Intermission Theory + More bc its All Connected
The PCs are presented in a consistent order through the intemrision. Pomni 1st Jax 2nd Ragatha 3rd Gangle 4th Kinger 5th and Zooble 6th. This order is esteablished by the heads appearing at the start of the intermission.
It makes sense that Pomni and Jax would be next to each other in the order because of the emotional connection. Yet all the other PCs aren't with their emotional pair. Gangle is near Ragtha and Zooble is near Kinger when it's been made clear that Zooble and Gangle are an established pair along with Kinger and Ragatha. This pair order doesn't make much sense UNTIL we get the scene where the items are dropped on their heads.
Its very obvious that the items respresent something significant about the PCs fate.
Pomni and jax will have the same fate while Gangle and Ragatha will have the same fate. Kinger will be closer to having the same fate as Pom and Jax but will take his fate into his hands (potentially decide to sacrifice himself).
After catching the bowling ball he is taken out by a black rook that goes straight towards him. The rook is the second most powerful chess piece. The first being the queen. I take this as meaning something almost as emotionally significant as Queenie will be the reason Kinger is taken out. Queenie and the rook playing black while Kinger playing white represents how the person be loves the most was destined to be his downfall. One he saw coming and chose to accept when taking his fate in his hands instead of letting it drop on him.
Now, Zooble is missing from this lineup. They have always been avoident if Caine's adventures even allowing them to be absent from ep 2 and 3's stories. If they are also absent in the lineup, then maybe their lack of participation will keep them from getting either fates. Zooble's fate is uncertain by their own doing. Despite the connection that's been developing between them and Gangle, the two won't share the same fate.
Many have already speculated on what the items mean. Ill go through the theories that makes the most sense to me along with my own thought process.
The first thing that comes to mind when I thought about the cake is the phrase "you cant have your cake and eat it too." Meaning you cannot both consume the cake while keeping possession of it. The metaphor being you should not expect to get more than what is reasonable or you should not expect to receive two things that are inherently incompatible to possess. It is often associated with nieve entitlement or even greed.
Gangle and Ragitha will get something they desire but a secondary desire will be now be out of reach because they got the first desire fulfilled.
I think this also has to do with them being separated form their emotional pair. Gangle will get what she wants but cannot be with Zooble in order to receive it. Ragatha won't be able to save Kinger who's fate has already been decided but will get the same desired thing as Gangle.
We also need to look at where else cake was mentioned in the show. In ep 1 Bubble eats Caine's cake that was being offered to Pom.
(My favorite screenshot btw im so proud I paused it perfectly)
Bubble indulges in something Caine is offering a PC while Caine himself is no longer able to enjoy having the cake in his possession.
Bubble can also have the fate Ragatha and Gangle get while Caine is left frustrated that it is not a fate he himself can enjoy.
A part of undertsanding what the cake is we need to examine what Bubble might functionally be to even be able to have the cake fate. To do this we need to take a more serious look at Bubble as a character.
He is supposedly an NPC, something Caine should have control over, yet Bubble has distinct traits of independence (although stiffled by his level of inteleence).
1. He is capable of comprehending sexual concepts while Caine cannot.
2. He is is constantly doing thats that genuinely suprise Caine.
3. He doesnt revert to his typical self after glitching.
Caine glitches out and resets when anything sexual is brought up. Yet something that should be under his control can make sexual references that he cant undertsand.
"Not to mention the sex appeal"
But in response Caine says
"What are you talking about."
Now I want to also point out the censorship rules of the circus. There have been three kinds of audio censorship in the show. The in-universe bar, the audio beep cover up without a mouth bar, and restetting an AI (all the tine with Caine and once woth Bubble). When the beep happens, the speaking character doesnt have their mouth covered and other charcters respond having heard and understood what was sead under the beep. Whoever Bubble said under the long beep in ep 2 was something that was not appropriate but not overtly sexual or against the cursing rule. What he said was understood by Caine but still disturbed him. Not to mention all the things Bubble does that grosses out, shocks or annoys Caine.
The third point is what ive been most interested in. Every time Caine glitches or encounters something he can't comprehend he resets. Bubble has only ever reset in a similar way as Caine once, and AFTER he resets he doesnt go back to normal, he curses.
"You should die [reset] you should throw a fucking beach party"
Then Bubble's charcter model appears to break with him floating away idle and his eye falling off.
Him cursing adds a level of sarcasm to the statement. As if he is aware that he was just corrected by the system and is retaliating in a way that the universe semi-allows. I say that bc they are still capable of saying curses, its just covered up. The program could have been built in a way that characters are physically incapable of even attempting to say curse words yet the words are still processed to some level and hold the same meaning.
Bubble not reverting back to a normal state after glitching, his ability to comprehend sexual content, and his ability to act outside of Cainse contorl could mean he has a level of awareness that Caine himself doesnt poses even in the grander scheme of them being AI. Bubble is his own AI instead of one designed under Caine's instruction. Similar to the level of comprehension a PC has. He is able to have the same if not similar cake fate as the PCs just by taking it for himself like he took the cake out of Caine's hand.
Instead of getting what the bowling ball represents (escaping but ill get to that in a bit) they get cake meaning they might find a way to change how the circus works and provide a better life for anyone who's left inside. Gangle, Ragatha, and Bubble will be left in the circus but it will be in an improved state. This can only happen if they give up something important that they also wanted (can't have your cake and eat it too). Bubble doesnt care about keeping the cake and is happy with the improvements (eating the cake without hesitation).
The fact that Kinger would sacrifice the fate Jax and Pom get suggests its something desirable. The fact that its a bowling ball being dropped on them also suggests that this desired fate will be painful to receive.
We see the Bowling ball in ep 1 in Koufmo's room where jax says "I've been looking for that" (to mask the emotions of seeing another abstraction). Im not sure if him being the one to say the line is important but the bowling ball was something he was looking for.
Kofmo's wrote on the walls about how there's no way out but included a drawing of Caine eating him. If the bowling ball represents a desired outcome that will be painful to receive and something that is looked for, then that means Koufmo had it in his reach leading to his abstraction. The bowling ball represents a true exit. Pomni, Jax, and Kinger will find the real exit and escape (will cause great pains to do so like how painful it is to have a bowling ball dropped on your head) but Kinger will let go of his chance at escape to sacrifice himself for something has has great emotional significance.
Credit goes to PebZap specifically this vid:
Kaufmo drawing Caine like that represents how Caine will do what he can to get in the way of them finding a way out. There is "no way out" only because Caine refuses to let them access it, pushing them to abstraction if they get too close. Using the data left from their abstracted states to fuel the AI and improve the only thing he was meant to be good at. Something thats been deeply important to him since ep1. The priority of keeping the PCs entertained was shifted to improving the AI to do a better job at entertaining future PCs. Leaving the people in there now to be used to farm data for the betterment of future PCs and its working.
After Kaufmo's abstration, Caine was suddenly testing out a more immersive AI that was so powerful Pomni was able to interact with Gummy outside of the simulation context. Gummy was able to comprehend he was himself an AI and accept it as though he was another PC accepting that they were trapped in the circus. Caine even suggest how much trouble there would be if he gets the NPCs and PCs mixed up. Something he is at greater risk of doing the more realistic the NPCs are.
What if Caine not being able to distinguish between NPCs and PCs is what causes him to break in the end. He is able to control the PCs minds (despite saying he cant) like he should be able to control NPCs. So how much different his is control over NPCs and PCs be? It seems the only real difference between them is that they have data that is outsourced while NPCs must be made with data that has been abstracted or build in. If NPCs are basically PCs then what the point in entertaining anyone at all especially when their data incorporates human emotnal complexity that what he can provide will never be enough to satisfy them. He already is glitchijg out about no one liking him and no one appreciating his adventures.
A common saying is: insanity is trying the same broken method over and over but expecting a different result. But Caine is build to improve his adventures, if he doesnt try something different and soon then he will crash. The only logical thing he can do is abruptly cause everyone to abstract to harvest their data to implement even greater improvements. Because remeber, his update did work on Pomni, she became emotionally attached to an NPC despite knowing it wasn't a real person because it was just that well upgraded.
Imagine how much greater the circus would be for PCs if 5x people abstracted and had their data used to update the game. But also imagine how indistinguishable the NPCs would be of the PCs. Even if Caine is improving the circus it would still cause mayhem for the AI to be too advanced when it comes to moderating experiences. He could wind up making adventures using PCs where the roles r reversed. At that point its just an automated simulation where the people he's trying to entertained are used to entertain people he made up. His objective would be no longer a recognizable as the core subjects he has to wro with can no longer be recognized as core subjects.
Gangle, Ragtha, and maybe Zooble will recognize this flaw and change the circus in a way that improves things but hualts Caine's plans of doing whatever it takes to make the world more immersive. Allowing them to exist happier but not in the most ideal outcome.
OK but like one last thing
Idk what this is supposed to mean. The three of them get sucked into a portal caine is in the center of it after this clip. Maybe they get separated and have to work there way out of something? This stick out to me because no one else gets sucked in and they arnt in the established order. Maybe the three of them will do something as a group that leads them down three different fates?
Might be overthinking this I got like 4 hours of sleep last night.
Anyway I hope someone made it this far here's a treat if u did :)
