LESBIANDREA!

First off, the name "Beach Episode."

Going into the episode, we thought this would be a double meaning and we were right.

The cast of the circus does go to the literal (virtual) beach at the start, but more importantly the episode is a beach episode in spirit.

A "beach episode" is traditionally an episode of a TV series where the characters don't accomplish much of importance and don't move the plot forward, often by going to the beach.

In this episode, the cast believes they're following directions to escape the circus, with the audience being clued in to think they're actually being guided towards an even worse fate than their current predicament.

In the end, it's neither. They accomplished NOTHING.

Not only were the characters taking part in a "beach episode" but the audience is along for the ride.

It's pretty brilliant.

Second, let's talk about Abel.

Abel presents himself as a human that Caine "overlooked" and that's how he's been able to skate by as a mannequin NPC instead. In reality he's an NPC made by Abel to study the circus and claim to be human.

This is basically admitted right at the start of the episode, when Caine presents "the Chinese Room" which while played for a silly language joke in the episode is a direct reference to a hypothetical experiment by John Searle.

In short and very simplified terms, Searle created the experiment to argue against the notion that a brain is like a computer and that suggesting that it is and basing human brain tests after that can in turn allow for AI to pass as human to any potential test.

The experiment basically involves a computer made to simulate understanding Chinese being compared to a person who don't know Chinese sitting in a room with the necessary tools required to respond to someone sliding in Chinese messages.

In the experiment a human and an AI are ultimately no different, because both are just executing step-by-step instructions. He argues therefor that the impression a human might have when talking to someone is not a good barometer for whether something is an AI or a human.

Abel, in the episode, is an AI claiming to be human. He is just a program made to act as if he has the human qualities the other humans would look for when confirming him as a human.

He is the Chinese program that the Chinese Room experiment refer to.

When Caine presents the Chinese Room for his language joke, no one laughs… except Kinger.

Kinger has in the past claimed to have a computer science degree. This suggests that rather than being a random joke, he knows what the Chinese Room is and that an AI can't understand Chinese according to it.

Unrelated to the episode thus far but we've been saying for a while that Kinger being introduced with talking about an "insect collection" and being depicted catching butterflies is a reference to him being a programmer who looks for BUGS in the code.

This is all important because Abel wants to avoid Kinger, he claims it's because he worked with Kinger at C&A and they made the program together and that he's "not ready to face him" - which is all part of Abel saying and doing things to pass as human to the humans.

So why would Abel want to avoid Kinger if his words are lies? Well, Kinger seems to indeed be a programmer and it's possible he actually did program the circus.

So he would know Abel's story is a lie. Of course Abel avoids him.

We see another hint towards this when Kinger is in his pillow fort.

Gangle tells him they're escaping.

"Huh? Leave the circus? How would you- No, that doesn't make sense."

Then Zooble say they met up with Abel, that Abel is a programmer of the circus.

"Uh… who?"

Kinger knows there was no programmer named Abel on the circus, he's still in his pillow fort here so his mind is clearer than usual.

When he sees the access hand he recognises the design, tries to warn Pomni, is hit by the light and that's it.

Abel's schematic that he rolls out was clearly made by Caine, not some human making the circus.

It has a bee on it that's been scribbled over to hide the fact that Caine was drawing bees on it.

(This one next paragraphs not part of the Twitter thread at first)

Also, let's not forget that Abel clearly spends the adventure trying to make them feel bad for leaving Caine behind if they leave the circus - because he's created by Caine.

If that's not enough, it's clearly not a particularly useful schematic for anything except an escape scenario.

It's missing literally the entire rest of the building such as the tunnels, the dorm rooms, etc. etc.

Just enough for the adventure to work.

Fourth hint, the one that most people probably caught.

"Make the right choice."

This hint is both obvious and at the same time subtle.

Abel tells Pomni to make the right choice before he's about to launch her into the administrative zone.

She off-hand shoots a comment about buying him a beer, which he was never prepared to answer, so he just loops his last line again.

HOWEVER.

At this point that line can also be understood as him hammering home the importance of making the right choice.

And to get at why this is important we need to bring up his name, at last.

Abel.

As in Caine and Abel.

As in C&A, the company name seen on the office walls.

This entire episode is taking the most basic surface level theorising that's been going on for this show since 2023 and playing it straight, all the way up until the end.

Of course there's a guy named Abel. Of course he's opposite of Caine.

Of course this show is actually about an evil corporation kidnapping people.

Of course the guy appearing randomly in the background was actually a secret human.

Of course they all just need to find the exit and leave!

But wait, there's still seeds of doubt sown so clearly that anyone would pick up on them, which is also part of this.

Because that line "make the right choice" also refers to the right button, the button Caine doesn't want them to press.

And we all know this show wasn't ending here, so obviously this means Abel is the REAL VILLAIN and when they press the RIGHT button everything will go right to hell and set up the final big story arc!

IT'S EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE SAID IT WOULD BE.

And then…

Nope, it was an adventure Caine made and Abel is just another NPC, made to pretend not to be.

And as a result, an adventure that fooled not just the cast but the viewers too.

It tells the audience that the show has depths beyond just the first things anyone will think when they first look at it.

It's honestly a bit mean, but necessary for what the show is going for. The kind of whiplash that puts focus back on what the story is actually doing.

It's brilliant. Genuinely.

Now, does that mean everything Abel said was a lie?

Probably not, part of passing as a human means he has to draw from certain things that likely are true.

Personally, we think what he said about Caine being an AI made to keep their brains active is true, and what he said about Kinger being one of the original programmers of the circus is true.

And so we get to Caine's final moments of the episode where he clarifies his inability to control their minds as being unable to do more than minor modifications for the sake of the adventure, because if he did more…

"Scratch. The first abstraction."

Kinger says that.

So, going by what staff members have said, Scratch is most likely referring to the dog portrait in the dorm hallway.

This suggests Caine altered Scratch's mind so much they abstracted.

We bet Scratch is a literal dog.

As in an animal test subject for the digital circus.

After Scratch abstracted, the programmer (Kinger) made sure to fix a bug that allowed Caine to alter their minds too much.

He put the restriction on Caine's powers and he's starting to remember it.

Here's a hot take.

We don't think we'll ever see the cast outside of the circus.

The might escape in the end, but we don't think they will EVER answer what is on the outside or what they look like in human forms.

IF they escape, the final show will be them leaving.

Could be wrong, but yeah.

Anyway, let's talk Jax.

Jax has been hinted as having a deeper truth to him since the start and he personally made fun of that idea in episode 6 in the most transparent fake ass way possible.

Well episode 7 reveals what pretty much everyone had figured out. He, Ribbit and Kaufmo were very close.

Now, Gooseworx has confirmed Ribbit was the last one to abstract before Kaufmo, so he lost his two closest people in a row.

This is not an excuse for him being an asshole and honestly we don't even think it's the reason he's an asshole.

We think he is just an asshole.

However, it does clearly weigh on him. Heavily. He is human, after all.

At the start of episode 7, Jax is clearly tired. He's unable to even be his usual self from mental exhaustion and what appears to be depression.

He's approached by Zooble who tries to get him to talk and he comes back with a line about their ability to change their body.

Later on we see Jax's room.

It's pink. Like, not a little pink, it's VERY PINK.

It's all pink.

It is pink and mostly empty.

This is an obvious contrast for Jax's usual fronted personality which is loud and very masculine.

Now, we're not saying Jax is a trans woman in the closet. He could be, but we do think he's performing toxic masculinity to hide himself.

The place where he is safe is pink and calm.

Goose has previously alluded to the fact that his bullying mainly being towards the girls and the enby is because he's got things to figure out.

And he really highlighted that "you can change your body" thing.

Every character in the show clearly has a lot of depth to them and they all serve as examples of certain individual traits.

Gangle is the most obvious one. She exhibits bipolar disorder and autistic masking.

Zooble is non-binary (literally in the text) and they exhibits body dysphoria. Kinger appears to exhibit dementia. Etc. Etc.

Many have suggested Jax represents narcissistic personality disorder or psychopathy.

We disagree, but we do think he represents performative masculinity.

Toxic masculinity involves being bold and loud, it involves being "funny" through cruelty and violence, it involves belittling those with a marginalised gender, it involves liking GUNS and TRUCKS and EATING MEAT.

But like he kind of already admitted in episode 6… he's just kind of doing one big performance.

This episode points to this further.

Anyway, getting back to the episode's events. Jax is in bed and spaces out, he dreams of Ribbit and Kaufmo in a beautifully done kaleidoscope scene that runs at twice the framerate of the rest of the episode.

A kaleidoscope can represent that Jax is a fragmented individual with more complexity than might first appear, but that's not really something you need a dream sequence to figure out.

The framerate thing could just be for the surreal effect it adds, but it could also represent that he's losing track of time as he's stuck in his dream.

Anyway, then Jax predicts the ending of the episode.

He says that Caine will show up, reveal it was all an adventure, and that they're stuck here.

He demands proof that Abel is a human, to which Abel fittingly just kind of regurgitates mysterious lore talk.

Which is perfect because it ties into the earlier thing we talked about how Abel fools not just the cast but the viewers. He says EXACTLY what a human AND VIEWER would want to hear in that situation by seemingly adding context to how everything happened.

Skipping towards the end. Jax stops by one of the crystal balls that seem to contain past adventures, he hears voices (likely including Ribbit going by the credits) and spaces out again.

Then at the choice, he has PTSD flashbacks that result in him forcing his way through to make the choice to trap everyone in the circus.

He would rather stay in the circus than go back out to the real world.

The flashbacks depict someone walking at night, then driving through the forest at night.

These memories triggers Jax so much he would rather remain inside, where everyone hates him and his closest people died.

Earlier in the episode Zooble asked him about whether he has people in the outside world waiting for him and he got startled by the question before looking away and saying he does in what appears to be a lie.

The common interpretation of all this that we've seen is that Jax ran over someone with a car, possibly a family member, and that he is running from that fact and would rather stay here.

We're not too sure about this, it seems a bit too "first guess" for us given the entire episode plays on throwing out such theories.

It's possible though, but here's our guess.

Jax was driving the car at night to escape something, possibly a horrid home situation. Possibly even an abusive partner.

His performative toxic masculinity can stem from his true self having resulted in him being hurt before.

Because personally, we don't think his performance fits with "I killed someone by accident" the way it fits "I can't be weak and vulnerable again."

Of course, it could be both.

Him leaving an abusive partner and in the process killing someone, panicking, running from the scene, ending up in the office…

To quoteth the Pomni…

"Well, it's possible."

Stay pregnant!

Have a good light!

The first image below is every game in order of release.

Following that, here is a more detailed summary of timelines, related stories, etc. etc. for those wanting to get more in-depth with it.

And here's some information on games that were cancelled mid-development, for various reasons.

If you simply want our recommendation of where to start, it's either with the first game, Alone in the Dark (1992, DOS), or the latest game and its free prequel download, Grace in the Dark + Alone in the Dark (2024, PS5/Xbox/Windows).

We played through it, and many of the other games, on our YouTube channel here!