#TADC episode 4

[shrimpyjackal]

maybe if i spent more time on this i couldve made a more cool and detailed thing, but ive got a dinner to prepare

So im satisfied

[cinnamon-stixs]

Remember Kinger's line from episode 3?

Cool, now remember how Gangle was treated this episode.

:)

[neccturtle]

the most fun part about episode 4 was seeing Jax in pain and distress.

the least fun part about episode 4 was seeing gangle in pain and distress.

[chelledoggo]

either that or like his memories were suppressed and he's just now starting to recall them a bit

either way he remembers her to some extent

yeah, gummigoo 100% remembers pomni and wasn't allowed to say it, just look at his face

[unoriginalbun]

[grape-souffle]

His expressions this episode were soooo good

[demodraws0606]

Jax's fear of being trapped and what that might imply about his past/future

Hello 2 days ago i've developped a chronic case of Brainrotting about Jax, tragic I know.

I'm kinda basing this slightly of what Gooseworx have said in QnAs though I will not rely on it because I think purely relying on a creator's words and not the media isn't really satisfying.

The main thing that stood out to me in this episode with Jax was that he seems to fear punishement.

He seems really freaked out when Gangle proposed the idea of Cain punishing him...

And then he immediatly goes to Zooble to be like "lol you don't believe Cain actually could punish us right ?" and while he's proven right at the end of the episode, the fact that he immediatly tries to seek reassurance that he wouldn't get punished says a lot. In fact in his expressions he looks both sides while saying it almost like he seems...unsure/anxious (idk the right word).

Also when he's brought into the employee training scene. He's weirdly...afraid and shaken by it ?? (not showing the screenshot cos everyone remembers that scene).

Which like, I understand that was terrifying but it was a strangely strong reaction to something that...light ? I mean he wasn't brainwashed or anything. I might be stretching it but all of it, including the scene's purpose makes me wonder if it brought Jax bad memories of...something.

After that scene happens, he completely acts normal and stops trying to be a dick completely.

Now this isn't a convo about weither that's Jax's true self and his jerk self is a persona. People are trying way too hard to either try to make him a one dimensional asshole or secretly a good guy which like he's neither he's a bastard with layers. But that's not what this is about so ANYWAYS.

All of this made me wonder what was Jax's main Thing, more so his theme or the thing that makes him tick.

We know with Gangle it's her issue with masking (her dreams, how she feels, etc...), Ragatha being a people pleaser, Zooble's body dysmorphia, King's memories and how they link with the loss of his wife and Pomni's desire for companionship.

For Jax we actually don't really know other than...he's a dick and he's using it to cope which like....duh ?

But with this episode and also a little thing that I got from researching QnAs (because i'm normal and chill like that) made me realise what could Jax's Thing.

A Fear of Consequences and being Trapped

Now the main thing that drove this thought was me finding out Gooseworx assigning a song to Jax which is this one.

Don't fence me in, huh....

That line meaning a desire to not be restricted and not losing their freedom.

This makes me think this is probably what Jax's character is at least partially about, or more so...his biggest fear. Being restricted, reprimended or trapped.

I think in part that fear could be related to his past, which I'm gonna throw my cards here, my own personal theory is that he was stuck in juvenile detention for misbehaving as a kid. That experience traumatising him enough that he was probably similar to the Jax we've seen at the end of episode 4, just Tired.

Now does it Necessarely have to be a juvenile detention center, honestly no ? But it's the thing that makes the most sense in my head.

Either way this also explains a lot of things about his behavior in the circus.

He's now secluded in a space with absolutely 0 Consequences, the one person who can dish it out is an AI who is probably programmed to never harm humans (directly at least). He's even proven right at the end of episode 4.

I think what led to Jax's shit behavior was this realisation that this is pretty much now his Safe Heaven. In real life he can't just be who he wants to be, there's potential consequences that he's afraid of.

Now I know I'm gonna hear like "oh so you just think Jax is an asshole by nature", I don't think he is (i don't think he's ever been a nice person his life but like there's a difference here), I genuinely think he's not more so being himself rather that it's just that he's overcompensating for the lack of freedom that he's felt his entire life.

In a way it's similar to how people act on the internet.

Imagine that you were a misbehaving kid and you were reprimended HARSHLY for it, to the point where you're not really fixed per say but you're stuck being terrified of even being slightly flawed.

But now here he is, in a place where death doesn't matter, the harm he does doesn't matter and the one person who can actually hurt him just gives him weird shenanigans that give him opportunities to lash out.

However, there's a tiny little problem...

This fantasy cannot last forever forever and I'm not talking about them getting out because as far as they know it's out of the cards for them.

It's very much clear that the circus with the arrival of Pomni is becoming more tight knit and less divided, creating a more solid friendship group with the help of Pomni being an actual normal nice human person (Zooble is nice too but they're more jaded and too depressed to deal with most of everything, and Ragatha is a whole baggage).

It's becoming increasingly clear in the episodes themselves as well that, Jax can't just be an asshole anymore. Every episode since episode 1 has led to him being reprimended or him not being given what he wants. The group is becoming closer and they're sick of his bullshit.

He also probably doesn't like being alone and hated. We see him seeming sad at the talk of Kofmo's funeral before having to go back to being angry and dismissive in his facial expression.

Maybe he really did want to go to Kofmo's funeral but like would anyone actually believe he would be genuine, after being an asshole for so long would it really be worth for Jax to just break it all right there.

But it's clear he's also not really enjoying being alone.

Jax in a way is basically burrying a hole for himself. Being an asshole was his perfect dream after probably living a life of boredom and repression but now that this consequenceless existence has finally revealed itself to just be a mirage, he's now unable to access the things he really needs.

Actual friendship.

It's clear that the Digital Circus has a point of companionship being extremely important, in fact when we get mentions of Kofmo's abstracting we get also mentions about how no one really founds his jokes funny. Kinger mentioning how making someone feel alone and unwanted is the worst thing you could do to someone. Gangle is saved by Pomni and Zooble's presence.

However there's no one at fault for Jax's isolation, he only has himself to blame.

Ive got more but i'm tired so hope you guys enjoyed it.

[astroprinc3]

you got ur wish 😭😭

I HOPE SHE MAKES HIS LIFE A HELL MAKE HIM SUFFER GIRL.

[anonymouscheeses]

Gangle at work! It's not going well....

[shivers-sketches]

This scene hit me hard ;n;

Kofi

[fizdryypz]

I'm sorry Jax

(re-draw of I'm Sorry Jon)

[rose240briar]

❤️😂

This is what i think of when i heard about the “special sauce” theory

Original by Punkitt!! On twitter

[inyofaceart]

Episode 4 be like

it be like that tho

[or3oartz]

hey so why are people suddenly feeling bad forJax?? Have we just forgotten the past few episodes??

"he didn't deserve it" YES HE DID!

Have whatever opinion you want, but Jax has been nothing but a TERRIBLE person and needed to be humbled SO bad. Don't get me wrong, I love him- he's my third favourite tied with gangle. But he's a terrible person. How did we go from hating him after episode 2, to now suddenly thinking he didn't deserve his treatment? 😭 mind you, he's been torturing the others for years! He had it coming.

Also the new Gangle and Ragatha hate also confuses me? Let me start with Ragatha.

From what I'm aware of, the hate is from what she said to Gangle. And I get that it wasn't nice, but as soon as she says it, she does point it out herself.

Just a reminder she's literally high out of her mind with no filter. There's no thoughts in that head, because they're all coming out. that's her thought in the moment, and people think unpleasant things all the time. We're just usually able to control what we say.

Ragatha like this also makes her feel more human- she has faults just like all of us do. She's not a completely good person all the time, but who is? People love Jax for being an asshole(me included) , so why hate on Ragatha? This also applies to the Gangle hate.

People tend to hate gangle in this episode because of how she acts, but personally I love seeing her being more than sad and pathetic all the time. She's doing a job that she has experience with. Yes, she gets a little carried away sometimes, but she's also a struggling person that's already not taken seriously by her fellow circus members.

By the end of the episode she seems like she's about to lose it if it weren't for Pomni being there to take the rest of the adventure for her (take the closing shift, which I really liked.) Hell, even then it's hard to tell if she did or didn't purposely fall into traffic. and she still took the responsibility for her actions at the end in the office with Caine.

You can disagree with me if you want, I don't really care. But I feel like people are so desperate to put characters into a black and white boxes of "good" and "bad". People aren't even like that, it's really hard to be an OBJECTIVELY good or bad person, because imo, that's subjective. one person's good is another's bad, and there's also some things that aren't good nor bad.

Sorry this post is so long, I'm just very passionate about this show and the concept of a good and bad person. But honestly, good on gooseworx because you know you're doing something right when you can evoke such strong feelings from people people. Props to her 👏

[annimatour]

a honest night

[rainbowbutterfrosting]

Tbh, with the line "Nobody can see this, right?", I also interpret it as him being a bit scared of his surroundings for once.

Every adventure, he's put someone into direct danger bc he's sort of numb to it all and doesn't fear something actually going wrong (because even if he's an asshole, I doubt he'd ever want to kill someone) (also see beginning of episode 4 where it is actually a mistake to break gangle's mask. he's not always acting with malice)

But this moment is where he was taken out of the restaurant and suddenly put there, with a video that perfectly responds to him.

I think this is him finally realizing the danger of his situation. Machines moving him, a video recording that had no time to be recorded (hinting that time is not linear), and not having anyone to bounce his worry off of.

Idk how to end this but yeah, I think it's a grim, dark feeling for him to be alone and not know if he is alone all at once.

i just love moments like these.

jax can seem like the 1 dimensional “haha evil shit i do evil shit for funnie haha” guy to a lot of people, which is the persona he tries to uphold throughout all the episodes. his mindset is that because nothing’s actually real, might as well cause chaos for the sake of it. it’s how he copes. but moments like these, where jax is being genuine even for a split second, really show so much for his character.

no, i don’t expect him to be redeemed. gooseworx says that he gets WORSE, and he IS an asshole to everyone around him. but under all of that he is still human. and after being presumably tortured by gangle for who knows how long he really doesn’t have the energy to keep up his fake evil persona. and so he asks pomni how she’s doing, an action which confuses her greatly.

most of the time, jax is terrified of showing weakness. hell, THIS is his reaction to the employee training session.

he’s just had his body twisted in all sorts of ways by a bunch of mysterious hands and his biggest fear is people seeing him weak.

jax you are so pathetic and i love you as a character greatly ❤️