okay post cinema-delirium tadc 9 was just Fine actually most of it was great but[SPOILERS]
I think the need for a positive ending(not that i disagree eith the message) somewhat clashed withthe realism and flawed characters that were prevalent throughout tbe majority of the show, leading to not only an invredibly fast-paced and crammed final ep. as they needed to resolve all conflicts, but also a somewhat confusing/dischordant ending - the characters irl “counterparts” all suddenly have their lives get much better once their minds are scanned into the circus.
furthermore, the focus of the last episode had to suddenly switch from not finding out the lore of the circus(what the episodes seemed to be focusing on earlier) but now more on character relationships - which although they were INCREDIBLY improtant before aswell, the majprity of episode eigjt seemed as if it was leading to some big lore revelation that either didnt happen, or was just in one throwaway line by caine.
the same with jax’s abstraction - the need to get all the information out in ~45 minutes made her abstraction have to be executed quickly and not get too much in-episode build up. however, i do appreciate that jax is an amazingly well written character, esp. in episode nine.
caine’s character in the finale is bad and not cohesive at all i would say personally(WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON). although before he was a complex character with motivations and emotions and had genuine flaws, in the finale he was reduced to “good half and bad half” (???)(i am so pissed about this. if you couldn’t tell). I think this just doesn’t make sense at all, as his whole character was based on the contradictions of his love and hatred for him, with him always being the same(yeah idk either) - like even when he was “good”/non-hostile he still spoke over them, ignored their wishes and was unable to communicate properly (AUTISM). going off the belief that abel is the bad part that wants to kill everyone and caine is the good part, was he abel then? He was only miscommunicating and not deliberately aggressing them, but once he takes abel out he is suddenly neurotypical and a master communicator - is abel only evil sometimes??????
Furthermore, due to the lack of available time in the ep.(or maybe just now he’s non-evil), he was immediatley assimilated into the group and suddenly knew exactly wgat they wanted. What the fuck?
i do not think this was necessarily a “bad” ending - you can never please everyone, there was a very limited time… limit(though that might have been fixed/helped by pacing refinement) and this is just my criticisms cus caine is my favourite.
PLEASE LMK WJAT YOU THOUGHT!! <33