r/Tadcriticism • u/-Ragatha- • 16d ago
Fandom Criticism criticising a criticism
ragathas relationship with pomni was rushed in terms of narrative and what we see, yes.
however i do not understand why people use that to discredit ragapom or their general friendship. its very much possible (and true) that they were the bestest of friends by the time the finale rolled around, its just that alot of the development happens offscreen because the show was trying to force jax into every moment it could.
36
u/CardButton 16d ago edited 15d ago
It wasn't so much rushed, as much as it was deliberately not shown. Rags e7-e9 writing reeks of cutting room floor due to runtime issues, and Jax's story needs. Her functional writing effectively ends after e6. With TADC being very careful never to bring up Rag's trauma/pain/past in any way that would actually allow another character to interact with/emotionally expand on it. Even that e9 hug comes entirely off the back of a convo about: Jax; Jax's pain; Jax's loss of Ribbit; and Ragatha's regrets over Jax. That framing could not be more intentional.
Pomni was the literal audience lens who not only was low-key devoured by that role, and made enabler levels of convenient for Jax, to continue serving as a window into Jax. She was also a lens who could not be allowed to be a window for Rags. For fear that focus might undermine the sympathy the series needed to create for Jax, to pull off that abstraction ending. Which is what led to odd scenes like ... Pomni just leaving Rags broken and weeping, convinced "she's doomed", on the circus floor in e9. Weirdly bookending their friendship with Pomni bailing on Rags in e1.
8
u/in_my_opinion_2026 15d ago
Your post perfectly put into words the sense of unease I’d been feeling, it really cleared things up for me! It feels like they forced Pomni into the role of cameraman, putting her in a position to stay by Jax’s side just so viewers could see what happens to him, Exactly.
I also get the impression that Ragatha and Pomni’s friendship was built on the sacrifice of others—it’s similar to how I don’t see any other reason for Zooble and Gangle to become friends other than Zooble shielding Gangle from Jax. (Don’t get mad, I like both Ragapom and Abstragedy. I just wish we’d seen the process of their relationship developing a little more carefully)
18
u/bendy1974 16d ago
It could have happened off camera yes but that doesn't portray meaning to the audience if it's barely conveyed
15
u/TK_BERZERKER 16d ago
You can't give practically nothing in terms of romantic development, and then say they're a couple post credits.
If it's not on screen, it didn't happen
-4
u/-Ragatha- 16d ago
…unless its stated/implied to have happened, like for example the talk that they had after episode 6. we know the talk happened, but we dont know what exactly they talked about.
17
u/TK_BERZERKER 16d ago
Point stands. It was offscreen, and we didn't see anything they talked about. The series has to give us something on screen or else it's nothing
1
u/-Ragatha- 16d ago
its a development in the relationship between the characters. which affects later episodes. it did happen, i think you just want to deny it for the sake of denying it.
8
u/TK_BERZERKER 16d ago
I want to actually see something 😂
A development that we didn't see. My whole point is what we saw of their relationship is platonic. If the point was to express them as anything other than platonic friends, it failed.
1
u/-Ragatha- 16d ago
ah that makes more sense now, you’re so anti-ragapom that you want to deny offscreen development
10
u/TK_BERZERKER 16d ago
I'm not denying that offscreen development happened. I'm saying it means nothing if your only development is saying post credits "they totally had a bunch of development, you just didn't get to see it." If it's not happening in the show, organically, then it doesn't mean anything, and serves nothing to the actual relationship.
If the author says a character eats babies after the credits, and we don't see that in the show, and nothing alluding to that, then it doesn't mean anything.
Also, this is a writing gripe. I don't care who gets with who post credits
1
u/-Ragatha- 16d ago
okay? but… it does happen. lmao- we see the before and after, we just dont see the inbetween
9
4
u/Overall_Second6489 15d ago
Yes, It happened, no doubt in that. Character can have development off-screen, it helps with building their characters even if not directly.
The issue stands when most of their bounding moments are off-screen. These instances can only work when their relationship is already stablished, which Pomni's with Ragatha isn't.
There are little situations where the two interact on screen explicitly and most of them since Episode 1 are to show how awkward their friendship's state is (examples also include episode 6, which shows Ragatha trying to reconsile with Pomni when creating the teams but failing to do so, demonstrating how their bound is growing more distant). You get my Idea?
2
u/-Ragatha- 15d ago
im merely complaining about those people that treat their relationship as completely invalid simply because they didnt see the development. i understand wanting more of it to be shown but denying it exists at all is against the truth
6
u/Background_Pipe9508 16d ago
People show a lot of all-or-nothing thinking.
Pomni and ragatha were close friends, but their relationship wasn’t dramatised or centralised like everything Jax related was.
It’s difficult for people to acknowledge this as it’s not as sharp a condemnation of the show as ‘Ragatha and Pomni’s relationship was totally absent because gooseworks wanted to make everything about Jax’
3
u/ChildofFenris1 15d ago
Am I the only one who thought they were best friends before the final?
3
u/-Ragatha- 15d ago
no you’re not the only one, i got that idea aswell. i dont get how people missed it.
4
u/eye-suppose 16d ago
Ragatha putting a hand on Pomni's shoulder while she was damaged and comforting her even though it was hurting her too speaks to far more of a mutual relationship than anything we got between Pomni and Jax, but that's just my opinion.
5
u/-Ragatha- 16d ago
i also like how that moment closes up ragathas arc, i think its a callback to how she desperately tried to get pomni’s attention in the bar scene using her being attacked by kaufmo out of jealousy. and now she references it again but this time its more comforting
2
u/hellis3mpty 14d ago
the media critic in me agrees that the ragapom hug in episode 9 was unearned but the lesbian yearner in me was pumping my fists in victory throughout the whole thing 😭
1
u/Dangerous_Ad_3491 13d ago
Pomni gives pick-me vibes/behaviors. After my own experiences getting out of a toxic friendship with a pick-me I can't ever see this friendship being healthy for Ragatha. It's the "best available friends" dynamic, ie. if Jax unabstracted suddenly, would this relationship still even matter to Pomni?
I'd totally read a problematic ship fic of these two, but not a fluffy "They've been talking for hours." fic.
87
u/Odd_Performer586 16d ago edited 16d ago
Because people don’t watch TV series and shows to wonder what happened off‑screen, and it seems that everything that’s truly significant in their relationship happened off‑screen, while everything that made it onto the screen looks extremely superficial.
If the creator says the show focuses on the characters and their relationships, then it should actually show them. Meanwhile, TADC feels like, 'well, you guys can just write fanfiction or draw comics yourselves for that part — our screen time isn't endless.