lila 🗯️

we are all aware that tadc is an adaption of the 1967 short story “i have no mouth and i must scream.” which is a story about 5 humans trapped and tortured by a omnipotent supercomputer by the name of “AM.” the story is about the group traveling to ice caverns becuase nimdok

(who likely the inspiration behind kinger, as they are the older crazier characters who both have an involvement in their torture. nimdok being that he was involved in the creation of the serum that keeps the group alive forever, and kinger being that he was involved in the company in some ways.)

has visions of food being there. the group travels there and in the end, realize the only way to end their suffering is death. since they are unable to commit suicide, and are constantly surveilled by AM, their only solution is to kill each-other, which they do, leaving only ted

(which a lot ppl say is jax but i don’t really believe that)

ted, the last person standing, is turned into a (according to sparknotes) “gelatinous blob, leaving only his mind intact to absorb endless suffering and reflect on what he endures.”

now, given the soma theory is that they are digital copies of themselves, they cannot necessarily kill each other, because they are not real people. but, code can be deleted, it can just one day, not exist.

the show will end with them leaving the circus, but not to return to home. they will simply, just stop existing. you might think, their human self’s might still exist, and they could return to their bodies, but that is not possible, since that’s a whole different being that has their own memories after the put on that headset.

take the film mickey 17 for example,

mickey signs up to have himself cloned whever he dies to tests, but once day, they think he’s dead, and copy him while his former self still exists. the thought of death is a lot scarier to him, because before this, he would die, and then just exist onto the next body, but that next body already exists, so when he does die, his conscious self will end there, and the next body will be carry that version of him on.

this means that at some point in the finale, somebody, likely pomni (or maybe jax since he’s heavily centered in the trailer) will sacrifice themselves to allow to others to die/slip out of existence.