It's worth noting that the original four seasons were on Cartoon Network prime time, while the revival season explicitly aired on Adult Swim. So yes, the target

It's worth noting that the original four seasons were on Cartoon Network prime time, while the revival season explicitly aired on Adult Swim. So yes, the target audience was older (or, more likely, the target audience was the group of kids who watched the original series that aged into adults while the show was off the air). You always got the sense from the original that SJ was held back by the censors (Jack has cartoon Wolverine syndrome--he's got a legendary cutting edge, but is only allowed to use it on doors and robots). But I agree, after four seasons of borderline pacifist Jack, suddenly flipping to "Oh, I guess Jack kills people now" hand-waived away by a flashback of his father using lethal force when necessary, was a bit jarring and tonally inconsistent.