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The Inner Workings of Jax’s Mind
In Episode 9, we’re given a scenario where each circus member abstracts in Jax’s mind. But it turns out that on top of every one of these scenarios having secret details you missed, they also revealed Jax’s true feelings towards each of the circus members.
Zubel’s Scenario and Revenge
We started with Zubel’s scenario, where their abstraction involved Jax essentially taking revenge on them. This scenario started with Jax wearing a maid dress specifically. While Jax sarcastically tells us that he chose this outfit to honor Zubel’s spirit, we know that he actually made this choice to spite them.
Back in Episode 5, Zubel was the one who gave Gangle the idea to put Jax in a maid outfit originally in order to make fun of him. That means Jax bringing back this outfit was a deliberate choice to turn Zubel’s own joke against them during their funeral.
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Jax’s Actions and True Feelings
We then see Jax act out of character, getting close to Gangle to the point of even giving her his room key. We know he does this because, with Zubel finally gone, he’s finally able to push his teasing with Gangle and even openly show affection without anyone getting in his way TADC EP 9 EXPLAINATION AND EP 10 LEAKED .
I actually don’t think it’s that Jax disliked Zubel. Zubel just had everything Jax wanted, including Gangle. He had no reason to hate them. He just wanted to be what Gangle wanted. Only our next abstraction scenario showed the exact opposite.
Gangle’s Abstraction and Jax’s Coping Mechanism
Gangle’s abstraction featured a Looney Tunes-style version of Jax that was shown antagonizing the other characters in a much more exaggerated and extreme way than usual. While this change for Jax was said by many to be random, we know there’s actually more to it than that.
This cartoony antagonist persona we see here is the only way Jax knows how to cope with Gangle’s loss.
While Jax is normally shown tormenting Gangle throughout past episodes, clearly using her as a sort of emotional punching bag, there’s another deeper layer to their relationship. We know this because, in Episode 6, he outright tells us that his perception of Gangle is being “the sad one.”
Only after seeing Zubel start to change this and make Gangle happy for a change in Episode 5 does he show a more jealous side to himself. He asks if Gangle is even capable of happiness in the first place, points out her flaws, and continues on to say how hanging out with Zubel isn’t going to fix these flaws.
Jax genuinely gets jealous of Zubel for making Gangle happy because Jax, at her core, wants to make Gangle happy. She just expresses it in messed up ways. We know this because we’ve literally seen inside Jax’s head and saw how she reacts to hurting her, overall pointing to the fact that he would definitely care if Gangle abstracted.
But in that case, why does he act in a sort of cartoony manner following her abstraction?
We’re told that this whole section of the episode was meant to be a metaphor for a fractured personality Jax uses as a defense mechanism. So what we see following Gangle’s abstraction is just Jax’s primary coping mechanism, which is convincing herself that nothing matters and likely predates the circus.
Ragatha’s Abstraction and Shared History
That’s when we get to Ragatha’s abstraction. This time, it features a much more unpredictable, animalistic version of Jax.
In this scenario, Jax is essentially broken. While, once again, he resorts to his previously mentioned coping mechanism of pretending nothing matters—which he even uses as an excuse after attacking Pomni—this time it’s much more intense.
While Ragatha and Jax were shown in multiple previous scenes getting into constant disagreements and never seeing eye to eye, she’s also been around him the longest outside of Kinger, meaning they shared experiences in the circus that none of the other characters were even around for yet.
But how do we know that her abstraction in this previously mentioned scenario really broke Jax?
We know that this actually wasn’t the first time we’ve seen this sort of reaction from Jax about something. Only when we saw it originally, it was when he was acting in a completely heartless, emotionally disconnected way.
Back in Episode 6, Jax’s eyes changed to resemble the same sort of deranged look we saw in Episode 9, right after Pomni asked him what he would do if she abstracted. He answers by saying he’d move on and probably forget about Pomni.
Only based on her abstraction scenario we’ll get into later on, we know that this was the way to his secret door in the first place. As we’re told, I think it’s not shown here because that scenario is so suppressed.
The Secret Behind the Locked Door
It was so traumatic that Jax said in the situation where Pomni abstracted, he would end up not being able to handle it.
A second way to see it is that the door is heavily locked because it’s holding an abstracted Jax and an abstracted Pomni. If Pomni abstracted, Jax would feel so awful he would immediately be next. He wouldn’t be able to stand it.But how do we know for sure that an abstracted Jax would be behind this door?
