When Caine spoke his final line, he did NOT realize that he was about to be deleted. He said it because his agency was returned the second it was no longer being used by something else.
Aka a tadc theory for the heap :] With evidence!
One thing TADC does really well is play on the assumptions of the audience. Thatâs what makes the show nearly impossible to predict. It fills the episodes with all sorts of crazy plot twists that leave the fans collectively saying WTF at the end of every episode.
But of all the episodes that have been released so far, I believe episode 8 is the one with absolutely THE MOST red herrings. I really believe this episodeâwhich works so hard to hammer the audience over the head with the supposed True Nature of âwhoâs running the showââis actually the one that does the most heavy lifting in the exact OPPOSITE direction. It feeds the audience members a somewhat ingratiating version of the Amazing Digital Circusâ reality: that Caine (from the very start the obvious suspect for the role of the true antagonist) is all that we suspected and worse.
I believe itâs a lie. Although Caine is certainly an antagonist and nowhere near being innocent or even really benevolent, heâs not the true monster of this story. Because itâs someone else pulling the stringsâwhich is stated quite literally through this sceneâs visual language âŹïž
Caine, after his crash out, is laying on the floor before being lifted into the air like some hapless creature scruffed by the neck. The way his shoulders lift off before the rest of himâheck, even the sound design of the scene suggests this visual. Caine is in the clutches of something else. But this isnât even the scene that first hints at the greater monster.
At first Caine and Bubbleâs dynamic is normal enough. Caine is using Bubble as his sounding board and Bubble, even with his weirdness, is ultimately responding with positive affirmations. âSurely they donât want to actually leave meâŠright?â âNo way, Jose! No way, no how!â
But then suddenly, the dynamic abruptly shifts. Bubbleâs supportive affirmations become antagonistic insults. Seemingly out of nowhere, but the change is actually marked by one specific split-second frame, when something else takes control and asserts its influence over Bubble. Who is very much a puppet to the whims of more advanced AI.
It preys upon Caine during his greatest moment of insecurity and weakness. And just as it did to Bubble, it latches onto the vulnerable areas of Caineâs coding to overwhelm him with its own influence. All to the same outward symptoms:
Glitching. After this, Caineâs emotions and impulses are being controlled by the unknown entity. Whoever it is, they have likely been using Bubble as their vehicle of influence for a while now. And they use Bubble during Caineâs own villain song, as though to wink in the direction of whoâs really running the show. He hovers ominously around the ringmaster during these specific lyrics:
âTo which degree who answers to who.â
Caine was unwittingly answering to someone else ever since the crash out scene in his office. He didnât even realize that he wasnât in control until the exact moment that his deletion was confirmed by the unknown entityâs tampering of Kingerâs computer. That was the moment that the entity no longer required control of Caine. The moment when all of its efforts paid off, and the madness that it induced in Caine drove the humans to get rid of the AI that stood in its way. And when it finally released its grip on Caine, he immediately recoils from hurting the cast. He makes this expression.
Itâs not actually the fear of his deletion. Itâs the face he makes when the entityâs claws retract from his code and he regains his own self agency. In that split second, he sees in vivid colors the torture that he has put the cast through, too horrendous for even his own flawed attempts at entertainment. Probably, this moment of clarity is the entityâs very last act of revenge against Caine. As Caineâs VA himself revealed, Caine is thinking,
And then he is gone. Leaving something else room to take the stageâŠ.
Anyway that is my theory thanks for reading :)
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