There's something super insidious about Jax and Gangle's dynamic where before episode 9 it's just... sad. Gangle is continuously and aggressively threatened, bullied, mocked, and injured by Jax and no one else really says much (until it becomes important to the narrative to do so). Jax has an offhand comment of "do you think it's possible for Gangle to be happy? [...] what? She likes it when I'm mean to her!" + paired with him saying "we're always in teams together!" after Gangle doesn't join him in the gun episode.
Now that we know Jax literally named Gangle (and did so in a demeaning way) AND has some strange psychosexual fascination(???) with Gangle it recontextualizes some of his early behaviour around her.
He seemingly wants her to feel as if she has some level of power/control/influence (and/or masking?) only so he can come in and displace that and, I guess, have sex with her only in that sort of dynamic?
Plus him somehow thinking of Zooble in an almost villainous light because they care about Gangle so Gangle has more people in her life than just him...? He seems to have completely isolated her and taken great joy in how no one truly stopped him from being around her and bullying her, and given his reaction to Zooble bringing up sex I.... hesitate to say that if sex was possible in the circus, he wouldn't aim to have a very toxic/unhealthy relationship with her.
Also another note but holy fuck I've seen people justifying Jax's misogyny as proof of him being transfem or part of the transfem experience and that??? Sounds??? Horrible??? I could more greatly understand a trans man hating men before coming out (experiencing oppression and the idea of "betraying women" that is pushed by some groups) but the idea that it is somehow ""natural"" for transwomen to hate women feels incredibly transphobic and gross to me, especially when paired with "you're being transphobic if you're against it"?
Not sure the best way to word it, but it frames masculinity as being inherently dangerous and femininity as being some sort of magical cure-all to being a bad person or making choices that hurt others, and also frames it as "if Jax ACTUSLLY transition he'd be perfect :)" <- it doesn't matter if he is or isn't trans, and it's always cool to get more rep! Rep doesn't have to be inherently of "good morally right" characters too, but for people to tie his moral failing to his potential transness makes the message far messier and.... more uncomfortable than it should be.
He is the way he is because of a cisheteranormative society and trauma, not from being trans?? I don't know if that makes sense, but considering his weird dynamic and near obsession with Gangle / keeping Gangle "subservient" to him, how Pomni literally revolved around him and Ribbit abstracted because of him (and Ragatha only partially not falling into that role), I just struggle to see why people want to excuse his behaviour as being part of the trans experience??? All it does is reinforce transphobic stereotypes and backs up the idea that transwomen are dangerous to cis women, or will use (I don't want to type this because the logic is gross but I feel should be brought up here) ""their access to masculinity/patriarchy against cis women"". If any of that makes sense?
AND THEN HEY!! WE HAVE A CANON TRANS CHARACTER IN THE SHOW!! ZOOBLE!! Who gots lumped in to ""the girls"" by Jax repeatedly and has their nonbinary-ness be expressed by.... standing up to Jax? They do have body dysphoria and that's great to see on screen, but so much is off screen or we're told it happens and apparently that just isn't the "good interesting proper trans representation everyone wants". Also so many people ignoring them being trans because "he they're basically afab".
TADC is just a mess when it comes to representation and has a truly baffling concept of gender. Kinger basically exists as a genderless being because he's too "insane" half the time to be brought into the mess that is gender in the show.
Also there's so much ableism too?? Everything around Kinger and Gangle and Caine too. Plus there's also Pomni's whole "you need me to fix you!" shit in ep 9 with Jax that was such a massive red flag, like holy fuck she's happy to be friends with someone that's driven others to suicide and she watches bullies and assaults others but she just needs to fix him! Because????? No one else is good enough??? She has no empathy and is selfish and I hate how much people talk about her being the pinnacle of goodness and morals and empathy
She and Kinger only have moments because for some reason literally no one else has been in the dark with him?? Ragatha in episode 1 because circumstance forced her to be, same with Gummigoo. Her moment with Gangle she's visually uncomfortable and immediately says "talk to someone else" and standsby or finds it amusing when Jax goes after her. She gets mad at Ragatha expressing her emotions at Jax when Pomni literally told her to do so?? And her distraction with Caine was essentially "we'll all kill ourselves rather than be around you!!!" which like?? Holy fuck man you can dislike or hate someone without going after their worst insecurities and being so cruel. Everything between her and Kinger in ep 9 felt like pandering and the show TELLING us that she's this good awesome amazing empathetic person but... do we see this?? How much is Pomni thought to be empathetic just because we are TOLD that she is?
TADC had such an issue with telling or saying things and thinking "well! Someone said this happened so that's that. Nothing else to cover" when that's just blatant bad storytelling. The show revolves so much around Jax yet he does nothing to build intrigue or stakes or show any level of growing or changing as a person. His biggest ""growth"" is a scene that happens years ago and he canonically gets more aggressive and cruel after that. Plus women literally existing only for him to abuse, because what else can we say defines Ribbit or Gangle or Pomni or even Ragatha or even honestly Zooble (though not a women he views them as one in a way) beyond their dynamic with Jax??
Somehow they didn't even make his death satisfying!!! He never showed remorse or regret or any sign that he could change. He just cries and says he doesn't want to die. The fact his abstracted form is treated with kore kindness and caring than Queenie?? It's insane and the show just screams that Gooseworx has serious issues when it comes to writing and even just thinking about other women. Jax being her stand in has grown increasingly more concerning the more you watch ep 9. What is she trying to even say??
Also thank you for creating a space here where it is safe to talk about TADC genuinely!!
I don’t think I could add anymore to this, it’s a damn good summary. Happy to provide a safe space!
