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Episode VIII: Jack vs. Mad Jack[1] is the eighth episode of the first season of Samurai Jack and the eighth episode overall. In it, Jack must face his greatest challenge to date; an evil copy of himself.
Synopsis[]
Aku is disappointed because the sizable reward he has offered for Jack's life has not attracted any bounty hunters with enough skill to take him down, so he creates an evil spirit-clone of Jack, since no foe can be more difficult than one's self.
Plot[]
The episode begins in a bar filled with several alien bounty hunters, when Jack walks in and orders a pot of tea. One of the bounty hunters recognizes Jack and they all approach him. Aku offered two googolplex for the death of Jack, an offer too tempting for any bounty hunter to ignore. Jack is in no mood to fight, but the bounty hunters aren't about to leave him alone. With no other choice, Jack fights and defeats the bounty hunters before exiting the bar.
A rather familiar-looking bounty hunter chases Jack.
However, Jack quickly learns that his problems aren't over, as even more bounty hunters are waiting outside the bar and in a nearby forest. Jack continues to fight, steadily growing more and more angry at his inability to get any peace.
Meanwhile, Aku is watching Jack fight the bounty hunters, and wonders if there is any form of fighting style that can defeat Jack's. This gives the master of darkness an idea...
Back in the forest, a furious Jack defeats the last of the bounty hunters, screaming Who else wants some!? in his rage. With no challengers remaining, Jack is finally able to rest. However, as Jack is about to leave, the strap on one of his sandals breaks. This proves to be the final straw, as Jack hollers in rage before throwing the broken sandal at one of his electronic wanted posters hanging on a nearby tree. Suddenly, energy starts surging from the wanted poster and onto the sandal, repairing it. The energy then takes shape and a new entity is formed: Mad Jack, a physical representation of Jack's negative emotions, born from Aku's dark powers.
A confused Jack exchanges words with Mad Jack, who explains that he is Jack's dark side, spawned by Aku from Jack's own burning hatred for the sole purpose of destroying him. With this in mind, Jack and Mad Jack begin to fight. However, the combatants are clearly evenly matched, with neither able to defeat the other. As the battle draws on, both of the Jacks become more disheveled, and their crossing blades cause sparks, which set the forest ablaze. Eventually, their blades cross and Jack sees his eyes reflected: they look just like Mad Jack's.
Jack sees himself compared to his dark counterpart.
Jack realizes that Mad Jack was born from his own inner rage, and stops fighting, causing the forest fires to die out. Jack calmly tells Mad Jack that he has lost and that the rage that created him is gone, therefore Mad Jack no longer exists. Refusing to accept this, Mad Jack rushes at Jack, but finds himself unable to strike. Jack is once more in control of his emotions and Mad Jack can only scream in rage and defeat as Jack meditates, sealing Mad Jack away within himself.
Jack gets up to leave, and looks off into the distance, knowing Aku is watching him. I know you're watching, he says as he walks off. These tricks are starting to annoy me.
Credits[]
- Written by
- Directed by
- Storyboards by
- Voices
- Phil LaMarr as Samurai Jack/Mad Jack
- Makoto Iwamatsu as Aku
- Tom Kenny as Monkar/Og
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Fishman/Bartender/Patron #1
- Casting by
Trivia[]
- Among the bounty hunters that attack Jack in this episode are:
- An fish-like alien who speaks in a deep voice.
- Og: A chewbacca-like alien who finds Jack outside the bar.
- Monkar: A three-eyed robotic Japanese macaque who speaks with a shrill voice.
- A black bear wearing Soviet clothing.
- A robotic centipede that can grow new heads from its severed segments.
- Huntor: an lion-like alien who wears the clothes of a Australian hunter.
- Another reference to Dexter's Labratory, Jack's exclamation of Who else wants some?! is taken from the second episode, Dodgeball, of the show.
- In a reference to The Powerpuff Girls episode Bubblevicious, Bubbles also exclaims Who else wants some?! after a brutal holographic training program.
- The music in the bounty hunter bar bears similarities to the song Soul Bossa Nova.
- Goofs:
- Before Jack enters the bar, there is a montage of scenes showing the patrons inside the bar. These scenes are inconsistent with each other because the patrons constantly move around, being seated at different location in each scene.
- When Mad Jack begins to materialize, his sandals' laces are colored brown, same as the sandals, but in the following shot after Jack's surprise the laces are colored black.
- When Jack first meets his double, there is a brief scene where his neck is colored white like his kimono.
Quotes[]
- Jack: WHO ELSE WANTS SOME!?!!!
- Jack: What sorcery is this? Who are you?
- Mad Jack: Don't be such a fool! I'm you!
- Jack: If you're me, then who am I?
- Mad Jack: Nrrrgh! You're so stupid! You are you, also!
- Jack: Enough! You are my mirror image, yet your speech is foul with evil and disrespect. Who are you and how have you come to be me?
- Mad Jack: I am the son of Aku's magic. He has looked deep within you and has spawned me from your burning hatred. I am your dark side and I possess all the powers that you wield. And I have only one purpose in my existence, to destroy you!
- Mad Jack: What the heck is going on?!
- Jack: You have lost. The battle is over.
- Mad Jack: What?!
- Jack: You are my inner demon. You have been born from the hatred within me, but now the hatred is no more. Thus, you do not exist.
- Mad Jack: Fool! I am real! Now feel the reality of my cold, hard steel!