i think jack is being widely misinterpreted and i really want to ramble about it ok
the viewer is aware that jack didn’t have ill intent when acting out against test tube. it was jack lashing out and his negligence almost caused her death. however, the contestants aren’t aware of this. fan straight up calls it “attempted murder” when that isn’t the case. at most it would be involuntary manslaughter . murder is premeditated, meaning jack would have been planning to murder test tube all along when that clearly isn’t the case . fan doesn’t know that, though, only the viewers do. fan most likely told this from his perspective to the OSC that “jack attempted to murder test tube” and not “jack accidentally almost killed test tube”. the only one who seems to understand this is test tube, who says “he acted upon aggressive tendencies”
jack acting out in episode 2 was a on purpose. but hurting test tube was a complete accident. i absolutely do not excuse what he did, but since jack seems to have the tendency to act out, he was clearly frustrated with more rules being added to the game after he thought he understood it completely. jack had a plan for how he wanted to play, and after he figures out it won’t work due to new twists added on fan’s accord, and not how he imagined, he’s reasonably upset. but that still doesn’t make it okay how he behaved. he’s insecure, and doesn’t want to make a fool of himself by already being eliminated
here is the part where i think he’s more wrong in. jack is excusing his actions by his personality. he says he’s impulsive and he let his temper get the best of him, but he never apologies . he is using his personality as an excuse from his actions. he is saying “hey, i need to learn and grow clearly! i was just being inept and the only way i can get better from this is playing the game like you said!” only because he wants to be in the game and win. not because he genuinely wants to better himself. his main goal is to win, he doesn’t care about genuinely becoming better yet and is only saying this to appease fan and let him stay in !!
the problem is that people don’t seem to understand jack is using “i’m unstable and aggressive!” as a shield for himself to keep on playing the game while having zero regard with how that affects the other contestants. the issue is that jack is playing the card pun not intended of “im unstable and the only thing that can fix me is the game!” and test tube freaking believes him!!!!!
she says herself that “the game didn’t break jack, on the contrary, it’s the only thing that can heal him!” when that is only jack’s words coming from her mouth. he has convinced them successfully that he’s this heartless monster and the game will surely help him heal and get better, when he quite literally says himself he’s only in it to win .
i think people don’t know jack is manipulating people which is part of the issue. he is a mixed individual . jack offering to help team circumspect could definitely be taken as genuine or fallacious, because it would help him get back into the game again, but he would only do it to benefit himself . that is also why it’s a bit strange that suitcase immediately shuts him down like that isn’t the whole point of the score board eliminations, to get back into the game. he even says it himself “the fact i even bothered to sound nice means some growth right?”. he only wants the best for himself in this scenario, which is to sound better for fan and the safety committee (even though that’s pretty much the whole point of the type of rejoining-elimination they’re doing) .
part of this whole issue is definetely due to his coding by mephone. he’s an insecure individual, and it’s reflected by his design in itself. a jack playing card is the lowest of the “royals” (or face cards) in a deck. this means he’s higher than a 10 but lower than a queen. he’s also just “lower” than suitcase, fan, and test tube, all individuals who play a higher role in the game than him, but believes he is “higher” than the contestants he plays with.
jack has amazing potential and i can’t wait to see how his character develops, but i think it’s important to understand why he acts the way he does and that his character isn’t simple in retrospect. thank u for reading











