More opinions about Jax in episode 6
In the year of our Lord where literacy is slowly dying I think it’s good to have discussions (friendly ones of course) regarding lore and characters so, my two cents on Jax’s developments in episode 6:
The things I’m gonna say are absolutely not that brilliant or innovative but still, I need to finally have a place to share my thoughts
he’s an asshole, that much we know and as far as I understood, Goose pushed heavily on the fact that he’s the worst one and the most deserving to be in the circus, the one from whom we can expect the worst
That being said, he’s definitely toxic and cruel, just take a look at how he treats everybody, ESPECIALLT POOR GANGLE but I don’t think it’s as cruel as he says during his lash out in episode 6. We know because he clearly cared about Ribbit and it’s pretty obvious to us viewers that he doesn’t participate to funerals not because he doesn’t care at all but because he doesn’t want to feel the way he feels about Ribbit and why not, probably also Kaufmo
Yes, it’s pretty cliche to say “he behaves like that because he doesn’t want to get too close to people” obviously that doesn’t excuse any of what he does. But I don’t want to treat him like a heartless monster, instead he’s someone with a heart and feelings which he completely ignores, hurting people in the process - which dare I say is arguably worse, since he only creates a more toxic environment that will bring someone to abstraction. He befriended Pomni out of spite towards Ragatha, so that she only felt even more despised and left out; he makes life a living hell for Gangle who he continuously mistreats and bullies. Jax focuses everything on avoiding people so that he won’t feel bad when they will inevitably abstract but also create a tense environment that will push someone to abstraction, be that others or even him because in the end, he’s hurt by said environment.
He definitely takes some enjoyment in hurting the others, especially in the physical aspect but that also comes from being one of the only who accepted that they’re inside the circus and not real life - it’s a big point for the episode explores through Jax, Pomni and Gangle but he has no respect towards those that haven’t accepted their new “reality” like him. Still his behaviour takes a huge toll on him as well and we know that for sure, otherwise he wouldn’t have a panic attack at the end - he doesn’t believe the things he says but needs to, otherwise the other option is admit to himself that he cares about the people around him and admit he misses Ribbit, he should allow himself to feel and accept the guilt and grief he feels inside he knows he cannot take. It’s a double edged sword where both sides could inevitably bring him to abstraction, either because of the hurt he feels for the past or from bottling it all up and avoiding any positive relationship.
All this is noticeable when he has “realisation” moments during the episode, he’d been genuinely enjoying his time with Pomni until Ragatha said he was trying to “corrupt her”, and I believe that yeah, it definitely started that way but the realisation in his eyes and the anger with which he shot her tells me he had totally forgot it was about that. He couldn’t enjoy a positive relationship because that meant he was bonding and maybe his realisation also comes from forcing himself to accept what others think of him. Ragatha thinks he’s only intent is to corrupt her, therefore he must come to terms with the fact that, to others, he cannot have a genuine bond, only second ends. All this things, willingly or not, will inevitably hurt.
I’m curious about the next episodes, only three to go and we’ll certainly get a lot of character interactions, I’m especially curious to see Jax and Pomni interact after this.