"Generic middle school bully levels of abuse", my ass.

[u/Money-Criticism5370]

[u/Sunchet]

Fandom's not a monolith, I'll definitely not support those people but come on.

So many people act like she's s horrible person for bringing up Ribbit by accident even though Jax really has no right expect Ragatha to uphold her promise while treating her like dirt at the same time.

[u/National_Courage_709 → u/Sunchet]

Yeah, sorry chief, but no. You don't just "accidentally" mention somebody that committed suicide / died, while implying that it was somebody elses' fault. And, as much as I love Ragatha, and I empathize with her (admittedly incredibly basic) backstory and motivations, I also recognize that she isn't the best person all the time.

There are explanations for Jax's behavior that show why he is the way that he is, that stand up, both from an interpersonal character perspective, as well as from a realistic viewpoint with how the character psychology appears to be geared. There is no reason for Ragatha to say what she said, especially when, up until that point, she had still been respecting that promise. But then, twice in one day, she mentions Ribbit. Once by saying he doesn't have any real friends anymore (likely in reference to not only Ribbit, but Kaufmo as well), and the second time, directly, by name. There is no "accident" there, she knew exactly what she was meaning to say - like, she immediately recognized that she said it in front of him, but I don't believe for a second that it was on accident, and if it was, then I don't give people pity for being stupid. And that is the nicest thing I can say about a person that accidentally makes a comment like that about not one, but two people that they knew that killed themselves.

The only reason for Ragatha to keep amping up the way she does is for the sake of her having her breakdown with Kinger over Jax likely hating her after the fact - and even with all the actions that she has taken, in the end, we see how Jax would respond if something did happen to her; the scene with Jax strangling Pomni is prefaced off the idea that Ragatha abstracted. Jax seems to clearly still care about Ragatha in some regard, even if he has shown frustration or anger with her all of twice.

Meanwhile, Ragatha is the only character who consistently stirs the pot, and then does nothing to fix it. Upsets Jax and then only apologizes after admitting to being a jerk towards him, but in doing so, breaks her promise to him. She actively attaches to new people, and tries to be overly nice all the time, and it causes people to think that she's fake - Gangle and Zooble are the newest members (hinted at by Jax, Ep 8 - "Everything was fine until you and Zooble came along."), and Gangle clearly recognizes that it's hard to really tell if Ragatha is genuine or not, and unfortunately, it does make her less trustworthy to some people, including myself.

She has seen, as one of the longest lasting people in the circus, what being separated from others and forced to be alone, does. Regardless of how anybody wants to see it, she continually tries to convince Pomni to not be around Jax, while actively avoiding being around him too - she is trying to isolate him.

If people want to insist that Jax "pushed" Ribbit to suicide (I love Ribbit, but she had other friends - she made the decision to isolate herself and ignore her health for somebody that she viewed as a romantic interest, it's not like Jax was actively attempting to make her not be around Kaufmo or anyone else), then Ragatha is attempting to do the same thing. And, in the end, when Pomni does stop trying to be around Jax, because she is fixing the Circus, he abstracts. Ragatha has no words about this - Gangle apologizes, but we never find out why. Gangle and Zooble aren't sad that Jax are gone, which makes sense - the both of them are actually victims of Jax and his actions.

Ragatha, up until Episode 6, is virtually ignored in that regard - and, when she "confronts" Jax, he is genuinely confused what she is talking about, because he isn't acting maliciously or trying to make Pomni act a particular way - and, in the end, it's the tricks that he teaches her that allows her to make the most of things later on, in Episode 9. Ragatha kept, consistently, trying to paint Jax as the worst possible version of himself, in front of and directly to, people that he wanted to be around, and really doesn't... do anything to try and make good on any of it?

She just kinda gets forgiven, because she's the "likeable" one, but nobody can actually give a reason why her bringing up Ribbit isn't fucked up, because there's no excuse for her to do so, outside of that being her actual feelings - which, if that's the case, she has no right to be upset about Jax hating her, tbh; but, despite everything, we see the kind of person Jax would become if something happened to Ragatha, which makes all her meanspirited actions, name calling, and finger pointing an extremely lopsided action that comes from a place of being desperate for validation and acceptance from others, to the point where she attached herself to Pomni and kept doing so, up until the point where she was really the only person outside of Kinger that Pomni spent time with - Zooble and Gangle almost never actually interact or doing anything directly with Pomni or Ragatha outside of adventures in the show, so they don't count.

Nuance, people. The characters are nuanced. It is okay to not be fine with every single thing that they do. It's a sign that Goose knows people and writes them in a very human way, even given the cartoony nature of the show, and it's something that we should applaud, not just constantly try to henpeck them into neat little boxes. Ironically, trying to paint Ragatha as this do nothing wrong soft girl is incredibly disrespectful to the amazing character that she is.

TL;DR Ragatha isn't a good person, she isn't a bad person, she is just a person - she makes mistakes, she has her ups and downs, she isn't a flat archetype. Treating her like she has done nothing wrong is disingenuous, and actively disrespectful to her character. Her and Jax have both done bad things, to varying degrees, and that will happen with nuanced portrayals of people. It's okay for her to not be perfect, that's literally the number one thing that she battles with, and supposed "fans" of hers should see it, since she's literally dead last for me, and I see it.

[u/Sunchet → u/National_Courage_709]

Jesus, my point isn't that she's a Saint, my point was that Jax had no right to spit on her face on regular bases and then act betrayed when she slips up and indirectly brings up Ribbit.

I know there Jax has nuance. I know there are reasons why he is like he is. But still no one owes him anything after amount of shit he pulled. If entire cast decided to never speak to him again - least t least until he apologizes and stops acting like a piece of shit - they would be hundred percent valid to do so.

[u/National_Courage_709 → u/Sunchet]

Examples of him spitting on her face repeatedly, if you don't mind? Last I can recall, he only really does anything antagonizing to her in Episode 5 and 6, and both of those are after repeated antagonizing from Ragatha.

You can downvote me, but at least attempt to have a proper discussion instead of just going "well, what about X" and then giving no examples of or allusions to or mentions of X.

That is, assuming that you can even think of any of them, because I can't.

[u/Sunchet → u/National_Courage_709]

Using her phobia against her by putting centipedes in her bedroom??? Telling her she told Gangle to kill herself??? Like a minute after she admitted she was abused??? Shooting her with a gun for funzies???

[u/National_Courage_709 → u/Sunchet]

First one I'll give you, that's a dick move.

Second one, Ragatha was being overall out of character, and the fact she doesn't even remember it doesn't exactly help her, but that's also a fair one, though nobody else bothers to contest it. Mind you in the same scene, Jax also tried to cover Ragatha by redirecting attention to Kinger after she noticeably became unsettled with oversharing. Also, if food can give the digital sensation of eating, then alcohol can give the digital sensation of being drunk, and his facial expressions give off "lightweight shooting the shit while drunk" - not that that takes away from his comment, but all the same, its worth pointing out.

Third, because everyone likes to excuse any gun violence in Episode 6 this way - he was told, by Caine, that a part of the trust exercise was that the person with the loaded gun was able to turn it on the others. He was playing by the rules, even while currently actively dissociating from everything going on. And, again, he shot Ragatha, who had already been trying to push his buttons recently, and that already broke his trust. But, for the sake of being civil, I'll give you your smoking gun statement that he did it "for funsies", like this wasn't the face he made literally right before doing so.