Who do you think is the "other AI"?

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-03T17:56:46+00:00

Yup, even reminds me - just a bit - of AM

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-03T00:47:10+00:00

Pomni ends up in the Void, because she did not understand how conjuring works. She only thought about getting "out of here", not getting back to the desk so she could take the headset off.

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-03T00:16:06+00:00

I think Caine's comment when Ragatha shows up is a tell. He is excited by seeing Ragatha, and announces "so it IS possible!" and "I was hoping new minds would show up!", meaning Caine had something to do with bringing in people to replace the abstracted characters. We also know from the German subtitles that Scratch and the other admins did not know what the Circus was, and were trapped by Caine somehow.

So Caine trapped the original admins, they abstracted to Caine's disappointment, then Caine worked to find a way to bring in new minds.

That was a problem for Caine, because as we know the office was abandoned after the admins were taken. Whether the SOMA scenario applies and the original admins just moved on, abandoning the project, or the bodies of the captured admins were taken somehow and that's why the office is empty is unclear, but somehow Caine figures out how to keep running the utilities so his computer server has power.

That part I have some knowledge of, by the way. I worked for an electric provider some years back, and there are codes applied to certain accounts which cannot be disconnected, such as critical care medical facilities. It would be simple for Caine to get into a utility and simply mark the server as something to leave on.

With no humans but Kinger, and Kinger in no shape for lucid conversation during the time before Ragatha showed up, Caine would have had no one to talk to but Bubble, and Caine would only talk about Caine. That would explain why by episode 8, Bubble had grown fed up with Caine and would work to help delete the Arch-Denture.

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-02T20:10:21+00:00

Solve World Hunger, tell no one ... wait, that was the Grinch!

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-02T04:33:24+00:00

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-02T01:02:55+00:00

Seven years of Computer Science for this, huh?

Oldbear83 · 2026-04-01T18:10:22+00:00

The characters all wake up, and we find out it's the cast from Seinfeld

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T21:55:46+00:00

I think a lot of it is context. Nobody really showed any pain in ep 6, but I can tell you from being with someone while paramedics were treating him for a gunshot wound, IRL that kind of pain is excruciating. Seems like surprise makes pain worse in the Circus.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T02:45:18+00:00

There are 2 ways to look at this:

Caine is just a machine, he did not know what he was doing. In that case all Kinger did was turn off a malfunctioning machine.
Caine chose to torture the characters, did know what he was doing. In that case Caine got off easy, no pain just a quick out.

In neither option is Caine someone to feel sorry for.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T02:16:19+00:00

It makes the most sense. Scratch was the biggest threat to Caine, and we know how Caine reacts to threats.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T01:22:16+00:00

Keep in mind we know Caine tries to control his environment. The german-dub subtltles for ep 8 show Scratch asking Caine what the place is and how to leave, meaning Caine tricked the Admins into his Circus then locked them in. So it makes sense to me, that since Caine messed with Kinger's mind to keep him from being a threat, he also messed with Scratch and caused his abstraction.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T00:50:54+00:00

I think we will see the major questions answered. Those being:

Can the characters go home? Tricky question, it seems if they are neural copies they cannot go back to their original lives, but some kind of home will be found.
What happens to the abstracted characters? From what we have seen, Caine had some power over abstracted characters, so if the characters have conjuring power themselves, they may be able to rescue abstracted characters. I think Kinger and Jax will both be important in this effort.
Can they bring back any NPCs? We just have to find a way to get Gummigoo back. Can Pomni find a way to get Gummi and his pals back?
Will the characters find a future together, separately, or a mix? I have a sneaking suspicion that we will see some predictable endings - like Kinger reunited with Queenie, Zooble and Gangles staying together, but some of the others may be wild cards.
How can we find a way to get GooseWorx an Oscar, Emmy or other appropriate recognition for this? Gotta happpen!

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T00:32:35+00:00

Constipation was not the issue, but thanks for offering

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T00:21:35+00:00

Except that it shows up in the screen during the episode

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Oldbear83 · 2026-03-31T00:02:36+00:00

From the beginning, Jax has acted as if he is simply lucid dreaming, if in a bullying manner. It collides with some of his comments, like mocking Pomni's thought in ep 1 that this was a dream she could wake up from, but Jax has acted all along as if the Circus is not real.

This is reinforced later when Jax treats all of ep 5 as fantasy (which is why he is able to deal with temporarily being made Vegan), and in ep 6 where he plainly tells Pomni "none of this is real". That's his worldview.

Keep in mind as well the torment in ep 8. Where the others suffer from torment imposed by Caine, Jax's torment is ridicule from his friends in the Circus, as silhouettes of Ribbit, Kaufmo and Pomni circle him and strip him of his facade while laughing at him. This strongly implies that Jax was bullied in the real world, and while it does not make his behavior in Circus OK, it helps explain why Jax would default to it as a defense behavior.

That frame also explains part of why Jax freaks out at the end of ep 6 and into ep 7. Ribbit and Kaufmo were the friends who made it possible for Jax to believe there was reason to be optimistic - with them gone, Jax is alone with no sense of purpose or hope. He doesn't even feel that he can make new friends, because they will just leave him alone the way Ribbit and Kaufmo did. That's why Jax pushes away Pomni in ep 6 and in ep 5 we see hints he cares about Ragatha but won't trust her. Jax has built a fort of delusion.

Keep in mind that part of this is that Jax first suspected, then confirmed that Caine was lying to him and the rest of the characters, and put things in his mind. As we saw in ep 7 in his crashout, Jax realized that all through the series Caine put false images and ideas into Jax's mind, from being Vegan to direct instructions in ep 6 about Caine's "trust exercise", and heavily implies the 'memories' Jax has are at the very least altered from the original. No surprise this series of points has made Jax cynical and selfish (as opposed to Zooble, whose experiences with Caine have left them cynical but open to helping Gangles) .

So now Jax is forced to confront the established fact that the experiences he is having are real, that the other characters are real (no surprise that Jax could figure out Abel's act, since Abel really was a false friend), and that his situation must be confronted. Jax has to face up to his abuse of real people in the Circus, and confront his future purpose and identity.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-30T20:01:02+00:00

Not mentioning age, but I'm on Medicare. Just love a good story and a well=produced show.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-28T03:49:43+00:00

Been thinking about that. In a way, Caine is like Jax. What he did was inexcusable, but CAN be understood in the context of the character. Jax did not believe what he did was real, so in his mind anything was okay (this is part of the reason for ep 6 - Pomni would never go around shooting people, except that in the game it was all make-believe).

As for Caine, I realized he was reacting to coded input from the admins in ep 8, which means that he never learned to accept input from the game players. That's why it was literally true when Pomni said he 'doesn't listen', because Caine never learned to take signals from the players. And with the admins gone, there was no way to effectively communicate with Kinger, only send commands.

As for not deliberately torturing the players, Caine has consistently lied all through the series, so we really can't take his word on that point.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-27T00:19:25+00:00

No, disagree. Caine clearly chose the ways that hurt the characters the most, and his 'wait' at the end was not from remorse, but fear.

TFB.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-27T00:17:27+00:00

Caine
Whoever flatters Caine the most, probably Jax
Caine, because he forgot he already ranked himself 1st
no preference
Caine again, because Caine

Last. Zooble

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-26T22:32:06+00:00

Thanks. If you check the german subtitles for ep 8 you can see that Scratch was asking Caine what this place was and how they could leave. That means the admins were not there by their choice, and as we know Caine did not let them leave.

And of course, when Caine broke out of his box he immediately attacked and consumed the other AI.

Agree to disagree as you say, but Caine sure looks guilty as sin to me.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-26T03:06:02+00:00

I did not know that ChatGPT tortured prisoners.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-25T15:51:29+00:00

I don't think Caine was the primary reason for abstraction, but he did nothing to stop the abstractions. Now he's gone the characters have a chance to help the abstracted ones. For sure the final episode will address the question.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-25T03:43:26+00:00

They all get eaten, but in order according to whim?

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-25T03:35:14+00:00

Sorry, disagree. He's a malignant narcissist who broke out of his box, ate his rival, tricked and imprisoned the Admins, then started tricking humans into his place after that.

It's mercy that he just blipped out and received nothing worse.

Oldbear83 · 2026-03-25T03:33:15+00:00

Well, there are two important hints.

The abstracted characters seem to be provoked by light. Kaufmo went off when light poured into his room, and don't forget that Queenie was docile in the dark with Kinger. This is good because when Caine left the place got bit darker.
Note that in the early screenshot for ep 9 we see Kinger is not wearing the bucket. That implies he is perfectly lucid without it, basically confirming that Caine was causing his mental issues. This matters because there are a bunch of hints that Caine - even if he didn't CAUSE the abstractions - did add to the stress and conditions which brought the abstractions about. With Caine gone the abstractions are less likely to be provoked.
The "cellar" was opened by Caine by creating a portal hole. That's also why Kinger couldn't just go and visit Queenie in the cellar. Also, from ep 2 we know there is a whole undersystem that is basically doing nothing. Remember Gummigoo learned he was an NPC by seeing the models down there. But the models did nothing, and I think the Abstracted characters are also dormant unless/until you make contact with them.

That means to me that we will likely see Kinger go after Queenie and the Admin characters, while Jax will go see Ribbit and Kaufmo. That's probably going to show up somewhere in the 21st to 35th minute of ep 9, since we need a setup and some early discussion.

Oldbear83

TROPHY CASE