Now that the final episode is also out on YouTube, I thought I’d write a blog analysisng our dear old main character, Pomni. I was going to actually look at all the characters, but decided to write a longer blog on just Pomni. Makes sense too. Jax already has all the attention and Pomni’s arc would be the main message of the show.
So I’ll be taking a look at what she says about the show’s moral, and also discuss my thoughts on the final episode. I watched in in theaters with my friend sometime ago. We then ate at eggspectation 🙂
What is the Moral
In a tumblr post, Gooseworks says:
In other words, in a life that you cannot change, there is still a meaning or purpose to be found.
Now let’s begin!
What Episodes 1-8 say
I am going to go through each episode in order, and look at what it tells us about Pomni.
In the very first episode, Pomni struggles to grapple with her new life in the circus. She, Ragatha and Jax go to see Kaufmo, only to find out he abstracted. Jax runs away and Ragatha is hurt. Pomni runs to find Caine to help Ragatha. This is just the first episode, so it serves the purpose of setting up the story. The important thing here for Pomni’s character developement is that she is initally unstable.
She is still getting used to the circus in episode 2, that occurs the day after her first day in the circus. She wakes up from a nightmare where she abstracts and Ragatha & Jax make fun of her. She goes to the adventure of the day (Candy Carriers Chaos). Skipping ahead, a collision causes her and Gummigoo to fall outside the map. Gumigoo finds out he is an NPC and Pomni comforts him. It is while she is doing this that we get a hint of her internal struggle with purpose and feeling like “nothing”. This is seen in the line “This may seem weird, but I think know that feeling”.
Throughout the series we see a theme of her being treated like a child, or less than. The first evidence of this is her character design. She is shorter then the rest, and has a large head (like a baby). In comparision Ragatha looks like a mature, grown woman. The clown look further makes her feel more like a joke. She also straight up says this in episode 2 in reply to Ragatha “I’m not a child. You don’t have to hype me up” (Personal favourite line of mine because of the non chalant, tired way she says this). I think that this is all intentional, and is supposed to make us feel that Pomni has little agency. This connects to the theme of “finding purpose in a stagnant life” by establishing that Pomni’s life is stagnant, because she dosen’t have the agency to change her life.
Pomni finally stops being traumatised in episode 3 thanks to Kinger. (Kinger w!) In this episode, the crew go on a spooky adventure. Pomni and Kinger accidently go into the scarier door option, and have to face the crazy guy and evil souls. Pomni is having the worst day of her life, and feels like everyday is hell so Kinger helps her out. He tells her that despite everything, we should cherish those around us and the good memories we have. He says ““In this world, the worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved”. Pomni immediatly takes the advice, by thanking Ragatha for helping her out. This episode tells the audience, suprisingly early on that we can create purpose in a stagnant life, through caring for those around us. But that does no mean Pomni’s struggles vanish.
(idk what to say about episode 4 except for that she meets Gumigoo again, but he does not remember her. Though when he is leaving he makes a face that almost looks like he might recognise her. I’m sure this is saying something but I cannot come up with anything right now so let’s skip.)
The next two episodes have Pomni navigate two outlooks towards living in the circus, or a stagnant life.
Episode 5 is when Caine has everyone jump around and have fun in multiple adventures. The final adventure they reach is a baseball match, where Ragatha and Jax have a fight. Jax complains about Ragatha is always trying to be positive, and Pomni agrees to an extent arguing that Ragatha should allow herself to express negative emotions sometimes. Ragatha is annoyed about Jax always being rude and being unserious, and feels that he is trying to turn Pomni like him. In this scene we have Pomni remark “I can think for myself”. This is one of many times where Pomni is once again treated like she is a child. Earlier in the episode Jax assumes she was too young to have had a job in real life. She is continusly being made to feel that she is too small and incapable. While I haven’t discussed this much in this blog, Ragatha obviously has a people pleasing and over positivitiy issue.
Episode 6, where everyone has guns, is arguably one of the most important Pomni episodes. Towards the begining of the episode, Jax reveals his ideology of the circus to Pomni. He says that nothing in the circus is real, nor matters, including the feelings of characters. He believes that everyone falls into a sterotype and just plays that role. This may not seem like an odd way to look at things at the circus, but imagine someone in real life thinking that way. You would probably call them a nihilist or crazy. Pomni decides to let lose and sort of test out Jax’s philosphy.
At the episode end, they have a fight over Jax denying the bonding they did throughout the episode. Pomni attempts to prove that Jax does feel emotions, but Jax sticks to insisting that nothing matters.
As I see it, Ragatha and Jax are the two ways Pomni can deal with her inability to escape her current life. One is to say that nothing matters, and not take it seriously (Jax). The other is to be positive and find meaning through people, but we are also shown how that can become people pleasing and over-positivity (Ragatha). This also explains why Pomni is constantly framed in the middle of the two (episode 1, episode 3, episode 5).
With the ideologies established, the remaining episodes (7-9) are for Pomni to realise the right way to deal with her life.
Episode 7 is when things go bad. Caine makes an adventure were the circus can escape, but turns out it is fake. At the room with the buttons to choose, unlike the others, Pomni questions the choice, while Jax is spiraling. Jax makes the decision to stay in the cartoon, circus world when everyone wanted to go back. Pomni’s inability to choose in the show’s way to telling the audience that Pomni is confused. She does not know what to think or do. Should she be like everyone else, or like Jax?
After showing us the first group of circus members, episode 8 shows the whole group sitting together discussing what just happened. Zooble is mad at Jax, but everyone else agrees that there is no point. Pomni says that they should just try to make the best of life in the circus, and be there for each other. This is the first time Pomni gives her own opinion about living in the circus. The episode moves forward until Caine is accidently deleted by Kinger.
What Episode 9 says
Episode 9, or the final continues from the last scene of the pervious episode. Like everyone else, Pomni is devestated to learn from Kinger that they are just brainscans and cannot go back to the real world. Everyone goes to different areas in the circus to be alone and process what they have heard. Kinger tries doing something about the current devestation of the circus. Pomni is the first to go and help him with his conjuring. They have a discussion that I wish I could look at again so that I can extract what it was about exactly. All I remember well is that he points out that Pomni adjusted quickly to the circus. The second evidence of this is actually the current situation, because while everyone is processing the situation, she is helping Kinger deal with it.
Later, when jax abstracts, she comforts Ragatha. Gangle and Zooble also talk. Going back to the main subject, she goes to put the abstracted Jax somewhere safe. But before she leaves him she hugs him, seemingly remembering what Kinger said about his wife in episode 3. She accidently enters Jax’s mind and learns all about him. She exits his mind and everyone starts to live better. Caine returns from the void, and promises to cooperate and listen to them. Just like everyone, she gets to see what her real life self is doing and is able to peacefully accept it.
Overall, Pomni’s character arc begins with her being uncertain about her life. Kinger provides her a direction for moving forward, and brings her some stability. In her journey of finding meaning in the circus (a stagnent life), she has to choose between two ideologies. One is that you and no one else matter, and the other is to obsess over happiness. Instead of going for these two extremes, Pomni adopts a different approch. She decides to find meaning in those around her, but instead of obsessing over everyone’s happiness, she simply decides to enjoy her time with them. When you feel bad, confide in them. If they feel bad, be someone they can confide to. Remember and cherish the good moments you have. And most importantly, enjoy and make do with what you have. That is what Pomni says about “
Thoughts about the final
I don’t think that Ragatha, Zooble or Gangle got the chance to wrap up their own individual sotry arcs. They did have talks after Jax’s abstraction but otherwise they don’t actually do much.
As I was writing the above anaylsis I realised how much more I liked Jax before the final then after it. He was actually a pretty intriguing character but somehow his backstory disappoints me. Maybe the most satisfactory end for him would have been no explanation at all? Imagine that. The episode suddenly reveals Jax abstracted. No idea how it happened. It just did. Then Pomni goes to put him in the castle, but before she does she hugs him. The characters then must move on with their lives. It would have been a pretty nice way to discuss grief and regret too. I think for many Jax’s backstory made him look like a villian (as if there weren’t people who disliked him), destroying the sympathy they had for him. For me, I feel like the main deal breaker was the way he treated Ribbit after he revealed his life. Keeping him a mystery might have been better.
Caine’s ending is pretty interesting to me, especially in comparision to Jax’s. He was the villan. He was supposed to die, or lose. But the one who loses is Jax. Caine, despite the pain he caused the circus members is allowed a redemption. Not Jax. I feel like this might be Goosework’s way of saying that anything can happen, so just learn to deal with it. It might be also a way to show the ways a “bad” person deal with what they have done to others. They can attempt to understand them and apologize, or they can shut them away.
And you have reached the end! Wow
I might draw a character and put it on my insta. I can’t say I will for sure but I might. If I do and you wanna see, check it out here.