This may be controversial but it's been driving me up the wall. Ribbit's abstraction was Jax's fault, but her mental health was not his responsibility.
I've watched the finale a handful of times at this point and I've seen some people try to state that Jax isolated Ribbit from everyone else when that simply isn't true. He told her not to talk to anyone about what exactly went down more specifically alluding to him opening up about his vulnerability, but Ribbit never had to. She didn't have to spill a bunch of Jax's secrets to someone, she could have just talked to someone about how no longer being close to her friend was making her feel but she didn't. She could have talked Caine into pairing her up in a team of three if she was the odd one out or asked someone in the circus in advance to team up with her. Literally nobody else had beef with her.
And don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm not sympathetic to her isolation or her mental health, I get it I really do. She was a part of the LDS church presumably her whole life, and decided to walk away from all of it. And a huge part of the equation that I think a lot of people are overlooking (in my opinion at least) is before Ribbit even made an appearance in the show people reached out to Gooseworx and asked her what Ribbit's pronouns were because at that time her gender wasn't even confirmed and Goose responded saying her pronouns are she/they. It never came up in the show but given that she decided to walk away from mormonism and her parents, her (albiet slightly ambiguous) queerness may have played a roll in that dynamic. She walked away from everything she was taught to believe, possibly losing her faith her family and her community all at the same time which is an unimaginably painful experience. I've watched the effects of what it does to someone in real time and it's fucking devastating, so Jax rejecting her and then cutting her out of his life probably added to that specific trauma. She was valid to feel shitty about it all. But she never reached out to anyone in the circus.
And for that matter, why the fuck didn't anyone check up with Ribbit? Kaufmo was close to her before Jax showed up, he noticed something was wrong and even asked Jax about it but it was never confirmed if he pressed Ribbit about it. Ragatha was close with her as well, and we all know Ragatha is the kind of person who would lend an ear in a heartbeat.
Let's just put it in perspective for a minute and place ourselves in someone like Ragatha's shoes. She has been in the circus since 2008 and has seen people abstract before. Anyone who's been in the circus long enough knows that isolation is a real and genuine threat. Then Ribbit shows up and she has been in the circus for FOUR YEARS and is as fine as anyone can be trapped in the circus before a new person shows up. They get close in a way that could easily be read as romantic, then there's a supposed falling out and the Ribbit starts pulling away from all her friend groups. Wouldn't that be a little alarming to watch?
Anyone who is a genuine friend to someone would know to reach out to Ribbit and hold her arms and tell her that throwing her life away for some guy who obviously treats her like dirt is fucking ridiculous and to get a grip. Where was the solidarity? Where was the fire to get up and do something about it? Why did she let herself wither away and more importantly why did her friends watch her do it and not intervene?
If your friend is showing clear signs of suicidal ideation and behaviors it's irrisponsible to just leave them be. Jax may have been the cause of her abstraction but coming from someone who's struggled with suicidal tendencies my whole life, when you have mental health problems you have a responsibility to yourself to reach out for help, and your loved ones have a responsibility to be there for you.
