#supriseshow

Despite being the one who outright says Caine isn’t human, Zooble is the only one who comes closest to holding him accountable like one until everyone else joins them in episode 8. They don’t hesitate to be completely honest with him, call him out, or refuse to entertain something they can’t contend with, even if they know it could hurt Caine’s feelings (that they DO know he has), because the alternative — resigning themself to walking on eggshells around him and acting complacent so they don’t bruise his ego — is arguably just as (if not more) disrespectful to him and puts them both in an even more hopeless scenario.

It would be giving up on the idea that he can internalize criticism and change his ways, and a lot of people would give up on a being like Caine because he’s “just” artificial intelligence, but Zooble refuses to. I think the fact that there’s a scene in episode 5 where Zooble actually encourages Caine for once only after he uses their input, and Caine has such a bewildered reaction to that, supports this.

On the other hand, there’s a part of them that doesn’t think he can change, evident in the fact that they don’t have the same faith in Caine’s capacity to actually relate to the humans or be relatable in turn. Episode 3 of course doesn’t help things, and in episode 4 they say outright that Caine liking them is “holding him back” as if there’d be no empathy in the way to stop him from tormenting them if he was upset enough. And like they’re right but that’s beside the point right now.

They feel safe endlessly criticizing and spiting him, and (this is something I think people forget) they only start worrying about consequences for it in episode 4 after another human gives Caine the go-ahead to punish them all for disobedience. Caine’s own internality beyond “liking” or “disliking” them does not come up. Zooble still dehumanizes Caine with this attitude, not bothering to try to find anything likable or relatable in him and interpreting his bids for connection as shallow and/or malicious, because even if they think he can change, as-is they can’t think of him as more than “just” a tyrant who can’t actually love humans like he claims to.

AND LIKE I’m the last person who’d say Zooble doesn’t have Legit reasons to feel this way about him, but it’s still so very Intriguing how Zooble talks to Caine like he’s a human and about Caine like he’s a machine. They’re the kind of person who can see the hidden depths in anyone and acknowledge everyone as someone worth reaching out to, no matter how much harm they’ve caused, except when it comes to Caine. It’s like they see him partly as a person and partly as an unsympathetic hazard to be mitigated. Which is FUNNY! BECAUSE

Kinger: Oh! Hey Zooble, what are you drawing?

Zooble: Kinger!...ISWEARITSNOTWHATITLOOKSLIKEIMNOT

Kinger: Caine is way darker than that.