Previous Episode
Pleasure Cruise
Next Episode
The Chosen One

Tough Luck is the forty-forth episode of Jackie Chan Adventures.

Synopsis[]

Jackie acquires a cursed emerald, and must find a way to break the curse. Meanwhile, Finn, Ratso and Chow decide to leave the Dark Hand and form their own gang.

Plot[]

The episode began at a rock concert in Cleveland, Ohio as an announcer introduced onto the stage over loudspeaker... the Dark Hand. Chow was playing the drums, Ratso and a Ninja Khan were playing the guitar, and Valmont was playing the cowbell, while Shendu (in his statue form) simply served as a stage prop. Finn swooped onto the stage as the bandleader, winning over the roaring crowd. Then, all of a sudden, Jackie jumped down from a Section 13 helicopter, landing onto the stage before punching Finn in the face for no reason other than being "off-key", upon which a screaming and panting Finn awakened from his bed within his apartment. Intending to get away from Chan, Finn decided to quit the Dark Hand for good, planning on starting his own crime syndicate instead.

The next morning at Uncle's Rare Finds, Tohru was being trained by Jackie and Uncle in the art of salesmanship after failing to sell an antique Chinese vase to a customer, with Jade being left in charge of the store. Suddenly, an unlucky Irishman entered the shop, desperately trying to sell Jade a mysterious emerald. Jade accepted, but only on the condition that he purchase at least one antique from the shop, whereupon he hurriedly bough a lamp for 500 dollars before ecstatically leaving the store to Jade's bewilderment. Upon being informed of the seemingly successful transaction, Uncle immediately recognized the emerald to his horror, identifying it as the Emerald of Killarney, a legendary emerald that curses its owner with bad luck. Uncle proceeded to explain the nature behind the curse, that if the emerald is passed onto someone whom willingly accepts it, that someone becomes cursed with bad luck while the previous recipient is freed, unless the current bearer of the curse manages to pass the emerald onto someone else by repeating the process. Afterwards, Jade had a string of bad luck until Jackie willingly took it from her possession, unintentionally passing the curse onto him.

Meanwhile, Finn was staging auditions for his new crime syndicate in an old theater. The first auditionee (donning a yellow and black jumpsuit identical to the one made iconic by Bruce Lee) attempted to demonstrate his skill with a pair of nunchaku until hitting himself in the face. The next auditionee was a man equipped a set of steel-capped teeth (a parody of Jaws from James Bond) attempted to chew through a plank of wood, only for his teeth to get stuck in the wood, ripping straight out of his mouth. Finally, a third contestant proceeded to put on an initially impressive display with a katana, cutting through several haystacks, but run away in terror upon seeing a mouse. Disappointed at the turnout, Finn was joined by his former peers, Chow and Ratso, explaining that they too quit the Dark Hand after Finn. Recruiting them into the gang, Finn proceeded to tell them about the Emerald of Killarney, having ascertained its whereabouts from the unlucky Irishman that had initially sold it to Jade, walking them into a dressing room with the man tied up inside.

Jackie, meanwhile, had been locked in a closet by Uncle to prevent him from spreading the curse until he could find a way to break it. Jade and Tohru returning from the library, showing up with twenty-three books on Irish legends. Upon reading from one of the books, Uncle revealed that the curse can only be broken by returning the emerald to the tomb in Ireland from which it was originally stolen. Setting out to break the curse for good, Jackie tried hailing a cab to get to the airport, but lost Uncle's good luck charms, and nearly got run over by a truck, nine cars and a motorcycle before finally reaching the cab. However, seconds later, Finn and the others (now calling themselves "The Finn Experience"), showed up in a car, attempting to pocket the emerald for themselves, whereupon the unlucky Irishman warned them about the curse, to which Finn brushed off by asserting, "I'm Irish, and every Irish dude knows that curse is a bunch of blarney!" At the airport, Jackie attempted to board a flight to Ireland, but ended up in the baggage check machine, and on the plane, he got squashed by the reclining fat, bald passenger in front of him.

Upon touching down at the airport in Ireland, Jackie was greeted to his surprise by Jade; he attempted to tell her she would be returning to San Francisco, but kept getting interrupted by people walking past and pinching him. When he finally asked Jade for an explanation regarding their behavior, she simply inferred that they were in Ireland and that today just so happened to be St. Patrick's Day, revealing that Jackie wasn't wearing any green, which explained why Jade was sporting a pair of green sneakers instead of her usual red ones.

While Jade attempted to purchase a green hat for her uncle to prevent him from getting pinched again, Jackie was suddenly greeted by Finn and the others (having changed their name to "Finn and the Revolution"), demanding the emerald. While attempting to flee, Jackie's pants got caught on an uneven fence as Finn tried to seize the emerald from his pocket, but Jackie managed to retrieve it before sending Finn sprawling off the fence which Ratso proceeded to smash down, prompting Jackie to run across the rooftops swinging onto a clothes line, grabbing a pink-polka dot bathrobe on his way down. On the street, he nearly got beat up by two locals named Seamus, a name Uncle warned Jackie would bring him bad luck, only to be subsequently grabbed by Ratso and pulled into a ginnel as the gang (once again having changed their name, now calling themselves "Finn, Wind & Fire") finally snatch the emerald, leaving Jackie in a dumpster. Jade caught up with Jackie to return his pants just as he received a phone call from Uncle, informing Jackie that if the emerald is stolen, the curse will remain on him forever, Uncle's point solidified when the garbage pipe's contents suddenly spew out on Jackie's head.

Luckily, Jade managed to uncover the location of Finn and his gang from a group of locals down at a pub by disguising herself as a leprechaun, upon which one of them told her that he found out about "some fellas" trying to sell the emerald down at the old potato factory. But then, as Jade was about to leave, one of the patrons spoke up and claimed that if they managed to catch the leprechaun, he would have to surrender his pot of gold to them.

Jackie and Jade both arrived at the potato factory as Jackie attempted to sneak in undetected to retrieve the emerald, discovering Finn along with his gang (now the "The Rolling Finns") as he successfully negotiated the emerald's sale over the phone. Reaching out for the Emerald, Jackie accidentally activated some machinery, alerting the three to his presence.

Meanwhile, the patrons from the pub managed to catch up to Jade, chasing and eventually cornering her. However, she stopped them in their tracks by conceding defeat, agreeing to lead them to her "pot of gold".

In the factory, the gang (now "Finn Halen") successfully managed to subdue Jackie, who eventually surrendered the emerald to Finn, effectively passing the curse onto him as it exchanged hands willingly, lifting the curse from Jackie, which enabled him to fight back. Upon accepting the Emerald, Finn discovered to his dismay that the curse was real when he suffered a string of bad luck; Jackie agreed, and said he would happily take the curse back if they would only leave him alone. Suddenly, Jade and the pub patrons showed up as Finn returned the emerald to Jackie. The leader of the patrons demanded Finn to "hand it over", to which Finn claimed that Jackie had it. However, the patron grabbed Finn, clarifying that he didn’t mean the Emerald, with another explaining to Finn what he had already discovered for himself the hard way: "every Irishman knows that rock carries a curse." Instead, the patrons demand the pot of gold the three allegedly stole from the leprechaun, prompting Finn, Chow and Ratso to make a run for it, with the angry pub patrons chasing after them through the streets. Ratso and Chow told Finn that they quit, but Finn said that he found the perfect name for their gang.

Eventually, Jackie and Jade managed to return the Emerald of Killarney to the tomb from which it was originally stolen, breaking the curse for good, after which he and Jade walked happily through the streets of Ireland, until a black cat came across Jackie's path, he broke a mirror and then stepped under a ladder. Jade surmised that all three incidents accounted to "eighty years' bad luck". Jackie wondered if that was all superstition until someone from above dumped trash on him, apparently standing "right where the trash bin goes".

Characters[]

Protagonists[]

Antagonists[]

Neutral[]

  • Unlucky Irishman
  • Seamuses
  • Angry Pub Patrons

Others[]

Dream[]

Objects[]

Voice Talent[]

Broadcast[]

  • USA: The WB (Kids' WB) - Saturday, March 16, 2002
  • UK: BBC One (CBBC) - Saturday, September 7, 2002

Transcript[]

Main article: Transcript:Tough Luck

Notable Quotes[]

Jackie: (after being pinched a few times) Ow! (to Jade) Why does everyone keep doing that?
Jade: (while using her fingers) Because this is Ireland. You’re not wearing green. (Jackie looks down at Jade’s green shoes) And it is kind of St. Patrick’s Day. (Jackie is surprised at seeing all the St. Patrick’s Day decorations)


Jade: (comes into the potato factory with the pub patrons, and points to Finn, Ratso and Chow) Those men have it.
Finn: (looks surprised at seeing the pub patrons, turns to Jackie and hands him the Emerald) It’s all yours, dude.
Pub Patron Leader: (to Finn while holding out a hand) All-rightee, hand it over.
Finn: (thinking the leader means the Emerald) I just did. (points to Jackie) He has it. (Jackie looks surprised, but the leader grabs Finn instead)
Pub Patron Leader: Not the Emerald, you pig-ignorant gum!
Pub Patron #2: Every Irishman knows that rock carries a curse!
Pub Patron Leader: The leprechaun told us you lot stole her pot of gold! (Finn, Ratso and Chow exchange shocked looks with each other)

Trivia[]

  • The names suggested for Finn's gang are all based on the names of famous bands, reflecting his love of music:
    • "The Finn Experience", referencing The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
    • "Finn and the Revolution", parodying Prince and the Revolution.
    • "Finn, Wind, and Fire", derived from Earth, Wind & Fire.
    • "The Rolling Finns" (this alternative is voiced by Ratso, and it's the only one suggested by someone else than Finn), a play on the Rolling Stones.
    • "Finn Halen", based on Van Halen. Finn would later use this as his bidding name in Half a Mask of Kung-Fu.
  • The first of the men trying out for Finn's crime syndicate was dressed in a yellow jumpsuit using nun-chucks; this is a reference to Bruce Lee, famous martial artist and friend of the real Jackie Chan; the yellow jumpsuit would later be worn by Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill Volume 1.
  • The second of the men auditioning for Finn possessed a set of steel-capped teeth, clearly referencing the character Jaws portrayed by the late Richard Kiel from the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.
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