Thoughts on the new episode; Spoilers!!!
If ya’ll have ever played SOMA, you’ve probably already got the vibes of what I’m about to say, but basically since Kinger dumped some lore about Scratch and how he was the Prime creator of Caine (and also mentioned how he had a tumor in his head like really really quickly during his lore dump), then you’ve probably already figured out that Scratch was looking for a way to preserve or at least clone someone digitally for some reason.
Whatever the reason, Scratch (the human version before the Circus) was racing against the clock for something. Racing his illness perhaps? (Like the main character of SOMA was with his brain tumor?) Racing to complete the AI perhaps? Rushing to produce a product for C&A before he croaked and everyone else would have to pick up the slack?
Unsure. But if we’re following how SOMA treats AI, then Scratch didn’t really trap himself in the circus, it’s more like he cloned a version of himself which got trapped inside the circus and became a sort of digital ghost. I don’t feel like that was Scratch’s intention, hence why in that scene he seems to be upset when talking with a spaced out Caine, but I think he was hoping to make some kind of sanctuary for digital human mind clones, but something went terribly wrong here. (Hmmm perhaps Bubble and Caine butted heads too much at the start? That intro clip gave heavy Agar.io vibes.)
Not sure the plot relevancy here, but I feel like TaDC gave a little nod to SOMA lore, which was rlly cool. :D
