Now that I've finished the available episodes of TADC I've been more freely browsing fan content about it and found that "Jax is a repressed/closeted trans woman or transfem" is a theory that's been floated around, with some people even saying that this could be made canon in the final episode and speculating that this is why the episode's theatrical release has been banned in certain countries. My thoughts on this below the cut (for spoilers):
There's a lot of stuff you can point to. Gooseworx, the show's creator, is a trans woman and has described Jax as her "self-insert." Jax's bedroom is pink and girly (the rooms are presumably generated based on things about the individual's psyche). At one point Jax accuses Pomni of trying to "crack" his "egg," and given Gooseworx's identity it seems unlikely that that specific terminology was an accident.
And of course there's Jax's intensely flustered reaction to being put in a French maid outfit, which initially struck me as a bit surprising and ooc. He's a character who's very committed to his don't-give-a-fuck facade, so you'd think he would have developed some psychological antibodies to this type of mockery, like just making a flippant remark and rolling with it. But you could argue that he reacts so negatively specifically because it hits so close to home that he can't keep his cool. In response to questions about his reaction, Goose said Jax is "not ready to have that conversation." (Hmm?) And of course, there is the hallucinatory torture scene where Jax gets "peeled" and everyone mocks and laughs at his true form.
All that said, if you set aside Goose's commentary and just look at the show itself, all of these details are also consistent with a (more obvious, more mainstream) reading that Jax is a cis or mostly cis man who is ashamed of and desperate to repress his emotions and vulnerability, his "girly" qualities, because he's internalized the idea that these things are bad. I mean, we're all accustomed to seeing male characters who have this specific neurosis, this performative masculinity and self-imposed alienation which function as armor around a soft and squishy core (Rick Sanchez comes to mind). There's no shortage of men who feel a lot of anxiety about their own masculinity, and who respond by just repressing this anxiety and committing harder to the act, even as they crumble inside. (Of course there are women and female characters like this too, but you more commonly see this archetype with men.)
All that said, this doesn't rule out the trans reading. But I would personally be very surprised if this was made canon in the final episode. Partly because I'd imagine Gooseworx having some reservations about such a...well, problematic character being the only transfem rep. Which is not to say that it's wrong to have problematic queer rep. God knows I've written plenty of it. But a reveal of this nature in the last episode would be the fandom discourse equivalent of throwing a wrench into a beehive and then setting the beehive on fire.
Jax spends the vast majority of the show bullying and terrorizing the rest of the cast. Whether he's doing that because he's terrified of being vulnerable and being hurt again or she's doing that because she's terrified of being seen as who she really is, I'm not sure if that changes much on a narrative/structural/thematic level. Either way you've got a character who is abusive due to a deep inner pain. And since there's not enough time left in the show to truly explore what an out trans Jax would be like and how that would affect their dynamic with the rest of the cast, how would this really affect the story's outcome?
And it's being hinted at in some of the trailers and promo material that now that Caine is gone, Jax could become the main villain. Trying to narratively meld that with such a reveal...like I'm not saying that's impossible to handle in a respectful and nuanced way but it's kind of hard to imagine that going over well. And I also suspect that a last-minute redemption arch which thematically tied itself to this revelation would feel cheap. So I think this particular thing is likely to remain as subtext or a fan theory.
But who knows! Looking forward to the finale, in any case.
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