I am so glad I have been a Jax hater since day 1, because legitimately, from both a character and writing standpoint, he is awful. I could not understand how any Jax fans can seriously defend him at this point, when episode 9 has showed us just how much of an asshole he can get. (I do not have anything against people who love Jax as it's okay to like evil characters, but what I'm talking about are the fans who insist that he has done nothing wrong.)
When I first watched episode 9, I cheered when Jax abstracted. I am not truly sure if the show was trying to gather total sympathy from him, or if they wanted us just to understand his actions, because if it's the former, I think it's quite abhorrent that they could expect the average viewer to just forgive him.
He is established to have an awful mother, an awful home life, I also think he didn't have any supportive friends then, because he only crashed with one months later, so you would think that when he enters the circus, maybe he would learn to be a better person, especially when surrounded by people who accepted him and hung out with (Ribbit, Kaufmo, I'm not sure if he ever got too close to Ragatha, but because of her personality, I think he could've gotten support from her, too).
Instead, Jax becomes a jackass to the only person that he really opens up to, pushes them away, and basically is the leading factor to Ribbit's abstraction.
Of course, you could argue that maybe this is justifiable because he was abused by parents, that's why he acts like that—great, that's his reasoning for being a bad person, not why we should give him a pass.
I'd like to admit that I had an awful mother too, who would constantly yell at everyone in my family for as long as I could remember, and I ended up being a self-hating asshole who handled friendships poorly too, but unlike Jax, I could never ever think to handle anyone like how he did; I am sure he likely knows what a bad person he is within the context of the show, but it is a choice to continue bad behaviour and not improve yourself for the better.
Jax is given so many chances by everyone, and he never takes them.
What I'd like to highlight next is something that I don't know is talked about a lot regarding criticism, but I hate how the show treats as if it's nothing or simply a joke—I don't think it's given the weight it needs to be treated. Jax imagines himself he would sexually harass Gangle if Zooble abstracted, also making fun of the latter's gender (Specifically, he grabs Gangle's face and gets into her personal space, calls her something affectionate, and tells her to meet him in his room).
None of the characters intervene, which I think reflects the poor writing, not their intended personalities.
I think the worst part of Jax's story is how Pomni, even when she knows he would choke her, even when he would sexually harass his main target of abuse, even if he acts like a piece of shit to everyone around him, she still tries to save him anyway.
Even as she tries, Jax still does not want to be saved, still tries to get Pomni to go away, and even proclaims that he hates her.
I'm not sure if I can call this enabling behaviour, but it sure feels like it which sucks, because they're butchering her character for Jax's story/growth. And with how half of the episode focuses on Jax, sidelining the entire rest of the cast, I think that's even worse than if they had let Pomni sit on the side with Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle.
I really hate it how they gave little focus about how Gangle feels, being his primary victim for abuse, but no, I don't think she in episode 9 is ever allowed to confront him and say how much harm he caused her, like never does she have growth from being his punching bag, all we really get is her crying and Zooble giving her generic motivation.
I'm only going to touch this briefly but
I find it kinda weird that Jax would still be gross even if she was explicitly described as 'if she wasn't a piece of shit' and that Gooseworx thinks this is alright for Jax to say this?? Specifically about the last part, I don't know about you all, but I think it's creepy to think about your friends with such vulgarity/imagining them to fuck.
I won't discuss transfem Jax further, since that's its own topic I don't feel like I know enough to talk about, nor do I think that's exactly relevant to the actions Jax takes, since they only leave it implied and never confirmed in the actual show—he is still a massive piece of shit to everyone around him, and the show lets him get away with that.
If anyone's curious on how I'd rate the final episode:
My enjoyment of episode 9: 7/10
How episode 9 was written: 5/10
