Episode XXIV: Jack Is Naked

"Episode XXIV: Jack Is Naked" is the twenty-fourth episode in the second season of Samurai Jack. Jack's clothes are stolen and he must get them back, while being chased by an angry mob who think he is a "cat" burglar and by the police for almost-indecent exposure.

Plot
Immediately we find Jack locked in battle with a robotic slug monster in the middle of a swamp. Jack is finally able to defeat the beast, and climbs out of the swamp covered in mud and slime. However, he is pleased to shortly come upon a beautiful waterfall. Jack removes his muddy gi and geta and enters the water. After cleaning himself, he takes a moment to relax but soon hears a rustling sound behind him. Jack turns to see a white rabbit hopping away with his gi and his sword! Jack tries to give chase but ends up falling down a deep hole.

Jack comes around to discover he is lying in the middle of a busy street and must dodge several cars before making it to the sidewalk. Looking around, he finds that he is in a large city hidden beneath the ground. All of a sudden, a fleeing thief collides with Jack. Jack, after a quick apology, knocks the thief unconscious and takes his clothes. Jack picks up the thief's bag and sets off to find his property but doesn't get very far. He turns a corner to find himself face to face with an angry mob who mistake him for the "cat burglar" who stole all of their cats. They chase Jack all around the city until Jack is struck by a balloon taxi. The driver apologizes profusely and offers Jack a ride. Jack quickly accepts and hops in but the balloon car is too heavily loaded to rise up very high. Jack empties the thief's bag, dropping several cats down into the mob. The balloon-taxi rises into the air and flies away.

The taxi takes Jack into a new cavern where Jack spots the white rabbit. Jack leaps from the taxi and chases the rabbit through the alley ways but runs into the mob again. Jack climbs into an open window to escape and finds several costumes. The mob burst in to find Jack, dressed in a blue dress and blond wig. The mob mistake Jack for a lady and go off to find the thief. Jack tries to leave but is stopped by a man who mistakes him for an actress and pushes Jack onto a stage. Jack muddles through the scene but when the "Cheshire Dragon" is mentioned, Jack sees a very Aku-like shadow. Grabbing a staff, Jack launches into an attack and savagely beats the "dragon", much to the discomfort of the actors inside the costume. Jack then spots the rabbit again. Jack chases the rabbit again and sees it on board a centipede-train. Jack tries to run alongside the train but is stopped by three girls who mistake him for the Princess of Hearts from the play. The girls excitedly grab pieces of his costume for souvenirs until Jack is left with just a torn skirt.

Jack tries to catch up to the train but runs past a policeman who calls out the rest of the force to arrest Jack for being "almost naked". Evading the police, Jack reaches the rear of the train and enters. He is just about to capture the rabbit but is seized by the original angry mob. They drag Jack off of the train but he is able to escape and follow the rabbit onto another train. Jack makes his way to the engine and incapacitates the engineer, taking his clothes. Jack tries to get to the compartment where the rabbit is but the passengers panic that no one is driving the train. Jack goes back to the engine and, not knowing the controls, narrowly avoids several collisions before crashing the train into the ground. Jack exits the wreck of the train, almost naked again, and follows the rabbit into a jungle. Jack follows a noise into a hollow log and drops into an open space. Spotting tracks that seem to lead into the wall, Jack finds a hidden door. Inside, Jack sees the rabbit and seizes it by the ears only to find that the rabbit is actually the backpack of a small girl. Jack demands his gi and sword back and the girl returns them. Jack asks the girl if her parents told her it is wrong to steal and she replies that she has no parents. She was hungry and, having no money for food, she took his things because they looked "almost as valuable as robot slug tusks". Jack returns to the swamp and retrieves the tusks from the robotic slug he defeated earlier. The girl thanks Jack, stating that she will never go hungry again. Jack walks away commenting that "A stranger world than this, I fear I have yet to visit."

Trivia

 * The entire premise of this episode is based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
 * This episode is the first time Jack is seen wearing a dress.
 * The police refer to Jack as the almost naked man.
 * This remains the only episode where the end sequence is altered. In this case, with the elephant-fairy.
 * The centipede train, with its trackball controls and 8-bit sound effects, are a reference to the arcade game Centipede.
 * Phil LaMarr is misnamed in the cast credits as "Pill LaMarr".