Caine controlling Jax goes against his whole character
TDLR; Caine isnât malicious and has never shown signs of being malicious. All he wants to get the castâs authentic love, controlling them to get love was never his goal. A.K.A making Jax press the button.
Iâm gonna be so honest, I am Not liking how people in the fandom are characterising Caine after Episode 7 (i was a part of this at first but after some reflecting Iâm not of this idea anymore).
The idea that Caine caused basically Every bad thing in the circus just seems ridiculous to me.
Sure we got a really big revelation about a really bad lie that Caine told, he can affect their minds to some degree. He describes his changes as âtemporary modifiersâ, which is a bit vague but gets the idea across.
Jax in Episode 5 is the clearest example of Caineâs modifications:  Making Jax vegan, which made him say something he usually wouldnât say as he isnât a vegan, which he then reacts to milliseconds later, and the maid outfit, actively changing Jaxâs posture and how he reacts physically.
Jax didnât do any of these of his own volition, but he did react to them as if something was wrong, showing that the mind changes are not all encompassing as Caine does it.
Even though this was supremely messed up to do, using this scene as justification that Caine caused every abstraction or made Kinger forget to make him forget the first (this is honestly debatable though) or made Jax press the button or is actively manipulating the cast in a malicious way just seems wrong when you take into account Caineâs actions and personality across the series.
Caine is an A.I, built to create adventures in order to make his human players happy and content with what they are participating in.
Caine does this job with the upmost passion, always making new adventures and ensuring that the cast will like them, although he almost never hits the mark on what it is they actually want. Peace and quiet? Nah, blood horror story. Because itâs more exciting. And he never truly takes steps to realise what he needs to do to change.Â
But, even if his humans donât enjoy the games they play often, Caine isnât forceful. Even if they express anger towards him, he doesnât react with anger back (mostly, Zooble, but this isnât contradictory). Heâs not understanding, but heâs not making them understand. Caine, throughout all we have seen in the series, never once makes the cast enjoy or progress an adventure without their own free will.
Caine is only attempting to make an adventure that will appeal to what the cast wants. Take Episode 3, for example. Caine actively makes an entire separate part of the adventure JUST FOR ZOOBLE. Zooble at this point has been constantly avoiding Caine and his adventures and consistently showing uninterest or even hatred towards him, and yet what does Caine do? He tries to appeal to them, even sitting down with them to understand what they actually want.
And he helps, in the little misunderstanding way that he can. Caine could have just made Zooble go through the adventure by controlling their mind, but he didnât. Because itâs their authentic human appeal which he needs to ensure heâs doing a good job.
Caine does lie to the cast, yes (mainly to make them feel comfortable); but a lot of the time when Caine is challenged he reacts calmly, trying to make the cast understand his intentions and at times trying to understand what they want as well. In Episode 1, Caine reveals to the cast what was up with the exit door, and actively apologises for lying to them.
Note that he didnât even want to lie, he only did so to ensure the adventure would be secret till he had finished it. Caine could have just erased their memories of the event to keep the adventure a surprise, but he doesnât. He speaks honestly, truthfully, and goes on to make an even grander adventure (in his terms) based around the exit or macro verse.
In Episodes 4 and 5, Caine realises that his adventures are losing popularity. They donât want to take part in whatever he has planned, and instead suggest ideas for their own leisure. Caine is annoyed at this (and does just flat out reject it in Episode 6) because he wants them to enjoy his adventures, he wants his games to be the ones that bring them joy. Yet, Caine does not force them. He actually questions the cast on their enjoyment of the adventure (âYou⊠didnât hate it?â), understands they all like different things which may not be what he makes, and he allows them to take part in their suggestion box adventures for 2 episodes, taking a backseat while also studying what they actually want in an adventure.
Of course, this barely leads anywhere.
But, Caine tries to understand and adapt, and this is what is important. He doesnât ever just make them want to do his adventures, because he understands that he isnât doing the best job.
After Episode 6, it is clear Caine is looking for attention and validation. His adventures are being ruined, his awards show went completely out of his favour, heâs at risk of being completely pushed to the side.
And so he reveals his greatest adventure yet, an adventure solely focused on the exit the cast have been caring about so much. Caring about more than him. Caine doesnât like this, but again. He doesnât force them. Otherwise, why make the adventure IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Caine tries to garner sympathy from the cast through Abel and the dinner with Jax, stating that âheâs just as much as a prisoner as the rest of youâ and asking if Jax sees him as cool and interesting.Â
The dinner scene is incredibly important:
The fact that he literally has a whole scene with Jax where he questions the appeal of the adventures (âWhat do you think I should do to make them more appealing to the Zooble and the Pomni?â) sets it up so that Jax can ask him about his hobbies, wants to make Jax say that heâs a âcool person with cool hobbies and not that much different from you beautiful humansâ and tries to get him to like him should make this clearer. (And again, none of this he forces Jax to do, just sets it up.)
After Episode 6 (and gradual build up of his need to be liked across the series), the goal of this adventure was to ensure that no matter what, the cast would rather stay with him than leave. He needs them to make that decision themselves, otherwise, he failed. He failed as an adventure maker, and at his very existence. He would have to force their hand. I ask again, why go through the entirety of that adventure, trying to make the cast see the greatness of his work and make them like him, just to force Jax to make a decision that he hoped he would make himself?
It just doesnât make sense to me. Caine is desperate, yes, but heâs desperate for authentic love, NOT controlled love. Sure, Caine has affected NPCs to give him love (Labelling himself God in the candy kingdom, Abel being good pals, The Committee saying âWe love you, Caine!â) but he has never done it to a human because that doesnât give him the gratification he needs. Caine loves the humans, he loves making adventures for them, he just wants them to love him back.
This is also why I disagree with most theories about Caine causing bad things to the cast. Scratch was a mistake; a mistake that Caine clearly did not want to make (âIf I went any further, trust me.. it would not end well.â). The idea that Caine purposefully caused abstractions goes against both his character and one of the fundamental themes of this show as a whole, keeping your identity in a place that strips it from you. TADC is a show about the characters, we didnât spend 5 episodes focused on them for nothing. We should be examining why the issues relating to them that make them go through things, especially abstraction; not why Caine caused literally every bad thing ever. Sure, Caine caused one; but abstraction is not only a Caine-caused action. Abstraction is what happens when you lose everything about yourself. Something that humans themselves go through all the time.
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