cherrie/nana ♪

I don't think it's fair to say Ragatha doesn't want genuine connections. I think Ragatha loved her mother, but struggled because she was too hard on Ragatha. For what reason exactly is hard to say because we don't have the full story(there's always another side to a story). But reading this frustrated me. Especially the part where it was suggested Ragatha did not have a genuine connection with Kinger, which is a RIDICULOUS notion.

To assume this would be to overlook Kinger's connection with Ragatha, whom actively helps Ragatha when he is in a clear state of mind(whether he is all the time or not is up for debate), but he makes the effort. He cares about Ragatha a lot, he "changed" overcoming his loss of Queenie because of Ragatha, and this relationship helps ground Ragatha, as Kinger offers her really good advice, and this is clearly not the first time. Kinger likely saw a lot of Queenie in Ragatha. While Ragatha may not know every detail of Kinger's life, it is downright slanderous to assume that just because Ragatha doesn't understand the trivia of every person's life that she's not a good friend. That's not fair, because that's not how friendship works at all. I don't think you have to know everything about a person to be friends with them, if that were true, nobody would be friends with anyone, because nobody knows every aspect of somebody, and that's one of the points of friendship, to accept your friend as they are. Does mean having depth of knowledge and connection about with them? That would depend on what kind of friendship you want, but friendships are meant to be simple, even if there is room for depth.

In fact, I would argue Ragatha actually covers what matters in a friendship the most, which is being helpful, considerate, and caring of others more than herself. She has the temperament of s social worker, she deeply cares about everyone around her and how they feel about her, and them in return, even if not every moment of every day.

Ragatha, contrary to how a lot of the fandom depicts Ragatha, offers a different and more practical and older definition of friendship through her consistent attempt to be kind and considerate to everyone in this motherly way(Ragatha definitely tries to be sweet as her mother was about the opposite to her, being the supportive sweetheart she is). She's good at assuring others that things will work out if they keep their chins up and put their heads together, this is very mother-coded. She tries to think of everyone first before herself, and encourage others.

Arguably this is a very selfless way of looking at a friendship, as throughout history, friendship was often seen as a means of not only survival, but also facing the real world. She faced it with a smile, and that's a very valuable trait, to be a Light in Darkness. While Kinger was right to tell Ragatha she needs to care about herself too, Ragatha has consistently made the effort to be a good friend to everyone in the circus, as she believes it's the greatest act of friendship to be kind. There's also an element of sacrifice in her attempts to put others first, which many religions would classify as the pinnacle of friendship, to see the goodness and well being in others, like with the story of Jesus for instance.

Lots of people struggle to make connections in this world, and may have no idea what a heartfelt close connection might be also, especially in the modern day. Ragatha may have never had the opportunity to make friends before she entered the circus, and feels very isolated in an emotional sense, perhaps being homeschooled on a farm, where she talks to the animals on the farm she lived on, finding s heartfelt connection in feeding and tending to them. Ragatha tries to connect with people the best she can, but perhaps what she struggles with is experience with other people. Perhaps by trying to be friendly, she confuses others like Jax and Pomni (and the others to a lesser extent), by uplifting herself with a positive attitude.

You could make the argument that Ragatha might be on the autism spectrum, because autistic people deeply struggle with connecting to other people in this way. Ragatha may have high functioning Autism(previously known as Asperger's syndrome, perhaps learning to mask her symptoms at a very young age). Ragatha has been accused of being a fake people pleaser many times, but this is a surface level analysis. Ragatha clearly has major difficulties connecting to other people, especially in the circus, despite her honest and earnest attempts to portray her friendliness towards others. Her friendliness has been called a mask by many in the fandom, but i would argue this is exactly how Ragatha thinks people will like her. She thinks being friendly and actively wanting to help those around you, connects you to others, and in the real world, it does. Once upon a time, friendliness was a given, because in a high-trust society, people are not suspicious of one another and care about how they feel. But perhaps the other members of the crew carry sense of low-trust, as they live in a society that now questions the motives behind very basic human interactions, like being positive, friendly, or caring, as there are people in the world who will twist these things to serve selfish agendas, which undermines real kindness in the public lens.

While many of the crew members are actively overwhelmed by the circus and do not have room to be patient with Ragatha's sense of optimism, the crew under those strained conditions don't have the time to see Ragatha is genuine in her attempts to be their friend, and think very selfishly put of a means of survival, but Ragatha carries what builds a strong community, which is asking how others are doing and offering a level of trust that doesn't have to be earned, caring first without being concerned or skeptical. Gangle in episode 4, shows in her tired moments that she questions Ragatha's motives around being kind, but Ragatha clearly cares even if she said a lot of not so nice things high on drugs, of which Gangle appreciated Ragatha for being aware of and actively apologizing to her for. Ragatha may not always get everything right, but who does? She actively tries, and that's the whole point of friendship, to not give up on others around them and no matter how hard it might be to be friends, to still maintain and keep them in your life, because in this world other people are the realest part of your life.

Episode 7 did an excellent job of depicting this connection Ragatha is capable of. Ragatha opens up to Kinger, and she interestingly states amongst her anxieties that she struggles with a genuine connection with Pomni, trying to "get on her good side" and how she sees Pomni "seeing through her tricks." This moment, Ragatha shows how under pressure and a lack of positive connection and distance, she feels distant from both Pomni and Jax, blaming herself for the lack of connection, which Kinger rightly pushes back on to assure Ragatha her feelings matter too, not just other people's feelings. She pressured herself into thinking she wasn't doing the right thing or being a good friend because of her interactions with Pomni not resulting in a deeper bond. Ragatha's expectations of a relationship are well-intentioned and fairly logical, but notably lost on Pomni & Jax, who connect through shared trust in the common hardships they share in the circus.

For Pomni, Ragatha has tried to extend a hand to her since day one, but Pomni carries a more grounded understanding of friendship, where there's a bigger focus on making a more casual connection with heavy emotional investment being a signifier of a genuine connection. Pomni, while scared and anxious her first days in the circus, finds friendship through trust more than kindness, as Ragatha has a far more agreeable, soft-hearted, and generous temperament. Pomni has a skeptical side to her, which was partially why she gravitated towards Jax in the later episodes. Pomni sees Jax struggling and recognizes how his actions might mask something painful, further leaning into Jax's lack of interest, finding the mystery of Jax's real personality intriguing. Pomni finds herself questioning the world around her a lot(especially since Pomni in Russian, means "remember," ). Pomni, like many people, see trust as being earned, where Ragatha has a more Idealist view of other people, believing that if she is friendly to everyone without pressuring them to earn their keep in a friendship, they will all want to be friends. When it does not quite work out that way in the show, Ragatha blames herself, wondering what she did wrong first, taking responsibility for her own problems, even if she struggles to read the room emotionally with members of the other crew. With Pomni, Ragatha attempts are genuine, even if they are not recieved as genuine by others, though i would argue Pomni is very considerate of Ragatha's feelings, recognizing how nice she is and how that comes from a good place, even if she misunderstands.

Ragatha operates from a top-down perspective of friendship, valuing kindness and atmosphere to build a friendship from, instead of trying to find relatability in pain, which was how Jax and Pomni bonded. Ragatha views very friendships very differently, because of how she was raised, which the show tries to depict as neurotic, as people pleasing, that there's something wrong with you for making an attempt to connect with others with heartfelt consideration.

Ragatha aims to be genuine in her own way, even if there are others who are quick to calling her fake and solely a people pleaser which is kind of disappointing. Gooseworx might feel this way about Ragatha too, but it's hard to say what Ragatha symbolized to her.

But for me, I see her equally as genuine in friendship to everyone else in the circus, and will continue to defend Ragatha, as she is easily the most lovable and sweet character of the amazing digital circus.