TADC Finale: A Bittersweet Review

Alright, as someone who honestly went into this with not trying to be hyped about it so I don’t get too disappointed….it wasn’t bad! Nothing mind blowing but…not bad. I’ll address the elephant in the room right away.

I actually loved the bold choice to kill off Jax, and even in like the first 10 minutes, glad it wasn’t holding back on the obvious. The music also hardcore carried a to of scenes…I say that because there’s a glaring issue that I can’t ignore..

Something that I’ve kinda critiqued for a while about TADC is just how off the pacing feels sometimes, while I get somber crying scenes and while again, music was beautiful and voice acting was top notch…I just….a lot of the scene just dragged on a lot, while this is fine for most episodes and I can shrug it off since it happens like one maybe twice…

Is that for the finale it happened like….10 FUCKING TIMES! As Jax says, when you keep telling someone their loved and appreciated every day it kinda loses all meaning…that’s how I felt about these scenes while watching the finale, I loved them, but they just stuck around for too long and so many repetitive crying scenes it just…they didn’t land for me that much, sorry..

I can name this problem for…

Pomni and Kinger

Pomni and Ragatha

Gangle and Zooble

Gangle and Zooble x2

Pomni and Jax

Jax and Ribbit

Jax explaining his backstory in general

Wayyyyy too much flash backs and flash forwards…I don’t think we needed to see scenes of what happened with Jax after Pomni arrived I think we got the picture..I would’ve preferred if we just saw what happened between him and Ribbit during the snow scene, we would’ve put 2 and 2 together that’s why Jax looked at the orb in episode 7, we didn’t need it repeated.

The Caine scene going to the exit door was WAY TOO DRAGGED OUT as well! Again, only the scenery and especially the music carried that entire scene, but you could’ve cut that whole scene in half and still figure out what was happening.

I wanna move onto some positives so I don’t end this on a sour note.

I’m SO GLAD Kaufmo got time to shine and the focus wasn’t JUST on Ribbit and Jax, it felt very natural the way they all hanged out, and it rlly made you feel for Jax in those moments, just a shame they kinda dragged on as well but at least this made more sense..

I feel like seeing Caine on screen for the first time was an even bigger shock compared to Jax abstracting, as unlike Ajax this Ken kinda is just thrown in your face, I didn’t even realize the abstract monster WAS Jax at first, and just thought it was another abstraction that escape the cellar (kinda down we never explored more about that place) so it just hit more seeing Caine RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!

I love the way it was shown too, we then see the past of how Caine got there in the first place, a full circle moment, it was a great way to pull the rug under the audience and I applaud that, the scene itself again was dragged, but the shock moment was delivered perfectly to make you feel the right way.

FINALLY! We got to LEARN who these people WERE! This is something this “character driven shown” was MISSING! Kinda unfortunate I have to praise the bare minimum for a show like this, but I’ll give them credit where credits due. And even learning about abstracted characters like Ribbit was great, still wish we knew a bit more about Kaufmo tho.

Alright, I’ve waited long enough, let’s talk about Jax..

I find it a bit silly that the real reason Jax pushed others away isn’t because he didn’t wanna hurt them, overall, he just didn’t wanna open up of his…secret…while it shows that Jax is selfish for his reasonings at the end of the day, they are warranted thanks to his backstory with his parents. I just find it funny that ppl thought Jax was being SELFLESS for why he pushed others away, nah, it’s all about him, always was 😭

The part I like most about Jax is that he at least admits that he’s a terrible jackass, and there rlly was no hope for him being truly redeemed, and I like that out if everyone, Caine, the literal AI, got redeemed over him, because an AI can basically erase moments, as Caine literally took the blue Ai out of him, it was THAT EASY! Which again is fitting for an AI.

But Jax isn’t, he’s human, he feels things, things he never can truly get rid of it take back…

I hope ppl realize with this show that no matter how much he was hurting, Jax did this to himself, and there was no escape for him. The real escape he ever had, was escaping this reality that he is “the funny one” or “the one in control”.

In the end, Jax was being portrayed as the jerk, who was secretly just insecure and wasn’t trying to be that way.

But the real release for Jax, was finally admitting, after everything…after all the damage he caused…he knows he WAS the bad guy…and that realization allowed him to do the most selfless thing he’s ever done…accept his fate…to finally let the other circus members truly heal from his pain, especially Gangle…

Overall, it was just simply fitting, going from pretending to be a jerk…cause you think you aren’t, to then admit you really are a jerk as you’re about to abstract, to give the others their peace..

She sure is lovely…huh?

Overall, I went into this with low expectations, and in the end….it’s actually better than what I was expecting! Despite Jax being the main part, they did his character Justice in a way that actually FEELS meaningful for a character like him.

Now, I wasn’t BLOWN AWAY like I was hoping, but I can at least say The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act…

Was indeed, a fitting farewell. 🎀