I think we might all be wrong about Jax (Chekhovās Bowling Ball Theory)
I posted this on tiktok but I feel like I should post it here too. so I literally stumbled my way into this realization while having a bunch of unrelated thoughts about TADC, and it felt like a moment in those murder mystery movies where the detective is standing by the board and suddenly flashes back to that *one* clue that didnāt make any sense and suddenly it ALL makes sense.
lemme ask you something, did you notice in episode two that no one died or had any sort of concern of death? Ragatha gets stabbed through and gets a knife in the head, while Kinger takes like eight of them. then they drive off into a ravine, and Gangle (one of the more anxious characters) has absolutely no reaction to their possible demise. As for Jax, he stands on the truck as it falls much like a Looney Tune (keep that in mind). With this evidence I fully expect an episode in the future to reveal to Pomni that they canāt die (via her own death and respawn or another characterās, who she panics over before finding out they come back) with this reveal we would establish that the players wonāt die while playing these levels, no matter the damage done to their bodies. Now I have two questions.
Why was Ragatha so afraid of the Abstracted Kaufmo if they would all just respawn? And HOW exactly does someone Abstract?
all we know for certain about Abstraction is that itās the terrible thing that happens when you āreach your breaking pointā your breaking point is vague, but what if itās how exactly it sounds? What if unlike in the games and levels, the circus is a place where you donāt respawn (because as a āsafe-placeā in the game, that programming was never put there to begin with) so when your character for whatever reason dies (like if you were to āreach your breaking pointā and end your life) your file corrupts and creates an Abstraction?
when they found Kaufmo they were surprised, and Zooble comments that they didnāt expect him to have āgiven upā. Implying that Abstraction to some degree is a choice. Like the only way to do it is to do purposeful harm to yourself while in the circus.
now, to finally get to my point.
who was the one to volunteer themself and others to go check on Kaufmo? Leading three of the five available people to find him, instead of sending more man-power to help Zooble, who arguably needed them a lot more?
it was Jax. Jax volunteered himself Ragatha and Pomni. He then proceeded to reveal he had a key to Kaufmoās room, and successfully avoided explaining why. Then they opened Kaufmoās door and found him Abstracted.
why did he (uncharacteristically) volunteer himself and the anxious new girl to check on him?
Well, what does Jax see on the floor and pick up? A bowling ball. HIS bowling ball.
why was his bowling ball in Kaufmoās room? Why was that something that was added? What purpose did it serve?
and why did Kaufmo run after them? Why did he abandon Ragatha after she was down? Why did he abandon the search for Pomni after that too?
why did Jax dive into the gloink cave?
why did Jax make that expression at the end of episode two when Ragatha invites Pomni to Kaufmoās funeral, before leaving completely with no sign of him anywhere at all during the actual funeral?
and lastly, lemme ask you how you think someone who behaves much like a Looney Tune, might kill someone indirectly to get away with it?
I think it will be revealed that Jax killed Kaufmo with a Looney Tunesā style trap, one using that bowling ball.
Because why the hell else was it there.