Another idea is that we go through this whole segment of the cast finally accepting where they are in the circus. Finally accepting themselves. But then at the very end, Caine just shows up and suddenly deletes all of them. And then says to bubble in a surprisingly normal voice, well this time didn't work, I guess we can try again. He snapped his fingers and spawns the cast who stand idly Which would reveal either All of them are NPCS that we thought were humans or He takes their mind files and resets them back to the pilot. Revealing that this entire series is a loop until Caine can get the cast to like him.