After ending last week’s episode on a literal cliffhanger, it seems Adult Swim decided it hadn’t messed with Samurai Jack fans enough.
Fans who pulled up a chair late Saturday night for the fourth episode of the final season of Samurai Jack were left bamboozled, then furious. Rather than air the episode, Adult Swim, a programming block of Cartoon Network, trolled viewers by showing the third season premiere of Rick and Morty on loop for 12 hours.
Samurai Jack fans were furious. On the show’s official subreddit, one user commented, “time to commit seppuku,” referring to the traditional samurai method of suicide. Another user suggested the show’s titular character would empathize with fans, saying, “So this is how Jack felt when Aku destroyed a time portal.”
@adultswim There's April Fool's jokes and then there's just cruelty
— Brian Marvin (@CharmCityChamp) April 2, 2017
On the other hand, fans on the official Rick and Morty subreddit were mostly joyous about the return of the cartoon, which had not aired a new episode since October 2015.
Multiple Samurai Jack Redditors used that timespan to justify their ire. One comment reads, “Samurai Jack 12 years > Rick and Morty 1.5 years. Adult Swim get your s--- together,” while another says, “(Rick and Morty fans) only had to wait like two years, we had to wait over a f------ decade.”
#rickAndMorty fans: oh be cool we had to wait 18 whole months for this!#samuraijack fans: pic.twitter.com/REtK5CRj7z
— StandingFierce (@standingfierceV) April 2, 2017
One Rick and Morty fan was gleeful about Samurai Jack fans’ outrage and created a post reading, “The Samurai Jack Subreddit is PISSED.”
Some Rick and Morty fans were less elated, though: one Redditor called it “a blessing and a curse” in a post titled “wait so do I have to wait a week to watch samurai jack now.”
Apparently, Samurai Jack devotees will have to do just that. According to Adult Swim’s schedule, the show will return to its normal timeslot Saturday. Fans will have to wait until then to see the next chapter in Jack’s saga — unless Adult Swim pulls another fast one.
Samurai Jack airs every Saturday at 11 p.m. on Cartoon Network.
