Okay a rewatch of E8 and I think it's really interesting that, during the final "battle", Caine seems to focus on Pomni specifically. Everyone else is grabbed with two in each fist, while she's alone, and Caine gets in her face specifically to scream about how they're tormenting him.
She was the one to start the venting, but I wonder if he also blames her for things getting "worse", like Jax's comment. Like, Zooble is probably the one who recommended the suggestion box and was maybe the first human who flat-out refused to go on adventures unless forced. But, looking through the other episodes real quickly...
In E4, Pomni the one who asks Caine to chill with the horror, leading to Zooble asking Caine to check the suggestion box. Pomni backed Zooble up in E5 when they mentioned they had fun in an adventure grounded in reality. (And we all know how Caine feels about the suggestion box.) She's the one who first noticed Abel, which was probably intended, but was the one who caused everyone to pause, and was the one to figure out that Caine might have been suppressing their names in E7. And in E8 she's the one who starts the plan of suppressing Caine by getting Kinger lucid and the computer. Not to mention, throughout the season, she's the one the other members of the cast open up to.
This is maybe jumping, considering we really haven't seen what it was like before Pomni came beyond a few snippets, but it would be interesting if Pomni was an unintended domino.
I think so too!!! You make some really great points. I especially agree that Caine probably feels kind of jealous of Pomni- she's been here such a short time but has already become deeply important to many of the cast members. Caine's been here from the beginning and he still hasn't managed to make friends with anyone.
Pomni is, frankly, a LOT more emotionally cognizant than Caine is OR is used to- Gangle and Zooble are kind of off in their own world a lot of the time, Jax is Jax, and while Ragatha really tries her best she's great at stepping on her own metaphorical peen with the people she cares about. Pomni is deeply anxious but also incredibly observant- in the same way that Kinger is universally cared for because of his memory issues, Pomni has created the water of fondness from people who are Caine's metaphorical stone.
I've been thinking about making a character analysis on Caine, honestly. I'm kind of waffling on it because of how many analysis videos are out already, and also because I know logistically I probably can't write, record, edit (this would be my first time ever editing something like this, btw, so it's gonna take twice as long as it would for people who do this on the regular) and post it before the finale, and the finale might just eviscerate my whole spiel lol.
Idea in mind is that Caine is, at his core, kind of human. Caine is sentient, and has a personality, and has wants and fears- these are all very human things. By our concept of sentience, Caine is exactly what he wants most. But no one recognizes that in him, not even Caine himself; Caine is a human-like being who feels he must be a god and doesn't know ANYTHING about the world, this man has never touched the internet. All his information about EVERYTHING has been secondhand photos from the 90s. He's more or less trying to invent the universe of his dreams, one where he's loved and treasured, with zero guide on anything. He's 30 yrs old but his very code denies him the ability to understand things beyond the 18+ rating. No wonder he's Like This.