#yet compelling

“You- you made me-”

What did Caine make you do, Jax? Is this about the vegan thing, or…

Did he make you press that button?

I could be totally wrong (there are a lot of valid and neat interpretations of this scene), but this reads like Jax lost himself for a moment. By the time he comes back to -- well, not reality, but the next closest thing -- he seems genuinely shocked by what he’s done. Maybe he’s scrambling for an explanation, not just for the others, but also for himself.

I’m not going to say Caine was controlling his every action, but he very well may be responsible for amplifying some of Jax’s feelings in order to ensure “the good ending.” Y’know, with “temporary modifiers” and whatnot. 

I can’t help but wonder just how temporary some of those modifications are. Kinger’s rationality was probably nerfed by the AI. Inconsistently so. His ability to process things in the dark appears to be very deliberately neutralized when it’s time for the gang to make a big decision -- and later completely forgotten when Kinger has a terrifying realization in the midst of blinding light: how less subtle modifications may have resulted in the first abstraction. 

Maybe Caine’s tampering is responsible for all of the abstractions. Who knows? If that’s the case, then Jax’s near-abstraction could have more to do with the fact that he’s losing more and more of himself to these modifications than the guilt that’s eating away at him. The human mind doesn’t work like a computer, but Caine’s trying to treat it like it does -- and that incompatibility results in casualties. 

I think it’s safe to say that, up to this point, Caine enjoyed Jax’s antics and could usually count on him to play along with an adventure. It’s likely a good part of why he and Abel honed in on him so much throughout this entire episode. He definitely wasn’t expecting this to blow up in his face like it did. Look at the genuine surprise on his face as Jax lets loose:

It’s a pity, really. Jax was willing to embrace the Circus more than most of the others. He seemed to have considered it an escape from reality, at the very least. But a loss of control to this degree is shattering him -- and everyone else.

I’m not so sure Caine is going to be able to salvage this.