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Samurai Jack Season 1 Episode 8

VIII: Jack versus Mad Jack

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/15/01

Aku places a bounty on Jack's head, but is disappointed by the failure of some inept hunters, so he creates an evil spirit-clone version of Jack to finish our hero off for good.

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

Jack fights...himself

10

By imaginedmind, Dec 22, 2011

The three blind archers was a hard episode to follow, but this does it magnificently. Here Jack battles his own psyche in order to thwart off Aku's attempts to destroy him. The episode starts off reminiscent of old 70's cult films, or perhaps something Quentin Tarantino-esque. I've never heard the joke "A samurai walks into a bar..." but the results were hilarious. Bounty hunter after bounty hunter attempts to fight and capture Jack, leaving him tired and angry. Aku decides to turn this anger against him by creating an evil twin of Jack...Mad Jack, who mirrors Jack's every move. Their battle quickly escalates as their rage sets the forest on fire. While some of the action here is a little down Dragon Ball Z's alley, it soon comes to an abrupt stop when Jack notices his own reflection in his sword.

In the course of the battle he has become indistinguishable to his evil twin... This brings forth visions of the burning forest, a metaphor for his rage and inner demons, which are washed away by a bustling waterfall of peace and tranquility. Jack relaxes, puts his sword away pronouncing his evil twin defeated. Mad Jack doesn't take kindly to this and leaps toward him. What happens next is anyone's guess, a moment of ego vs id I suppose.

One can question whether the battle ever happened, as once his adversary is defeated, his robes are no longer torn, his shoe no longer broken, and most notably, the forest is no longer on fire. It appears as if the whole battle occurred inside Jack's head, but Jack triumphed over his inner demons in the end, despite Aku's best attempts to send Jack insane. Another thing to note is that this is where Jack has started making a name for himself, with all the Bounty signs with his face. From this point on, people began to learn of the Samurai known as Jack.moreless
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Samurai Jack faces many enemies, and he has no place for comfort and peace. Fighting those enemies his rage goes stronger, completely forgetting the ways of the samurai. Aku makes his move, and makes his rage come to life making it an evil twin.moreless

10

By extreme1soldier, Jun 18, 2009

One of the best episodes, he fights the bad personality of himself, made out of rage, hatred, fury. The evil twin made possible by aku's evil magic. During the fight he sees himself, trying to win over a seemingly impossible foe. The firing tree in the scene represents our samurai's hatred, and the waterfall representing the way of the samurai, thus destroying the hatred within, he destroys his foe, he being the impersonation of something non-existing.

I believe that the message of this episode goes to an old proverb "If you know yourself, and your enemy, you shall not fear the result of a thousand battles", and if you stay calm, diminishing all that is bad and wrong in your soul, you will succeed.moreless
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How can Jack beat himself?!

10

By Mitsarugii, Dec 21, 2007

This is yet another great episode of Samurai Jack, Aku see's that Jack is much stronger then before, so he creates an Evil Samurai Jack called " Mad Jack " his eyes are red and his outfit is black, and his hair is down. Aku created him from the evilness in Jack. Jack struggles to fight his evil self. giving a hard time. Jack thinks and pictures a tree on fire, then he thinks about a calm waterfall, then figures out how to defeat Mad Jack! This one was a great episode, as of most of Season 1. Enjoy the episode!moreless
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Fighting his inner demon

9.0

By dannybu2001, Aug 14, 2005

This episode is a metaphor for not letting your anger get the better of you.

Aku figures out that the only person who can beat Jack, is Jack. Seeking out the inner anger Jack has for Aku himself, Aku manifests a physical represention of Evil or "Mad" Jack which Jack must then fight.

Only by not fighting is Jack able to win.
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Mako	Aku
Phil LaMarr	Jack

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Tom Kenny	Monkar/Og	Guest Star
Kevin Michael Richardson	Fisherman/Bartender/Patron 1	Guest Star
Phil LaMarr	Mad Jack	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (3)
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- Throughout the fight against Mad Jack, Jack's sleeves are ripped multiple times, but near the end of the fight they are whole again.
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- The bounty on Jack's head is two googleplex. A googleplex is a number that is described as a one with a google zeroes after it. Aku couldn't have that much money; every creature in the universe combined would not have that much money. If you were to count every molecule of every element of everything in the universe, it would not equal two googleplex. It would not even equal a google. Simply writing out a googleplex would take more space than the universe would have room for, and would take more time than the age of the unviverse.
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- After Jack is attacked by countless bounty hunters his sandle breaks. In a blind rage he picks it up and hurls it at a digital wanted poster. The sandle falls to the ground and Mad Jack, who is created by Aku, grows into the sandle. However, during the fight between Jack and Mad Jack, Jack has two sandles on.
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QUOTES (3)
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- Jack: What sorcery is this? Who are you?
  Mad Jack: Don't be such a fool! I'm you
  Jack: If you are me then who am I?
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- Jack: (to a defeated bounty hunter) Looks like there will be no money for you, crazy round man.
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- Jack: (to Aku) I know that you are watching... These tricks... they are starting to annoy me...
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NOTES (2)
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- The hunter that looks like a lion and the six-legged robotic elephant he rides are from a "Dial M For Monkey" segment called "Huntor" that was part of the series Dexter's Laboratory.
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- First UK showing : 7th December 2001 5:30pm
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Austin Powers' Theme Song
  During the opening sequence, the music that is played by the jukebox is a parody of the theme song from the Austin Powers movie series.
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