Queenie Should Have Been The Co-Creator of Caine
If I were to rewrite one major thing about the circus’ lore, I would scrap Scratch and just have the co-creator be Queenie. Now, this isn’t because I dislike Scratch, but because I think his introduction was abrupt and contributes to TADC’s issue of too many random characters being introduced way too late in the story, as well as their utilization for major plot points instead of just expanding on our already established main characters instead (ex: Ribbit is another prime example of this).
Before the introduction of Scratch, I always assumed Kinger played a key role in developing Caine. This goes back since episode 1. However, another key aspect of my theory included Queenie as the co-developer of Caine. Now, how did I exactly jump to this conclusion?
When we first hear about Queenie in the 3rd episode of TADC, Kinger describes her personality to Pomni. We hear that she was funny, creative, but what really caught my eye was her interest in entomology.
Now, in the same episode, we see Caine draw a bee onto his sketch pad during Zooble’s “therapy session”.
This interest in bees doesn’t just stop here, as in future episodes, we see more of Caine’s obsession with these little insects.
Now, how does this exactly come to play with my former theory/rewrite idea? Well, in the 1990s, bee patterns/biology would be used to develop AI and its cognitive processes. Since entomology is the study of insects, Queenie applying her knowledge of bee behaviors when developing Caine would not only explain her and her husband’s AI’s liking of bees but explore her own contributions to this new technology as a scientist! This would have been a great way to develop her and her role in the story outside of being just Kinger’s dead wife and I believe it would have felt more natural than introducing a new character to take on that role she could have easily fit better.
As they would both be the head honchos of C&A’s new AI developments (with Kinger as a computer scientist and Queenie as an entomologist), it gives Queenie a deeper role that she deserves while also fleshing out both her and C&A’s lore a lot better. It could also explain why Kinger can’t figure out a way to escape. They were the two peas in the pod that created this place and with that half of a mind gone, it’s difficult to try to resolve it alone.
She should have been the genius mind of C&A. Why does some random dude who was briefly mentioned far into episode 7 get this role and not her? Let a lady take the reins for once (especially a black lady!).