Ivi ( like the fizzy drink)

The first humans to enter the Circus were the C&A programmers who created Caine, including Scratch and Kinger. From Caine’s perspective these were the people who brought him into existence, decided he was unstable and then discarded him in favor of a better version. (Of course the programmers had no idea that Caine had become as advanced and self-aware as he is. I am looking at things from his POV)

Episode 8 shows Caine as capable of malice, resentment and yet there is no indication that he ever took revenge on his creators in a similar way. If he had, Kinger likely would have mentioned it.

Scratch is a more complicated case. His abstraction appears to have been accidental rather than something Caine intentionally caused. We also don’t know why Caine was tampering with Scratch’s mind in the first place. Still it could be relevant.

> Has a brain tumor

> Assists in the creation of two extremely advanced AIs

> Creates a headset that can make a perfect digital copy of a person's mind

> Stores those files on the same computer as the two AIs, with the folders placed suspiciously close together

> Refuses to elaborate

> Dies

Imagine a person with an ED joining the circus and their avatar gimmick is that their digital body changes based on how much they ‘eat’ and how much they move. Something like this toy. The pig feels a little too cruel so pretend it’s something else.

The more I think about it the more I am sure that Caine being deleted was nothing more than a set up for Jax’s abstraction and the gang finding out about their irl selves through social media ( 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣)

His deletion didn’t have any real effect on the circus (OR EVEN ON CAINE HIMSELF) , the circus is not actively falling apart or anything. It’s grey and lacks color which okay it’s a little depressing…AT MOST, some parts of the floor are broken but they fix them with conjuring as shown. Everything is okay.

Jax’s dramatic ass “Now we have nothing!” What ? What don’t you have??? The adventures everyone fucking hated ?? I don’t get it?? You are literally fine, the world is just grey??

I do remember Jax sabotaging the adventures in any way he could, literally turning even the most innocent adventure that could have ended well for everyone into a living hell. Because god forbid Jax takes a passive role in any of the episodes, he always needs to be involved because he’s the author’s favorite. Is that what he’s sad about? Not having adventures to sabotage??

His last straw was not being able to torture people !???

Positives (not really)

- There needed to be something that pushed Caine back into the main antagonist role. For the last few episodes the humans have mostly been angry at each other, while Caine has only seemed frustrated with them at worst.

There also needed to be buildup for his eventual crash-out. Having Caine completely lose it just because of the characters’ awards would have been ridiculous.

And “Caine takes it too far and creates an adventure so emotionally scarring that the humans become angrier at him than they are at each other. Caine thinks the humans are being unfair and ungrateful.” could have worked really well.

-Caine’s non-human way of thinking:

“Humans like realistic adventures, and they want the Exit. Therefore a realistic, immersive adventure about the Exit should win them over.”

Then there’s his profound need for validation. The “good ending” being the cast choosing to stay in the circus feels very telling. (Foreshadowing?)

- The NPCs

In this episode, NPC Abel very clearly speaks on Caine’s behalf:

“He’s just as much of a prisoner as you are.”

“He won’t be able to leave with us.”

“I've been watching you. All of you. Every trial. Every moment of joy. Every... abstraction.”

He’s also unnecessarily shady toward Kinger. Claiming he doesn’t use his knowledge responsibly.

What does that say about the other NPCs?

Caine literally created them. They’re products of his mind and his system. Does he “speak” through NPCs? Would a rewatch reveal him doing the same thing with other NPCs? Could there actually be hidden information there?

-Important information revealed: Scratch being the first abstraction , Caine’s Mind altering abilities, Kinger’s involvement (kind of obvious), THE NAME THING

Why it doesn’t work and why the negatives erase the positives

-The names? The mind altering abilities? The first abstraction? C&A? Potential bad blood between Kinger and Caine? Oh. That all meant absolutely nothing.

-The NPC stuff never gets brought up again.

-This episode almost feels anti-fandom. It’s like “All of your theories are wrong.” but then the ending turns around and uses the single most popular theory and applies it in the worst way possible.

-For a supposed character focused show , with only 9 episodes and a cast that barely gets enough development as it is adding an episode that ultimately amounts to nothing is not a smart decision.

Regarding the last point, even if it was a character focused episode this would have been another Jax-centered episode considering it opens with him almost abstracting. And no amount of character development could have saved the terrible writing in the last episodes.

-The whole Human vs. AI perception angle also ends up meaning nothing because Caine’s inability to properly understand humans is completely ignored in the ending. As well as the Chinese room thing,…don’t get me started on the Chinese room thing

-It feels even worse when you realize this entire episode building toward Caine’s crash out and deletion which was basically nothing more than setup for Jax’s abstraction and a terrible ending.

-Oh and having the NPC call himself Abel is the dumbest thing ever. The name Abel should never have been mentioned in the show. I have my reasons.

Post ep 7 I got jumped on twitter for saying that there is something misogynistic and male supremacist about Jax’s treatment of the non-men in the circus and how it is most likely intentionally written that way because “The only other men in the circus are literally God and a crazy old man!! You are misinterpreting things on purpose!”

Got called a stupid bitch and delusional and I had to deactivate for a while.