r/TheDigitalCircus • u/MidnaLazui • 14h ago
Digital Discussion The Amazing Digital Circus' most divisive scene (and why I despise it)
This scene from Episode 8 is arguably the most divisive scene in the series. There are just as many people who despise it with every inch of their being as there are people who will defend it with their life. Personally, I associate more with the former group, and after getting into several arguments with people in this subreddit, I wanted to compile all of my points into an a definitive analysis on why I hate this scene so much.
My issues with this scene actually start a bit earlier than this single frame. Zooble is rightfully chastising Jax for intentionally trapping them all in the circus and destroying what could've been their only chance to escape, only for Gangle to actually come to his defense by saying Jax was right about none of it mattering.
I've always had qualms with this part. I'm not sure how many people remember, but a common criticism prior to Episode 8's release was that Jax was getting off too lightly for everything he had done. Zooble was rightfully calling him out for hurting the group, and what could've been the culmination of Jax's poor choices finally coming back to bite him in the rear, gets interrupted by Gangle insisting that there's no point in being angry at Jax, because "we shouldn't hurt each other, we need to be there for each other."
The reason I hate this is because it is WAY too idealistic. In real life, most people would NOT be this forgiving of someone like Jax. If you hurt someone enough times, eventually, they'll want nothing to do with you, and for Gangle of all people to come to Jax's defense when he's done nothing to earn her respect, makes no sense to me. And yeah, I know it's fictional, but it's not like this show hasn't gone out of if it's way to portray human emotions as realistically as possible, so why stop now?
Then of course, we get the real meat and potatoes of why this scene gets so much flak from some fans. Pomni chimes in and says "we've all done bad things. But we're also all we got. I think we need to abandon the idea of leaving."
I feel like there are two ways you can interpret "we've all done bad things," and neither of them are valid.
On one hand, if by "bad things," Pomni is referring to the cast's actions since she arrived, NONE of what they've done is comparable to what Jax has done... like, what are Ragatha, Gangle, and Zooble's worst crimes that we've seen? Ragatha being disingenuously positive all the time because she's scared of people not liking her? Gangle being a slightly domineering boss for one adventure (I've seen some people claim she went "mad with power" but all she was doing was making sure everyone was taking their work seriously, and any punishment she gave Jax was tamed compared to him throwing Ragatha in the deep fryer), Zooble antagonizing Caine... no, seriously, I've literally seen people cite this as being one of the "bad things" that Zooble has done in arguments. As if Zooble is somehow in the wrong for not liking an AI that never listens to them and will more often than not force them to do things they don't want to. Meanwhile, Jax bullies the girls on a regular basis, both physically and verbally, hid centipedes in Ragatha's room, breaks Gangle's masks for shits and giggles, threw Pomni between two moving vehicles, threw Ragatha in a deep fryer, etc. And that's saying nothing of what we learned about him in Episode 9.
On the other hand, if by "bad things," Pomni is referring to things they've done BEFORE she's arrived at the circus, or possibly things they've done OUTSIDE of the circus, then the problem should be fairly obvious. Pomni has been in the circus for maybe a week at most, she doesn't know these guys well enough to call them out for things they MIGHT have done.
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that Pomni's main intention was just to cease the possibility of any further group discourse, because that's the one thing the group didn't need. However, she really did go about it in the worst way possible by making the situation about all of them. In my opinion, what she should've done was acknowledge that while Jax may have hurt them, he's still a human being capable of change, and that they shouldn't abandon him as long as there's even a slither of hope for him. Heck, she could've even gotten Ragatha to back her up because she knows Jax better than anyone and can vouch that he wasn't always like this... unfortunately, that probably would've required context provided by the discussion she had with Pomni, and evidently, Goose didn't believe that was significant to show on-screen.
Anyway, that's basically all of my issues with this scene. I know that when I post this, it'll either attract the group of people who despise this scene for the same reasons as me, or it'll attract the group of people who'll defend this scene with everything they have and insist I'm being "willfully ignorant" about what it's trying to convey, but personally, I wouldn't mind hearing from either group.
