Funko Pop Animation Samurai Jack Mad Jack - 1781

Link para compra BR: https://amzn.to/4qT2UXg

"Sure, mountains of robot corpses. This...this was the first human being. REEEEAL FLESH AND BLOOD!" 

Had to draw my favorite face from season 5 of Samurai Jack

So I keep seeing posts that this fella here, Mad Jack:

Is the same being as what we’ve been collectively referring to as Inner Jack:

Now I’ve tried to find any actual confirmations for this and came up short, but once the theory was brought to my attention I gotta admit the pieces are there, and they do add up.

So for some context, Mad Jack was a physical manifestation of Jack’s anger and frustration brought into existence by Aku. The point was that if none of his bounty hunters could kill Jack, then maybe Jack himself could. Naturally Jack won out in the end, but he did so not through continuing to fight a pointless battle, but by finding peace with himself and coming to terms with his rage.

Quite interesting in this whole ordeal is that Jack quite literally absorbed Mad Jack into himself. A physical form could not be sustained if Jack himself refused to give into his negative emotions.

Now this was all the way back in Season 1, and we haven’t seen Mad Jack since... But just because you conquer your anger once doesn’t mean it won’t creep back up again.

Case in point:

Now, it’s quite clear that whether or not Mad Jack and Inner Jack are the same being, this is where they manifested. Right after Aku destroyed the last time portal, destroying and and all hope the samurai had of getting back home. The teeth are especially notable here, because we’ll be seeing them again later.

Of course, right after this is where Jack loses control of himself and slaughters the innocent goats Aku had cursed. Jack is noticeably horrified when he snaps out of it, and since the sword is a holy weapon it nopes the fuck out of there and falls down a chasm and presumably back into the realm of the gods.

Therefore causing Jack to lose that last bit of hope he didn’t even know he still had, and he spends the next 50 years wandering around with no purpose in life. His restored rage is already causing problems for him.

So fast forward through those lost 50 years, to Season 5, and the first time we’re introduced to Inner Jack is during the initial battle with the Daughters of Aku, when Jack is hiding under the carcass of a beetle drone.

And my he makes quite a splash doesn’t he? Wreathed in sharp shadows, he exists only to torment and taunt Jack over his mistakes, even going so far as to suggest seppuku as “the only honorable thing left to do.” Whatever his origins, whether or not it’s just Jack hallucinating his most repressed thoughts, it’s evident that Inner Jack does not have his best intentions in mind.

However it’s episodes 3 and 4 of Season 5 that offer the most prominent foreshadowing for the potential reveal later on in the season.

Look at it, that’s only a face a mother could love. Brought on by Jack’s deteriorated state after being heavily wounded the previous episode, the Inner Jack here is twisted and filled with obvious malice. A product of his delirious mind, the hallucination mocks Jack over taking his first actual human life, “Real flesh and blood.” But the clue here is just how demented Inner Jack looks in this appearance.

In episode 4, Inner Jack is looking the calmest and most normal he ever has, reflecting Jack’s recovered state of mind and the benefit of actually having someone to talk to... Even if it is a brainwashed assassin raised to kill him. But there are a few things to note from this appearance. First, Inner Jack outright advocates for abandoning Ashi to a painful demise inside of the beast they’re both trapped in. Despite his more cordial demeanor and calmer appearance, Inner Jack still never has Jack’s best interests in mind.

Second, Inner Jack actually notices Ashi’s been taken by one of the creatures living inside the giant beast before even Jack himself does. Inner Jack is the one to alert Jack to Ashi’s disappearance.

That casts an interesting light over just what Inner Jack actually is. By this point we’d all been assuming Inner Jack was just a hallucination, a sign of how far gone Jack is after all this time. True, it’s possible that Inner Jack noticing was simply Jack’s own way of noticing Ashi was gone but... It does imply some degree of independence of Inner Jack’s part.

That he might not be just a hallucination.

Inner Jack takes a break for a few episodes, but his reappearance in episode 7 is where the pieces all start coming together in regards to his connection with Mad Jack.

Jack goes on a spiritual quest to reclaim his lost sword, and he comes across a monk who tells him to make tea. Once finished, Jack gives the monk the tea, who’s response to to claim the tea is terrible. That Jack is unbalanced. This is where Inner Jack manifests completely, and looking the most like Mad Jack he ever has.

A red color scheme, the color of rage and anger. Teeth like daggers, and drawn as this twisted, monstrous thing... This is the point where Inner Jack drops all pretenses, and starts acting exactly like Mad Jack. Right down to the voice. Screaming against the injustices of the world. That the monk is deceiving them. That he’s the only reason the two of them have survived this long. 

It gets to the point that Inner Jack actually hits Jack, and it’s a strike that lands and causes Jack to go tumbling through some panels. That’s no mere hallucination, even taking into account the spiritual journey Jack is on at that moment.

But perhaps the most damning thing? That Inner Jack yells at Jack, and calls him a fool. Just like Mad Jack.

It’s never explicitly stated, but the implications are there.

Inner Jack and Mad Jack share far too many similarities for it to be just mere coincidence. Though the latter was initially manifested by Aku’s magic, it’s important to note that he was explicitly part of Jack from the very beginning. His anger. His frustration. He may have been kept under control for the time being, but it’s always possible to lose control and give into one’s darker emotions.

Then it’s just a matter of confronting them and refusing to give in.