I didn’t want to highjack that other post but there was a post recently talking about how crawler would have gotten into more fights if he wasn’t in the S9 and I think that’s kind of emblematic as Jacks role as an abuser. He finds vulnerable people and offers them freedom to chase their true desires and escape the oppressive system they live under but he really traps them in a new even more abusive system with him at the top. He is the patriarch of his own little abusive household.
This is emphasized in story with The Siberian offering Rachel freedom from the lies and manipulation that come with society but is quickly revealed to be a man that likely murdered his daughter and puppets her visage around to hide from society and protect himself. A literal illusion. The Siberian isn’t free himself and just wants someone lower on the hierarchy to kick around.
It’s striking me now how similar Cherish and heartbreakers relationship is to Jack and King’s relationship. Jack is kind of just Cherish if she had a better power and the air of legitimacy that comes with being perceived as a patriarch. I wish we had gotten to see that AU where it was just Jack and Cherish left alive that I’ve heard about.
