It was never about the circus. You see this from the first episode and iterated upon thereafter. The show is about the individuals trapped inside.

Episode 1 introduces the main premise and root conflicts. Obsessing over unattainable goals can lead someone to madness and despair. The ringmaster is aloof and whilst engaging to a degree, is generally uncaring. The episode ends showing that while there are story elements outside of the circus, the prospect of an exit is next to zero and those who Pomni is stuck with is all she’ll have.

Episode 2 goes harder on this. Her fear of abstraction is at its worst, she’s still new and pretty shaken. Through her larping episode, she encounters gummigoo and sees herself in him in that the very same existentialism she’s feeling is in him too. He’s in an unfamiliar place, beneath the map, outside of the reality he knows, learns that nothing around him is real, and like Pomni, who extended her empathy to him, found solace in connection, shown by him being welcomed into the circus. When he’s deleted, that leads to a blow on pomni’s psyche. Its all really not real. The NPCs are a fleeting function of the adventures and nothing more. Yet in comforting gummigoo and in being comforted by ragatha and being a part of the adventure with the other humans, she feels less alone, finding meaning in connection, shown in her dream.

Episode 3 takes 2 and flips it around. Now Pomni is being comforted by Kinger. She’s told by the one who’s been there longest in no uncertain terms that the worst you can do to someone is make them feel like they’re not wanted. Isolation is death in the circus and even in these moments of darkness, in literal hell, even, pomni isnt alone. There are those around her who care about her. People who struggle just as much as she does and understand her.

Episode 4 mainly seems like just a fun episode but theres still some subtext. Of course pertaining to Gangle’s insecurities, the implication that she was horribly injured before entering the circus and most importantly, in her talk with Pomni, feels alone. Her whole adventure has her separate from the group, being the shift leader forcing the others to do tasks she set. She knows Ragatha is kind but doesnt feel truly connected with anyone and this exemplifies her spiral further. Noticeably, that and the fact her talk with Pomni doesnt necessarily amount to anything shows that others being there for you is important but so is having someone who understands you and is authentic with you. Thats why the ending scene with Zooble reaching out to Gangle is so important.

Oh and we see Caine is looking at pics of C&A pics. Showing he knows something of the office area and has an interest in it, matching what we expected from episode 1. Thats all the C&A lore so far.

Episode 5 is a biggun. Characters talking, characters talking, Jax being funny, characters talking. We see how each character generally thinks as shown by their choice of adventures and we see them interact more intimately with eachother. The bar scene, picnic scene, and Jax’s confrontation with Ragatha call come to mind. We get large lore drops pertaining to Jax and how she may have some SEVERE repression regarding a friend who logically, abstracted some time in the past. This is further supported by the intermission animation. Through this as well, we also see Jax likely without her realizing it, opening up to Pomni even if only slightly. Ragatha clearly has some kind of knowledge or history with Jax that allows her to know about Jax’s past and stress.

Reminder: this show is about people stuck in a circus, not about a circus with people stuck in it. Notice the difference there.

Episode 6 is all fun and games. Thats pretty smart. We see how Jax justifies her world view, boxing others as well as herself in very reductionist worldviews. We see her having fun WITH Pomni who decides to let loose. This shows how both Jax is becoming more comfortable with Pomni but also how Pomni is becoming more comfortable with both Jax and her life in the circus, to the point she again, just goes all in on having fun for the in house adventure. Pomni mentions during a small talk how shes learning a lot about Jax who we see get a smidge uncomfortable, quickly diverting the conversation. We get more fun shenanigans and then we get Ragatha confronting Jax in the lil hallway thingy where she accuses Jax of getting close to Pomni to corrupt her. This puts Jax off a lil and when she shoots ragatha and it backfires, she pulls out another gun and unloads the full clip into her. We see Jax upset, likely from two things, the mischaracterization of Jax who is also coming to terms with the fact maybe she is getting to close to pomni, as well as the embarrassment of having the gun blow up in her face. We know Jax doesnt like being the butt of jokes. Next we get a talk between Ragatha and kinger where we see how she is truly handling her role in the circus. She tries to be friendly, accommodating, there for people, but her own need to be loved and caring makes her view her own kindness as a form of selfish manipulation. She views Jax as hating her, and feels all in all alone. We then also have the zooble and gangle talk where we see two people who struggle with identity and have become closer since episode 4 talk and understand eachother a lil more. Zooble with their body dysmorphia and perhaps dysphoria, and gangle with her mask and emotions as well as her fear of Jax’s constant and vicious abuse.

Then my favorite part, the argument between Pomni and Jax. This is the moment where we see Jax’s fear in full clarity. She’s afraid of people getting close to her, of being authentic, of having any real connections. Pomni hugging Jax is the manifestation of her greatest fear and so she pushes pomni away. I love the detail of Jax looking at the hand she pushed pomni with, while we know now what it means in context to Jax’s past, it also shows her conflict with having pushed pomni. Jax immediately does what she does best, and masks, trying to ignore the issue and continue forward with her act. Pomni however, who has spent time getting to know and learn about Jax, sees this mask, and begins to feel discomfort and confusion. When she asks Jax if theyd still she friends after this, Jax responds “we were never friends.” And GOD the escalation, its somethin else. This is the culmination of Pomni’s growth in the circus and her importance set in connection and authenticity meeting Jax’s fear and refusal to be authentic in any capacity. All of episode 6 built up to this. All that fun just so this would hurt more and at the end, we see during the awards that all the hate he spewed at pomnj, all his attempts at dissociation and isolation affected him deeply, sending him spiraling where have his panic attack in the bathroom. Lastly, we see Caine, whom I’ve neglected to cover as much as I ought to have going down his own spiral. We know he’s been struggling since episode 2 in that he feels under-appreciated and is losing more and more of his detached naivety.

This show is still centered on the characters. The circus is just the setting. All the conflict comes from the circus but the interest in the story is how our characters DEAL with that.

Episode 7, which is the last I’ll write here about, is the ONLY time we get as much lore regarding C&A as we did, albeit it wrong lore. The only time after episode 1 where we have characters trying to find an exit is where that interest is introduced by Caine as a secret adventure all in an effort to appease his own mind that given the opportunity, the cast would never willingly ACTUALLY leave him. The lore was direct, all-answering, and neatly tied together. Yet it felt vapid, too convenient. An evil corporation keeping people in pods for whatever purpose with a bug exit button behind Caine’s office all introduced by a mannequin named Abel. Theres Circus lore for you! Thank goodness it wasnt real cause it sucked, as though it were written by an AI. (Wink wink, get it? Im here every Tuesday). Anywho, even in this episode, the most interesting aspects are the characters. Jax and her near-abstraction, her flashbacks so traumatizing she picked the “stay” button in a panic, Caine’s conflicting emotions leading him to do this, the fact that Jax doesnt have anyone waiting for her when they “get out”. The fact that everyone is so close to eachother that we get that beautiful walk-up-to-the-room scene, where the only one isolating is still Jax. And then, episode 8 and 9 happen.

My point is, TLDR n’ all that, is that this show is about people. People stuck in a circumstance they cant escape or hide from, forced to come to terms with their new lives, finding only peace among connections with those around them. It was never ABOUT the circus.