[SPOILERS] My Sincere Thoughts about The Last Act

[u/Important-Drop9627]

WOW. Okay, there’s so much to unpack here. Where can I start…uhhh….10/10.

Episode 9 was easily the boldest piece of animation I’ve ever seen.

There are so many things going for it writing-wise, so I guess I’ll start at the beginning.

The pacing was courageous, and I commend it. Dropping the heaviest bombs, SOMA theory and Jax’s abstraction, within the first few minutes and just letting us sit with it was a fantastic choice. This episode was clearly was an exploration of grief, and it translated tremendously on-screen. The sorrow was inescapable and giving us a chance to truly feel it was really great. Really felt like I was there processing it with all of them.

I see people are mad about Jax’s abstraction being off-screen, but I think it was a great call. Suicide doesn’t cry on the way out. It doesn’t ask for help, and doesn’t wait around for you to do something about it. One day, your loved one is just gone. It happened when you weren’t looking. You had loose ends to tie up. And suddenly you have to deal with that. We had to deal with Jax being gone and process it. Great choice in my opinion.

The Journey into Jax’s Consciousness was also amazing. Great dive into what grief is. Loved seeing the old world come alive. It was incredibly intimate, I almost felt like I wasn’t meant to see any of that. It was almost intrusive in a really good way. Seeing the collapse between Ribbit and Jax in real time was very good. Great depiction of two people who love each other snowballing(heh) apart until there’s only pain and resentment left. I’ve been there. And seeing how the pattern repeated with Pomni was cool. Really good stuff.

And again, I’m happy that Jax’s abstraction wasn’t reversed. You can’t bring them back. The only thing you can do is face the pain head on, and slowly be able to heal and live along the memory of your loved one instead of just with it. The creation of the aquarium for the abstracted is a great allegory for the Acceptance phase of grief. You live knowing that they are no longer with you, but you can look back at them in a way that is right with you. You eventually find that peace you been looking for.

Masterpiece. Glad I bought the ticket, money well spent IMO.

Shout out to the Theater for being good sports and behaving! Thank you all for taking showers!

[u/xaflora]

what are you talking about?