Something that genuinely does not sit right with me was that one scene with Gangle and Jax in the final episode.
Obviously, spoilers for ep 9 of TADC, as well as mentions of SA and just generally weird behavior from an abuser.
Look, I was having a grand ol time watching the final episode with one of my friends. But when we got to the zooble funeral scene, it was pretty clear that we BOTH got really uncomfortable really fast.
Before any shippers or anything come at me, I would like to reinforce the fact that Jax has spent YEARS tormenting Gangle, both verbally and physically. He breaks the one thing that makes her happy on a daily basis, he calls her names and belittles her, he pushes her around, hits her, he literally gave her a PERMANENT name to make fun of her. Are you going to look me in the eye and say that isn’t abuse? That all of that isn’t something an abuser does?
And then when Zooble is gone (mind you, Zooble is one of the only people who actually somewhat stands up to Jax on Gangle’s behalf, so basically when Gangle’s “protector” is gone), Jax gets fucking creepy. He makes a suggestive comment and touches Gangle’s cheek in a suggestive way. It’s pretty clear she doesn’t want it because she gets upset with him.
“Oh, but she blushed and thought about it, clearly she liked it so it’s okay!” No. Absolutely not. First of all, Gangle was GRIEVING. She was wearing her “normal” mask, literally masking her emotions. Her closest friend and defender just died, of course she’s hurt and upset. Grief makes you do weird things, including craving love from unhealthy places. Even if she wasn’t grieving, people can and do have mixed feelings about their abusers. It’s why people go back. It’s why they stay, and it’s why they’ll excuse anything they go through. Jax is bigger, stronger, and meaner than Gangle. Gangle is hurt, confused, lonely, and scared. All of that can come together to make her “consider” Jax’s offer—not because she wants it, but because she isn’t in a right state of mind.
I’m honestly really sad the direction Goose went with Jax’s character. For the first, like, three episodes, he was genuinely my favorite character. But once the characters stopped feeling like little cartoons, and more like fleshed out beings with emotions, his behavior got worse, which really sucked imo. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have representation of abusive assholes in fiction, I’m saying their actions shouldn’t be brushed off as quickly and as much as Jax’s were.
In summary, Jax touching/flirting with Gangle was overall really uncomfortable, at best. She didn’t want it, it was weird and even borderline predatory, and it shouldn’t have been so brushed over. I’m really disappointed that this is what Goose decided to do.











