TW FOR SPOILERS!!! 9th EP OF TADC.
Trigger warning for my opinions on the cannon ending, and what I think could have been done instead. Also for discussions of suicide.
I have a few issues with the finale of this show. That being said, I'm a new fan, I've watched the previous 8 episodes a few times and showed different people from my life, but the ending left me disappointed.
In saying that, the only ending that made sense was for the characters to be copies of 'mind files'. Otherwise, there would be too much of an emphasis on live action actors for a indi animation company. I still would have liked if they were apart of something larger (like being actively hooked up to machines by a big bad tech company or some shit) but I understand why it went the way it did. I do wish that there was more of an explanation to how the mind files are accessible, and what the headset has to do with everything. Also, how come they learn they're mind files and approximately five minutes later they're moving on. This would genuinely send me into psychosis. They NEVER get to leave, they understand that right? It would have been good if they could have established a way to end their time in the circus such as they did in the end of the good place. It would make their time there so much more meaningful and peaceful.
Apart from this, my biggest peeve with the ending was the fact that Pomni tried for like 5 episodes prior to understand and help Jax, go prevent Jax from abstracting. And then Caine gets deleted, Jax tries to reach out, and Pomni essentially allows him to abstract with NO interference. And it happened OFF SCREEN. WHAT? I would have found it super interesting to have more emphasis on the process of Jax abstracting, and getting more context behind his lore through memories during the process rather than after the process. It would have provided a much needed conflict to the end episode. If this had happened, I believe it would have been interesting to see Pomni try and save him DURING the process because that is more accurate to her character, and it would lead to more angst if he continued to abstract anyway. Also weird AF that there was convinently (for the progression of the plot) random flash bombs in the middle of the hallway. Also also, the whole thing made it seem as if Pomni or the others could help the abstracted come back? Where was more talk of this. And if Caine could access the files, couldn't he bring them back again? An after thought here; A lot of people have a problem with Jax's becoming a main point of the plot. I personally don't, I think he's a very interesting character and I like him a lot. Do I feel bad for the characters he wrongs, yes. Do I understand that Jax needs serious help and a lot of his behaviours are a reflection of that, also yes. My issue is, with how important his character became, Goose should have leaned into that. Goose should have leaned into his trauma, context, and issues to allow people to have a deeper understanding of his character and behaviours instead of thinking he's a heartless person because media literacy is dead. It's quite obvious to me thought the first 8 episodes that yes he's mean, and yes he still has a heart and even sometimes feels bad about it. With the last episode, Goose gave Jax a half baked montage of memories that showed to some people his downfall, and to others gave them more incentive to hate him. Jax, because at this point, no matter how hard people wanna hate on it, was the main character. There's no point in hiding that and writing him off they way they did. And also, why tf did he abstract and then they all just moved on. There was no character depth from ANY of the characters.
Another issue I had with the ending was the return of Caine. I won't lie, I don't like Caine. Yes Caine is an interesting character that creates necessary friction in the plot, but fuck me I just can't empathise with AI. Like Christ, hes a robot people. No matter how much people say 'but he's so human' I just can't. Especially when we are talking about creative AI. Yes Caine creates the Circus as a whole, but he continues to use the 'humans' or their minds, more accurately, to develop him adventures to benefit himself (gaining the characters attentions and friendship). I also wish there was more comments on the bad aspects of AI, rather than focusing on making him appealing and relatable. He's a robot. Nor should we like Kinger because he makes and develops the AI which is literally destroying the next generations brains.
Speaking of Kinger, he's my favourite character, and it devastated me how little of a role he had in the last episode. Bro said a total of like five lines man, very disappointing. Kinger was shown as this 'father figure' for the group, especially Pomni and Ragatha, so I dont understand why there wasn't more of an emphasis on his character comforting the others through the trials they go through in the end. Also, given Jax's mummy and daddy issues, it would have been nice if he and Kinger had a chance to develop a relationship beyond Jax thinking Kinger was crazy. Kinger had so much to offer, and it feels like they fell short with actually using his character in a way that mattered.
Small nitpicks:
The red and blue is saying the blue side was too anylitical to understand humans, but it seems a lot of the fandom assumed that it was the red that was out of control.
The whole series I didn't find overly cringe or even uncomfortable, I quite enjoyed all the episodes apart from episode 9. Episode 9 felt very cliche.
Where did any of the characters personalities go. It seems they all disappeared. Ragatha, Kinger, Zooble, Gangle, they all seemed legit non existent from the beginning ngl.
The slideshow Instagram thing was ass. The YouTube fandom is very smart, we could have connected that they were alive in the real world with just the flash of Cause going through the socials, rather than a whole slide.
We're saying Jax is transfem? I support it, but a little more finality and clarity with that would have been nice, like a change of pronouns for his irl character? Idk
The bus shot was so cringe.
More of a nitpick of the entire series, but I think it's been said that abstracting is a metaphor for suicide. I get it, I really do. It makes sense why it would be set up like that, but I also think the process of abstracting is one where people aren't given a choice. Fundamentally, people choose to commit suicide when their depression or other mental health issues become too much to bare, or for some other reason. People choose it. I strongly believe Ribbit, Queenie, even Jax wouldn't abstract if they were given the choice. It more happens as a result of a mental breakdown, which is hard to control in the situation they are in, and therefore removes the choice of abstracting.
Why did Pomni and Ragatha stare at one another like that after the hug?
As someone who has studies people's body language a lot, I have an issue with Caines apology. He flies over to them, and continues to stay floating through the apology. Having him float above them, to me, solidifies that he still has the power over them, rather than lowering himself to be at level with them. It would have been a much better scene had Caine stood opposite them at eye level at least.
Again, wtf was up with Pomni. She gave up on Jax when he reached out to her (the thing she's been wanting for entire episodes) and basically lets him abstract and THEN tries to save him. Like bro... Too little, too late.
Wtf was up with Zooble immediately basically forgiving Caine after they were his #1 hater the ENTIRE TIME.
Don't even get me started on keeping the abstractions on an aquarium.
Overall:
As someone who loves Jax's character complexity, I think it would have made a very interesting finale to have Pomni see the context behind his behaviour as he's actively abstracting, watching everything deteriorate, rather than watching her try after the abstraction has happened. Caine should have stayed dead. Bringing him back defeats the entire 8th episode. If they decided to make Caine the villain and have him literally torture the entire cast for the 8th episode, and then give him a redemption, the same should have been possible for Jax seeing as this was his same character arc. There should have been a tonne more emphasis on the fact they're literally stuck there FOREVER.
Sorry for the whole spiel.
