Just watched the ending for TACD and honestly I have mixed feelings about the ending. I’m no film/television critic, just a fan, so these are just my opinions. Don’t like, just scroll. I would like if others pointed out things I may have missed or something. Friendly banter is appreciated.
Spoilers under the cut.
After watching the episode and end credits, I was left with a few feelings: happiness because the ending was pretty satisfying in how it was what I'm gonna call a "happy" ending, sadness because the show is over, and a feeling that kinda feels like the ending is missing/forgetting something.
Jax as a whole just felt like an easy guy to hate. I loved Jax at the beginning of the show but after time it just seemed like his character wasn’t very complex and was just kinda made to be hated. How they just did a hard cut and boom, he's abstracted. I know they really dive into his character afterwards and the part of Pomni trying to find the real him and talking to him. I loved that part and it shows just how much he was suffering in his own head from guilt and shame and really helped show why he is the way he is to others and himself, and I know rewatching I'm going to notice a lot of things now that I've seen the end. I was so excited seeing the teasers and knowing that we are going to dive into his character, but I didn't expect basically the whole episode to be about him and a recap of his life. It almost felt like a cheap cop-out of 'Hey look everyone, Jax sucks! Listen to what he did to his mom!' but instead of feeling angry and hating him, it made him into more of a tragic character. I felt bad for him.
The abstraction I unfortunately knew was going to happen because it was spoiled on Instagram (TAG YOUR SPOILERS PEOPLE), but I thought they were going to make the abstraction itself more of a thing and maybe show him letting go like in the beach episode. I understand not doing that because we already saw it almost happen, but the hard cut to abstracted Jax running around just didn't have the impact it should've. This was a major character, not just some background character. I am, however, glad we got to see the inner workings of abstraction and what it is like inside.
I also feel like the abstraction was just an easy kill. I'm not trying to be one of those people telling Goose how her characters should act, but SOMEONE would've gone to see Jax. I understand giving him some space, but you just killed Caine, the god of the digital universe, learned that you are all brain scans so you can never leave, and instead of checking in with each other (there's literally 6 of you so you can break off into pairs??), you all hang out basically ignoring him, knowing he isolates when he's dealing with shit, and you seem surprised when he abstracts??
Zooble even gets angry saying "of course he would do this" like wtf?? I haven't liked Zooble from the beginning. Their character felt like too much of "my whole thing is I'm quirky and alternative and if you don't like that fuck you" and after a couple episodes it just got annoying. They could've been such a good character and been the cool nonbinary person if their personality was more than just that. I understand that Zooble and Jax had a bad relationship the whole show, but that comment as just so insensitive to the situation. I know what Jax did to his mom was horrible, and he's done other horrible things, there's no excuse for his behavior, but also you can easily see that he is very traumatized from how he was treated by his parents, especially his mom and dealing with a lot of shame and guilt. He needed friends. He needed help. Not to have sassy comments and insults thrown at him when he's obviously acting out because he is so in his own head overanalyzing everything, afraid to get close to people, spiraling and being his own worst enemy. He is self-destructive. He is toxic, but I think Zooble can be just as toxic. They didn't have to be friends with him, but just be cordial with him, and if he can't be cordial, then just don't talk to him or be indifferent kinda like what he did with Ribbit (He was a bit more toxic and loudly talking with Ragatha to kinda spite ribbit but I hope my point makes sense).
On to Caine, who is my favorite character. I guess the Void is just kinda like the programs recycle bin? Like not in the program/circus but not completely deleted? I'm glad that Caine wasn't completely deleted, and I'm glad we got to see him separating from the blue AI which I'm going to call Abel just to make things easy. My working theory is that Abel was infecting him like a virus because it wasn't supposed to be a part of him. I think Bubble was the physical version of able because once Caine went to the Void, Bubble was just... a bubble. No face, couldn't talk, just a bubble. Caine is another tragic character that I feel bad for. He truly had remorse and based on his conversation with the glitch/virus/Abel? part of him, he doesn't really seem to actually hold resentment like he did last episode. It seems like Abel is much more of the resentment/holier-than-thou viewpoint that Caine had last episode, because when he wasn't glitched, he was still fascinated with humans and their free will. Maybe because Abel is "the superior one" that Caine was locked up and abandoned for, so being the "superior" one, Abel has more of the AM mentality (because TADC is inspired by IHNMAIMS) where he despises humans? Idk, just a theory.
I'm glad that Caine gave them that closure of how they are all doing outside the circus. It was so sweet of him and felt like the olive branch that was needed to start rebuilding their relationships with him. Also, him taking off his hat at Jax was very kind of him. I wonder if he understands that abstracting is death?
Anyways, this is getting long, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts and hopefully I won't get attacked for any of my opinions. Like I said, if you don't like any of my opinions, please scroll, or RESPECTFULLY explain your opinion below. I'd love to discuss with others. Overall, I liked the ending. It felt satisfying even with all the issues I have stated above. I think Gooseworx is a wonderful creator and I thank them for giving us TADC and dealing with the awful side of the fandom. I know many people were cruel to them, which is completely unfair.
