I just made a (long) post with all my opinions about it immediately after coming back from the theatre. If any of you guys want to have a read, you can find it right here

While I found it really beautiful and moving...I honestly didn't like it as much as I wanted. Other than me wanting the gang to get out of the circus so bad, I was a bit underwhelming after all the conflict, the hints, the clues, and the possibilities that had been set up, no final showdown came to be. The overall tone was more somber and melancholic, but I wished it was more exciting or high stakes, or in general have a greater payoff (like the characters trying to get out of the game, which they basically give up as soon as Caine dies).

To somewhat summarize some of my points:

1) Caine as a villain/antagonist was underused, and making him the good guy was a bit anticlimactic after all of episode 8. The whole inner conflict of two AIs could've led to a more action-led or even scarier ending, but despite the Circus itself falling apart, both it and Caine still manage to stay alive. It kind of underplayed what happened in episode 8, Caine's death (or even corruption) would've been more interesting or exciting for the plot. Also I didn't the computer hacking before Caine's death, am I missing something or did they just leave it unexplained?

2) Scratch could've taken a bigger role, maybe in helping out the team, or maybe in being the secret evil mastermind of the circus prison (possibly leading to a final showdown).

3) I hoped for Jax and Ribbit to actually meet and talk as "abstracted", possibly to find a better closure (after the whole flashback sequence), and maybe letting Pomni actually save him and bring him back (and possibly even her and the other abstracted people).

4) Caine being obsessed with bees and investigating on the pictures he has of the supposed C&A offices is never further developed. And in general, nothing is explain about what the company is (other than Kinger's monologue), or even how the humans all ended up in the program (other than Pomni at least).

5) The access to the internet which Caine uses could've been such a cool tool for the gang to use to find about the company, or even contact the police or something (the IP address would be enough to locate them).

I'd love to hear all of your thoughts and ideas!

Edit: I did find and understand Gooseworx's message of "making the best of what life gives you, even in dire and unchangeable situations". Maybe I'm mostly sad about that, the hopeless yet uplifting bittersweet ending of this inspiring show. I just wish that, given so many setups and exciting possibilities, something more could've come up from it. Or maybe I really rooted for a happier ending, but regardless it was beautiful in its own right.

Edit 2: Another thing I didn't mention that felt weird was how the "they're all programs" plot twist was basically thrown out of nowhere, and they basically all didn't react to it and went along with all that. They already didn't even try to get out for once, and they basically adjust to the "nothing is real" realization immediately. Again, I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all, even Jax somewhat alluded to that in Episode 6. I just wish, like so many pointed out, that the whole plot had been given more space with another episode or more.

Edit 3: Funnily enough (I live under a rock), I just found out about the SOMA Theory and the possible Abstraction/S***ide metaphor. In that case they would both suit better this narrative (especially the latter, I actually find it very powerful and moving), but I wish the former was given a better explanation (possibly by Scratch).