Ok, just got access to the English dub.
• Jax's mum 'changed' after the divorce.
• In Jax's words (the only time he gives some detail and isn't incredibly vague) his mum made him a 'target'. Comparing him to his father, either saying he's weaker than his father or 'just like' his father when he 'lashes out' and gets angry.
• Then one day to 'get her off his back' he tells her something very 'personal', which could mean anything. What did Jax tell her that's so 'personal'? We'll never know. Really frustrating that they refuse to give any context here. What a stupid thing to omit. Very crucial information here that the writing refuses to share.
• Jax's mother 'insults and humiliates' him. Again, incredibly vague. How does she humiliate him? What insults? We'll never know. He vaguely alludes to verbal abuse and that's it.
• Then she laughs, and makes him even more upset/uncomfortable by hugging him.
• Then he (in Jax's word) pushes her off with 'all his might' and she falls to the floor. When she doesn't get up, his assumption is that she's *faking it*.
• She isn't moving, and Jax flees the scene like a fucking coward. He still doesn't know what happened to this day (whether she's even ALIVE).
Now that I've heard the English dub, has my opinion on Jax's mum changed at all?
Why not? Jax says she was verbally abusive!
That's *his* side of the story. Frankly, I still don't believe him. I'm sure the author's intent is to have the audience believe what he says, but I'm not convinced by author's intent. I judge by the quality of the story, and I believe in Death of the Author.
Here are some of the reasons I don't trust Jax's account:
• we never get to hear his mother's side of the story. We don't know anything about her, other than the fact that she sucks (apparently). She doesn't even get the luxury of having a name.
• Jax is an unreliable narrator. Just earlier in this episode, we had a cartoon-y sequence where Zooble is demonised by Jax, and reduced to an angry caricature. Jax also doesn't believe someone like Gangle can be happy because he clearly sees her as a weak and broken person, someone beyond repair. He thinks Ragatha is 'fake', even though Ragatha is actually a very genuine and kind person. He doesn't actually believe that someone may want to be kind without some kind of selfish/ulterior motive, because he projects HIMSELF onto everyone else.
People may say that Caine lacks sonder (and he does) but so does Jax. The story has presented to us over and over again that Jax has a narrow, twisted worldview and does NOT understand people very well. He does NOT look at situations objectively, but instead bends everything to fit his personal narrative. Jax sees things EMOTIONALLY, not objectively.
Now, all of a sudden, we're supposed to disregard all that information in favour of a new Jax who is very Objective and would definitely Tell the Truth to his friend that he desperately wants to keep. Even though Jax is a *coward* and is definitely the kind of person who would want to put a positive spin on himself in front of his naive friends. The only person Jax is ever accurate about is Caine, probably because they actually have things in common (their need for games, personas and distractions).
• Jax has been established to be a manipulative person. It is absolutely within character that Jax would actually flatten a complex situation and villainise his mother, because it's much more appealing to play the victim than do any self-reflection whatsoever. Relationships are a two way street, except when we're doing the evil mum stereotype, I guess.
• if I, as a viewer, got some SPECIFICS (Jax's mum says *this*, Jax shares *that* personal thing) then MAYBE I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. But he doesn't. So really, why should I believe what Jax says? Oh, I believe that Jax and his mum had a bad relationship, for sure. I believe they had arguments. But the narrative about the horrible mum and how everything is her fault? No, I don't buy it.
Why do you give Ragatha the benefit of the doubt?
Because of her established character traits. Here's what we know about Ragatha:
• She tries to be positive but she doesn't hide the truth. Ragatha breaks the news to Pomni that everyone is trapped, AND she explains the abstractions to Pomni. It's an unenviable job, and nobody likes being the bearer of bad news, but Ragatha assigns herself that responsibility because she's a fucking champ. She is always taking one for the team and nobody appreciates that.
• It's not a super well-written scene, but Ragatha has one drink and then starts rambling/trauma-dumping about her abusive mum. Then she immediately regrets it. This isn't the behaviour of somebody trying to look good, or someone villainising their parent. It reads as emotionally unstable, but authentic in its presentation. I'll be honest, I don't *love* that Ragatha has a one-dimensional evil mother, but I'll let it slide because it at least plays a role in explaining Ragatha's psychology. My rewrite doesn't have any evil mothers though. We need more complex women, and I'm sick of mothers being either angels or devils.
• Ragatha has a pattern of trying to see the best in people. It's more in character that Ragatha would try to make her mother look better, not worse, so the fact that she's so negative about her mother shows that this person must have crossed a point of no return if even *Ragatha* has given up on a positive relationship. I would still prefer that we got to learn more about both their mothers, but that's expecting waaay too much from TADC. This show only knows how to do black-and-white.
Fuck this stupid trope. Nameless, voiceless, and another prop in a sad man's backstory. I can't wait for this writing trope to die.
EDIT: One more thing I wanted to add before I forget. You can still interpret this scene however you want. If you believe Jax and think his mum was bad or abusive, that's totally fine. I respect that. I'm just sharing my interpretation of that scene. It's very 'boy who cried wolf' - if Jax was telling the truth, it's too late for me because I stopped trusting his POV ages ago. Also, I haven't mentioned Jax sexually harassing Gangle in his thoughts because I wanted this post to focus on Jax's mum, and I don't have anything to add people haven't said already. But yeah, Jax is the worst.
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