diff --git a/src/backends.jl b/src/backends.jl
index 2bb885b..c0aa7e6 100644
--- a/src/backends.jl
+++ b/src/backends.jl
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ end
 function Base.show(io::IO, ::MIME"text/plain", observations::SageObs)
     A = observations.features
     y = observations.target
-    println(io, "SaffronObs")
+    println(io, "SageObs")
     println(io, "  features :: $(typeof(A))($(size(A)))")
     println(io, "  names: $(observations.names)")
     println(io, "  target :: $(typeof(y))($(size(y)))")
diff --git a/src/tarragon.jl b/src/tarragon.jl
index 28ddf54..bca1abf 100644
--- a/src/tarragon.jl
+++ b/src/tarragon.jl
@@ -186,3 +186,9 @@ end
 
 # involutivity:
 obs(model, observations::BasicObs, ::Tarragon) = observations
+
+# data deconstructors:
+LearnAPI.features(learner, observations::BasicObs, ::Tarragon) =
+    BasicObs(observations.features, observations.names)
+LearnAPI.features(learner, data, frontend::Tarragon) =
+    LearnAPI.features(learner, obs(learner, data), frontend)
diff --git a/test/backends.jl b/test/backends.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d98ec93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/backends.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+using Test
+using LearnDataFrontEnds
+import CategoricalArrays
+
+@testset "show methods" begin
+    x = fill(0,2,3)
+    y = [3, 2, 1]
+    names = [:x1, :x2]
+    ycat = CategoricalArrays.categorical(y)
+    c = LearnDataFrontEnds.classes(ycat)
+    d = LearnDataFrontEnds.decoder(ycat)
+    mime =  MIME"text/plain"()
+
+    @test sprint(show, mime, LearnDataFrontEnds.BasicObs(x, names)) ==
+        "BasicObs\n  features :: Matrix{Int64}((2, 3))\n  names: [:x1, :x2]\n"
+    @test sprint(show, mime, LearnDataFrontEnds.SaffronObs(x, names, y)) ==
+        "SaffronObs\n  features :: Matrix{Int64}((2, 3))\n  names: "*
+        "[:x1, :x2]\n  target :: Vector{Int64}((3,))"
+    @test sprint(show, mime, LearnDataFrontEnds.SageObs(x, names, y, c, d)) ==
+        "SageObs\n  features :: Matrix{Int64}((2, 3))\n  names: "*
+        "[:x1, :x2]\n  target :: Vector{Int64}((3,))\n  classes_seen: "*
+        "[1, 2, 3] (categorical vector with complete pool)\n  decoder: <callable>"
+end
+
+true
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index cd8c5ef..410b165 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ using Test
 
 test_files = [
     "tools.jl",
+    "backends.jl",
     "saffron.jl",
     "sage.jl",
     "tarragon.jl",
diff --git a/test/tarragon.jl b/test/tarragon.jl
index f9f6d03..277a9fd 100644
--- a/test/tarragon.jl
+++ b/test/tarragon.jl
@@ -111,6 +111,10 @@ LearnAPI.learner(model::TruncatedSVDFitted) = model.learner
 LearnAPI.obs(learner::TruncatedSVD, data) = fitobs(learner, data, Tarragon())
 LearnAPI.obs(model::TruncatedSVDFitted, data) = obs(model, data, Tarragon())
 
+# training data deconstructor:
+LearnAPI.features(learner::TruncatedSVD, data) =
+    LearnAPI.features(learner, data, Tarragon())
+
 function LearnAPI.fit(learner::TruncatedSVD, observations::Obs; verbosity=1)
 
     x = observations.features # p x n matrix
@@ -198,6 +202,7 @@ model0 = fit(learner, X)
 @testset "matrix features for fit" begin
     observations = obs(learner, x)
     feats = LearnAPI.features(learner, observations)
+    @test LearnAPI.features(learner, x).features == feats.features
     @test feats isa Obs
     @test feats.features == x
     @test feats.names == [:x1, :x2, :x3, :x4, :x5]