all of the ragatha discourse aside, i did want more of her because i thought she was a worthy addition to the ensemble cast. i think the themes of community could be enhanced by a character that craves that community but continually pushes people away, not because she's an asshole, but because she has a difficult time making connections that are beyond surface-level. i think she would make for a good parallel to pomni, and even caine.
like, i seriously do not care that she wasn't a main character. a bit of ambiguity is what makes a character like ragatha so interesting, and to put her in the same level as pomni would've made her less compelling — to me, at least. what makes her appeal to me is that she hides, and i wouldn't like it if she isn't hiding!
there's a reason why people, including myself, feel disappointed by her in the series. the issue with ragatha's writing is that her setups are met with underwhelming payoffs. in discussions about how ragatha's arc didn't have a satisfying resolution, people often point to her talk with kinger in episode 6 as a 'resolution', and it's like...
yeah! i guess that's on me for expecting more from a character whose defining moment in the pilot is her having a panic attack as she goes into detail about how abstraction works. from a character who keeps getting physically hurt throughout the series and never address them. from a character whose setup is Repression. on me for expecting a 'straw that broke the camel's back' moment after all of this seeming buildup of pain.
i did expect all of that in a show that had marketed itself to be exploring the characters and their traumas. i expected character studies from the character study show.
and this is not even getting into her arc with pomni. make your arguments about how the talk needed to be cut because "we don't have enough time" Or "it wouldn't be important", the thing is that there's a scene in the pilot that lingers on these two not communicating! their arc has building tension throughout the series! a plot thread's payoff shouldn't be offscreen!
i think it's ideal for the entire talk to be shown, but if we're going to dedicate ourselves to keeping it offscreen for whatever reason, i feel like we should be at least privy to the contents of the talk through their dialogue throughout the episode. we could even set the episode at the immediate aftermath where they would briefly exchange dialogue and show that the tension has now eased between them. both options aren't really a satisfying way to wrap up a 6-episode plot thread, but it's at least Something.
honest to god, i wish that gooseworx just stopped at 'people pleaser' when writing ragatha because if we were never meant to expect more from her in the first place, those expectations should've never been set. if jax and pomni were really the main characters, then the focus should've been on their dynamic in the first episode. that's setting expectations 101.
and, well, i might as well address this — even though i know that i'll only post this draft once episode 9's out — having a breakdown at the finale wouldn't retroactively fix my issues with her writing, because as nice as that would be to watch ... to me, it would be less of a 'oh, her coping mechanisms are not working, and we're witnessing the consequences (:' and more of a 'yeah the world around her is Literally falling apart this is a normal reaction of course it would make her happy mask fall'. it won't feel like an exploration of ragatha, to put it simply.