WOW! 😮 THAT WAS JUST AS BAD AS YOU GUYS SAID IT WAS! MAYBE EVEN WORSE?
Spoiler review below👇 in bullet points
Okay! Let's start with the positives.
• This sequence was very pretty/well choreographed. The emotion/loss felt meaningful.
• I liked the cartoony sequence with Jax and Zooble (in Jax's mind palace). TADC doesn't do abstract/surreal sequences often enough, but when it does, it lands pretty well (except for the Jax abstraction floating in ep.7. I didn't like the visuals there). Seeing how Jax's twisted worldview affects his perception of people and his own actions was pretty well expressed in the looney-tune visual language and dialogue. It really, really makes me wish this approach was used with the adventures.
Similar to Gangle's episode, every adventure should've been an exploration of the characters and their worldviews, with surreal elements and unique visual languages. Caine tries to extract data and learn about humanity in the form of 'adventures'. Unfortunately, the show never went down this route.
• When the music wasn't over-the-top corny, it was good. Mostly. Sometimes. (there was like, a dubstep-like remix at some point? Pretty goofy).
• I really like the POV camera-perspective with Jax's memories. It was shot like the Blair Witch Project - pretty good choice, imo. It puts us in the character's shoes a lot more effectively because we *experience* what it feels like to be stuck in the 'VR' world of TADC. The uh...live action segments weren't staged very well. But the circus POV camera was inspired. I honestly think all of the flashbacks should've been shot this way. Imagine if we got to experience some of Ragatha's memories in this claustrophobic camera-style, seeing through her eyes. Sigh...if only.
Now on to the negatives! My god.
I don't even know if I can remember them all. What a clusterfuck.
Pomni
• Nothing. We got nothing. Moving on!
Kinger
• Kinger does not face any repercussions for (partially) creating the Circus. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. He got off SCOT FREE. Even worse, Caine and Kinger do NOT get a scene together. That's right. You heard me - no conversations. No confrontations, no anger, no fear, regret, guilt, disgust, anguish? Pride?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Fucking what??? Kinger helped MAKE Caine! Caine is a creation of humanity! A monumental and potentially dangerous technological innovation! Are we seriously NOT going to talk about this??? This is Frankenstein and his monster!
I have read dozens...maybe even a hundred fan-made confrontations between Kinger and Caine. And all of them - yes ALL of them put more thought and care into their dynamic than TADC ever did. Enough said.
But hey. At least we got another soppy comfort scene between Kinger and Pomni, right? Don't be sad guyyys. Imprisonment? The looming threat of madness? Your loss of humanity? Everything's gonna be okaaaaay. Oh, brother. 🙄
Ragatha
• There is a scene where Ragatha...cries. And she says she...wishes that she abstracted instead of Jax.
This happens, of course, not long after Jax hurls his usual abuse at Ragatha and insults her by telling her she's pathetic for still living with her abusive mother.
Look - what else is there for me to say? Not only is Ragatha left with a pitiful amount of screentime, but almost all of it is devoted to Jax, and how Ragatha feels about Jax, and Jax, and Jax Jax JAX. Ragatha gets a schmaltzy, rushed resolution with Pomni and then they walk away and have the most awkward scene in the show. Their smiles look painfully unnatural. They don't even walk off together - they walk AWAY from each other, like two ex-high school classmates pretending not to know each other. Not to mention, Pomni calls Ragatha her best friend - completely unprompted and unearned. What makes Pomni feel this way about Ragatha??? They don't even have ONE bonding scene together.
Absolutely pathetic. I thought TADC was sexist before but wow. This really takes the cake.
Gangle
• Like Ragatha, Zooble and Kinger, Gangle gets very little screentime.
Most of Gangle's screentime is spent with her mourning her abuser and wishing she could cry.
Gangle wants to cry for the man who made her life a living hell.
I have no words.
Ribbit and Kaufmo
• I'm pairing these two together because these characters aren't really treated like people. They're just bullet points in someone else's sob-story.
Ribbit came from a Mormon family, before cutting ties with them. Interesting!
That's it. That's all we learn about her. Ribbit only exists to create more sadness and trauma around Jax. Ribbit does not have a dynamic with any of the other humans, or Caine. Ribbit doesn't have flaws or virtues. She is nothing. She came from nothing, and she returns to nothing.
Similar to Ribbit, we don't learn much about Kaufmo beyond what we already knew about him. Uhh, Kaufmo tried to tell Jax his conspiracy theory about the exit, and Jax pushing Kaufmo away means he's partly responsible for his abstraction. I'm probably going to be saying this a lot but FUCK JAX. It's actually comical how disgusting and irredeemable of a person Jax becomes in this episode. It's gross that the audience is expected to sympathise with and mourn Jax when he is such a shitty person. It is *undeniable* that Jax makes the circus a worse place to live in, but the show is never going to address the implications.
Zooble
• Zooble's character was the perfect gateway for exploring the more human, raw parts of real life. Zooble was the only human who had the guts to talk about sex, and how it's a vital part of (most) people's lives and wellbeing. The only human willing to talk to Caine, who tried to explain body dysmorphia to a person who never had a "real body". The only human who challenged the circus and was not willing to play along with the sanitised, child friendly philosophy that the circus represents.
The finale Is more sanitised and immature than all of the episodes combined. When building a 'new life', there is no mention of bringing the real world back to the humans (no, the 3 second reference in the credits doesn't count). Sex, swearing, aging, growth, decay - natural life is completely absent here. The circus is just as artificial and timeless as it's ever been. The illusion of change, basically. Jesus, even the most amateur fanfiction is better than this.
What's this got to do with Zooble? Well, as I've said, Zooble has always represented realism, in all its flawed, mismatched glory. But uh, yeah.
We get nothing. Zooble gets nothing. Nobody gives a fuck about Zooble.
Moving on!
EDIT: Forgot to mention that Jax makes fun of Zooble's queerness/non binary identity after their FUNERAL (in the mind palace scenes). Thanks Jax! Fucking fantastic! He will receive no consequences for this!
Jax
I'm going to have to summarise here, because otherwise we're going to be here all day. And I really don't want to think anymore about Jax than I have to. I'm sick of him.
• Yes, Jax ate almost all the screentime. Welcome to the Jax show.
• Maid Jax makes a baffling reappearance here, and it's really uncomfortable. Feels like a fetish, honestly. I don't get the obsession with Maid Jax, but geez! Leave me out of it! I don't wanna watch this...voyeuristic nonsense. It doesn't serve any purpose other than a pointless distraction.
• Pomni sees a (unclear...fantasy? Intrusive thought?) lemme try again.
Pomni sees a scenario in Jax's brain where Pomni offers comfort and Jax VIOLENTLY chokes Pomni on the FLOOR. It's gruesome. Her face turns black and she almost dies.
Pomni has no reaction after witnessing this. You could swap out this scene for literally anything (even a meme!) and the context would feel exactly the same. Pomni wouldn't care if Jax stabbed her in the chest 47 times as long as he cries a little afterwards. This woman is hellbent on killing herself, I guess. She's going to forgive That Man no matter what.
Pomni has no self preservation or dignity whatsoever.
• Jax sexually harasses Gangle after she loses Zooble to abstraction (in this hypothetical scenario). He waits for Gangle to be at her absolute lowest and then delights in breaking her down through psychosexual/psychological warfare. It's pretty clear that there is no line Jax wouldn't cross (almost). Again, Pomni witnesses this mind-projection and has no opinions on it whatsoever. Not only does the poor writing flanderise Jax to the point of making him comically evil, but it also reflects badly on Pomni. She comes across as an amoral asshole who doesn't give a fuck what happens to other people, as long as her 'friend' doesn't personally affect or victimise her.
• Jax abstracts. On one hand - yayyyyy! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
On the other hand - hmmmm. 😐 The audience is clearly supposed to have mixed feelings and feel bad that Jax abstracted. Personally, I don't give a fuck. It's a net positive! But the show clearly doesn't want you to see it that way. I mean, yes, concluding Jax's arc was always going to be difficult. But killing a shitty character as a form of 'redemption' is almost always a bad trope, and usually signifies that the writer doesn't know how to solve a moral quandary. I think it also doesn't help that Jax wanted to die for most of the show, so he really isn't sacrificing anything. There is an irony there - that Jax got what he 'wanted' and be careful what you wish for...but TADC doesn't have the maturity to tackle such a complex set of emotions as this.
Whether Jax is dead or not, the crux of the matter here is that none of Jax's terrible actions mean anything in the show. I'm not asking for karma necessarily - but the humans treat Jax with so much kindness that it feels completely unearned. Nobody behaves as though Jax's behaviour is really all that harmful, which is the worst part of this entire episode. Even Caine's behaviour is treated a little bit seriously...not nearly enough, but it's a crumb compared to Jax's big fat NOTHING.
• Time for Jax's crybaby backstory! Wow! I don't care. I cannot even put into words how much I DON'T CARE.
There is something very concerning I have to mention. Two things, actually.
Deadbeat dad, divorce, mummy issues, yada yada yada. All the stale tropes are here. But here's what worries me.
1) Jax admits to *possibly* killing his mother. This is very serious. I say possibly because neither Jax nor the audience know. He's a fucking coward, so he ran away. Maybe it's the translation of the dub, but the way Jax tells this story is INCREDIBLY concerning. "I pushed her. She fell to the floor. She didn't move". So basically, very passive language here. Jax isn't framed as the aggressor. It's very detached. As though the narrative is trying to give Jax as much leeway as possible, absolving him of responsibility. I'm not trying to obscure the facts here - it was an argument, Jax was yelled at, triggered. It's not exactly clear whether his mother was abusive, but they didn't have a positive relationship. Nevertheless, it is very concerning how much Jax's violence is downplayed here.
So, how does Ribbit respond to this confession?
"The police didn't go looking for you, so I'm sure your mother is alive".
Jesus christ.
This isn't a purposeful choice from the narrative here - we're not supposed to see this as Ribbit enabling Jax's darkest tendencies, or see Ribbit as a flawed friend with dubious morals. I think...I think the show wants us to see this as a bonding moment? Fucking hell. What's really bad about this exchange is that it's not even about Jax's mum, not really. Jax feels bad because something bad happened to him. Because he doesn't enjoy the feeling of guilt.
Jax doesn't actually feel remorseful. At the end of the day, it's always about how Jax feels. It's not about the people he hurts.
Jax never faced any consequences for his actions, and he's upset that he has a conscience. In another world, this could be well written, potentially. The backstory is cliche and incredibly tacky, but there's a kernel of truth there. But uh, yeah. There's no self awareness in the narrative whatsoever.
Look, go read Clockwork Orange. Or watch it. It's way better than this Jax slop, I promise. It explores all the same themes but EFFECTIVELY.
2) Jax is revealed to be homeless. Already this post is too long, but I'll summarise. Stereotype is reinforced - working class people bad, they are sick, destined to continue cycle of abuse. Poverty is the source of mental illness (WRONG; gross oversimplification).
This also follows a trend of writing amoral characters and then over-simplifying their behaviour by giving them a "reason" for their shittiness, which retroactively absolves them of their guilt. The opposite of dehumanising - humanising TOO MUCH. There is no "good/legit" reason for horrible people to be horrible. It is not a good message for your story. We need a culture of accountability and forgiveness that is EARNED, not expected. Rehabilitation only works if the person is willing to make sacrifices.
Caine
Phew! That took a while. It's 2:44 am right now, so I'm just gonna have to speed through this.
• Caine/Blue dot scene (and the seperation) was really stupid. Caine's bad behaviour is actually caused by his evil twin brother living in his brain, which he just PLUCKS out and throws away, no problem. Not only is this a fundamental misunderstanding of Caine's psychology, but it's also a cheap way to absolve him of his guilt because it was all (apparently) his evil twin brother.
This scene also DIRECTLY contradicts Zooble's talk with Gangle about how you can't just remove the parts you hate about yourself, because they're real. Bitch, you thought! Nahhhhh. Why don't you just take the part you hate and rip it out of your head, like Caine did? You're so dumb, Gangle, come on. Get with the program. LOBOTOMISE YOURSELF.
• Quick, easy, unearned redemption. I think Caine torturing the humans was OOC anyway - I hate it. But regardless of how I feel, as always, the humans under-reacted to Caine. MASSIVELY. Bro literally tortured them and got welcomed back into the group after like, 5 mins of talking.
• Caine magically understands the humans and their conflict with him. Somehow. Idk how. I guess bro just needed a 5 minute time-out to figure out what took him DECADES to understand, despite there being no logical reason for him to come to this conclusion.
• Caine being deleted/dead meant jackshit, apparently, because he came back - just like that. No rhyme, no reason or explanation. I guess Bubble was the blue AI because he's gone now, even though Bubble works much better as a representation of Caine's ID/repressed thoughts. WEEEEAK!
• Caine's personhood or rights are never discussed, and neither is his identity outside of serving the humans. The show spends so much time convincing you that Caine is a real person here, but when it comes down to crunch time, TADC has no interest in exploring Caine's future or personhood whatsoever. Instead we get a wacky montage of everyone getting along like the ending of a bad sitcom.
• With the Moon not being programmed to love Caine, it is more or less confirmed that all NPCs have the potential to be sentient, artificial people. The implications of this are completely ignored. Caine's dialogue about mixing up humans and NPCs is completely unanswered and pointless. The humans are brain-scans (SOMA confirmed), which essentially means they are very similar to NPCs. But none of this matters - the show couldn't care less about the philosophical implications here.
• The Blue AI is put in a little cage at the end, Caine, wtf? Why would you do that??? (Ogh, look at how they massacred my boy...)
Ok, I really need to sleep. I've probably forgotten some points, but let's just list the most frustrating questions here.
• We don't know why C&A exists as a company or what they were trying to achieve by creating Caine.
• We don't learn about Scratch or the developers.
• For some reason Caine briefly gets access to WIFI??? We don't know why Caine hid the truth from the humans that they were brain-scans (we can only guess). Caine makes a PowerPoint presentation for the humans using their social media information to give them "closure". It's very cringe. Thank god all the humans were terminally online! Apparently the IRL humans documented their lives religiously to the point of oversharing. IRL Ragatha no longer lives with her mother. Also TADC, social media is NOT an accurate reflection of people's real lives. It's a very biased, unreliable source of information. This is so poorly written (I mean, the whole episode is, but come on).
• The abstracted humans are not put to rest (deleted) but instead live in this glorified zoo/aquarium. Creepy.
• Pomni hugs an abstracted Jax and falls into his mind dungeon like she's got magical powers or something? Kinda nonsensical and uh...cringe. Sorry.
• Kinger never apologises for his involvement in making the circus. Not even once. Also nobody gives a damn that Kinger was even involved. Caine has no feelings about being created inside of a digital prison.
• Jax doesn't apologise either. Caine is the only one who apologises.
• We don't know why the humans forgot their names. We don't know why the circus is modelled like a kid-friendly videogame. There's a lot of shit that makes no sense which we will never get any answers to.
• If I was in prison and someone showed me a PowerPoint presentation of Another Version of Me Achieving My Dreams, I would absolutely abstract. Immediately. No question. How tf would this give anybody a sense of closure? On what planet is this a good idea???
Wow, that was very long! If you read all of that, kudos to you. TLDR: Awful. Terrible. A massive waste of everyone's time. Don't buy tickets. 0/10.
I just remembered a scene that I liked (SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE)
.
.
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That memory flash of him mocking himself for crying in front of the mirror. I think that was a really good one and encapsulates what I’ve always liked about him as a character (because in spite of my rant yesterday I don’t hate him completely, he’s compelling in many ways, I’m just fed up from overexposure)
Just. The grinning and big eyes with the little creases showing he’s clearly falling apart, looking directly at (himself) (the viewer) (both, maybe?), it was pretty intense
(And btw I thought the Looney Tunes scenario with Zooble was also interesting. Dehumanizing them into the wacky cartoon villain role after he’d, in the scenario, driven the most important person to them to metaphorical suicide. He’s so incredibly fucked up. I loved the tonal dissonance)
⚠️ Major spoilers and critique for TADC the last act ⚠️
Tadc the last act disappointed me tbh. Being able to sit with uncomfortable topics and explore the existential horror of the circus was what i liked about the show. The happy ending did not feel earned whatsoever. Here are my disorganized thoughts:
Jax's backstory being shoved into the finale instead of getting its own ep was not well done. None of the characters seem personally challenged in the last act like they cry for a bit and that’s it. The circus seems to be black and white for a total of five minutes before it’s colours come back. Caine being able to come back was not explained and happened in like 5 minutes. And him suddenly redeeming himself in like 2 mins when he couldn’t understand the humans in 8 whole episodes was insane.
pretty much all of the characters besides jax and debatably caine are underdeveloped.
i liked Jax before episode 9 but this episode made me turn on him. He insults Ragatha about her mom and blames Kinger when he basically saved them all from caine. And neither of them bite back and no one ever confronts him about why he acts like this or what he’s hiding even when he sabotages others because of his turmoil. Jax being an asshole is fine but everyone just taking it is weird (especially zooble). It would have been SO interesting to see Kinger snap at Jax since we’ve never seen him angry before. Also in the last episode they were supervising jax constantly and in this one pomni just lets him walk away?! And then he constantly berates ribbit for nothing besides knowing his backstory that he himself decided to reveal which contributes to her abstraction. Yet the main emotional appeal of the episode is feeling sorry for jax.
Also keep in mind we still don’t know what exactly abstraction is or how it works and there are so many other unanswered questions. The last straw for me was having them be super happy with just looking at their irl selves on instagram living the life that they should have. Do you guys not experience fomo? i would abstract on the spot.
overall TADC could have been so much better and had so much missed potential. I say this as someone who’s been a fan since late 2023.
I watched The Amazing Digital Circus today. I am not going to spoil it right now but uhhh that was an ending. It definitely existed. I am really not going to go too in depth in anything, just some surface level disorganized thoughts.
I am not going to lie and say I hated every single frame of it but uhhhhhhh. It was uhhh not the greatest. I absolutely would hesitate to call it decent at best.
The thing is after watching each episode of TADC I have fun in the moment but later on the line I start to see more and more things that bother me when I really think about it. It takes me a while. I already have a list of negative things to say... I think the more I sit on it and let it digest it will get worse. I had a discussion with real life people. They weren't nearly as negative as me but they also had a lot to say.
Man, do you really think I want to say I didn't like the ending after being so emotionally invested in this for years? Do you think I just randomly want to switch my opinion of something that made me that happy and I loved it so much? No. In fact a part of me can never hate this series even if it falls apart when you really sit back and think about it. Even when I have a million problems with it and even if I eventually say the execution was shit. Sorry for being media illiterate I guess for not thinking it was a good finale???? Even though I find myself having more problems when I actually think about it????
Seriously, please fucking ban all TADC fans for calling other people media illiterate, oh my god. You just call anyone that to make yourself feel so clever while shutting down any criticism.
Also that ending was the most "We are The Amazing Digital Circus! Come here ya big lug!" Ever.
Finally saw the finale. Unorganized thoughts under the cut
I enjoyed half of it. The parts I did enjoy are:
Kinger and Pomni spending time together
Finally getting to see Ribbit and Kaufmo
Bubble is gone lol
CAINE GOING ON ADVENTURES WITH THE PLAYERS 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
CAINE IS RUNNING!!! LOOK AT HER GO!!! 🫶🏾❤️
Seeing Gangle's bedroom
Queenie finally getting named
(I'm like 90% sure the show takes place in my city and that's the funniest thing in the world to me)
What I did not enjoy was:
More muted scenes where we could have the opportunity to hear the players (plus Caine) talk things out
Ragatha wishing she abstracted instead of Jax and not getting to do much besides talk about Ribbit (or rather talk about how Jax made her promise not to talk about Ribbit)
Pomni learns that abstractions can be communicated with in the dark and doesn't tell anyone about it
Caine wasn't really dead she was just in the void, she even pops into the circus briefly to watch everyone build the tent for Jax
Caine can access the wifi of a nearby restaurant and browse the internet but only once(?)
Why is the Blue dot devoid of character? It should be more advanced than Caine right?
Why did Caine take the players names? What did she want to achieve with that? It's mostly just Caine being awful for the sake it.
Caine unlearns her character flaws (the lack of emotional intelligence, the selfishness, the controlling nature) in no time at all. I feel like we could have put at least *a little bit* of that in the montage?
Kinger and Caine relationship continues to be nonexistant. Despite deleting Caine (accidently) with his own hands Kinger has nothing to say about or to his greatest achievement. Not even an apology or a little bit of mourning, he goes straight to rebuilding.
Ribbit being fridged. The entirety of their character exists for Jax's backstory. And when Ribbit is being isolated by Jax, Kaufmo and Ragatha seem to take Jax's word for the entire situation.
Gangle being confirmed to be named by Jax as an insult and everyone just rolls with it.
The entire mindscape segment feels like it only exists to make Jax worse than she already was. We really didn't need to know that she fantasizes about choking Pomni and sexual harassing Gangle.
The information that Jax assaulted her mother and might have killed her. I remember after episode 7 some fans were theorizing that Jax hit a girl (or even Gangle) with her car and that's why her room is girlish. It was always a needlessly dramatic addition to Jax's character and now it's close to what actually happened to Jax in the past.
Zooble's character arc with their body positivity continues to be incredibly bare bones. Hitting all the major milestones with nothing in between.
The abstracted characters being kept in a fish tank as if they are not the husks of the other brain scans. Might I remind you that Pomni knows it's possible to speak with them, meaning they're trapped in their own bodies in there.
The social media slideshow. All of the 6 players we've been following are doing great in the real world while this version of them will still never be able to go back. And they are all satisfied with this. This is more of 'the humans have the same opinion on almost everything' problem I have with the show.
This is all I can remember from watching it. I'll try to write an actual review or analysis or whatever eventually.
I kinda wish she was meaner to Jax, purely from story-telling perspective.
Jax's sudden ghosting felt entirely unprovoked to the point it was straight up jarring. Ribbit literally did nothing wrong, told nobody about their secret and STILL payed the price for... having a heart to heart with her friend?
They could've at least stopped talking to Jax by their own volition, considering they just figured out they might've been hanging out with a murderer this whole time.
But no, we need another fem-presenting person's life to be ruined by being nice to Jax because that was so fun the first ten times this has happened/sarc.
This'll also be mainly critical, be warned. I have conflicted feelings about it
So the best word to describe how I felt viewing the entirety of the 9th episode is: flabbergasted
I went in with close to zero expectations of how it's gonna go. I was like "fuck it, anything might as well happen at this point" and then anything DID happen and I was like. Okay but what the fuck actually
The reveal that they were brain scans RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE already floored me. I mean we been knew, but the fact that they'd get right down to it. And then ofc everyone's appropriate reactions
Ragatha and Pomni's moment was sweet, I'm glad she got to pour her heart out and then they hugged, but man. Feels like a bit of a slap in the face that we didn't get this level of care for the two's relationship when they talked their issues out off-screen after the awards show. We couldn't get that but we got this, and it felt too little too late. And just. A bit jarring and not properly earned idk I was just sort of questioning it. "You're the best thing that's happened to me in the circus" and all
But I've got to appreciate my girl Ragatha getting valued and comforted and becoming vulnerable in a way that strengthens her. So I can't be mad about that part
AND IT'S THE FUCKING JAX SHOW. LIKE 50% OF THE FINALE WAS THE JAX SHOW I was invested in what was unfolding on screen but also kind of seething like he really just devoured the later half of the show like a fungal parasite. I was shocked that they abstracted him in like the first ten minutes. And it was so anticlimactic. Later I began to realize that I missed an honest-to-goodness, messy confrontation between him and his victims. Gangle is who I'm thinking of primarily, but there's also Ragatha (who did talk about some of her experience with him, but that was... after he'd abstracted... so again)
So he abstracted and then we had a half hour trip through his fuckass mind. Look this is Jax's mindscape. These are Jax's funny little mind worlds and alter-egos, these are Jax's memories, check that out that's Jax's friend, Jax's real life before the circus! He had daddy and mommy issues, did you know that? We shall have him recount them in great detail, yeah he might've killed her and ran away and he never recovered, super heavy stuff. Here's him pussying out and psychologically torturing his friend into abstracting because he's unwilling to have one good thing in his life, here's the new arrivals through his eyes- like it was EXHAUSTING. There is such a thing as too much information and this was it, man. NOTHING could be left ambiguous about this dude we Have to know All Of It before we leave the theater. But Zooble's "dreams" and "goals" they freaked about never fulfilling get two sentences (since I'm counting their real life counterpart opening up a safe space for people)
Like his death wasn't some heroic redemption bullshit, thank God, but at the same time Goose is not only not beating, but actively pouring gasoline on the favoritism allegations. He dies and from that point onward takes this sympathetic, tragic role. We psychoanalyze him and lay out all his trauma. He's finally getting reached out to in spite of all odds, starts sobbing that he's scared and wants to live now, at the moment when it is already too late. His scene with Pomni was amazing, don't get me wrong, but in the context of the rest of the show this whole direction with him just didn't land for me
(Tbh my suspended disbelief already fell and crashed when Pomni Centaurworlded herself into the abstraction's mind, like. They could do that??? Does that mean they might figure out how to free the people beneath????? Since they're in there and coherent-ish apparently??????? But no they can't do that and all their old friends become aquarium fish instead. Yay?)
And speaking of his memories, I'm kind of sad Gangle arrived after Ribbit had already abstracted. Yes, he abused her, but some of their interactions still had that air of casual familiarity that I'd guessed Gangle had known him for a time before he got this bad. Ah well
I also didn't expect Caine to come back, even though I literally got spoiled about him living. In the moment I'd totally forgotten. His scene of breaking firewalls and getting to the Wi-Fi was well-made, and I know this because my friend gushed to me about the technical background on the way back from the theater, but even as a layman it was fascinating to watch. I was really surprised by the blue AI being removed though. I didn't know he could do that /ref
The mind scans thing was set up in advance, that I'll admit. I feel like we got the best ending for the cast that we could've, within those terms. And it's sweet that Caine managed to find out about their human counterparts living better lives now and show them for a sense of closure
(I also REALLY didn't expect the live action scenes. Yes we stuck around after the credits too. I guess there are canon human names and designs now! That is a thing)
Just. Yeah. Bittersweet ending, as Goose had foreshadowed. And as you can see I have complaints, but still wouldn't have missed experiencing it in theaters. There were surprisingly many people, and we cheered in chorus at the GLITCH logo and then the credits starting. There was a Caine cosplayer with a big set of teeth over their head (I couldn't find them afterward, sadly, but I would've loved to compliment them). People were "aww"ing too at some moments and singing the theme song, I just felt like we were there as a fan community and not just a bunch of strangers. It was wholesome. And I got to bring the novelty bucket home :3
(It's a sturdy metal thing. I expected it to be plastic. And the designs sort of raise out of it, pretty cool)
I think I need some time to digest it, all things considered. I still intend to stick around in the fandom and keep working on my AU, but man. I feel like I just got Jax poisoning
imagine (temporarily) changing your entire mode of existence for an important political trip to a planet that's so very different from your home and it's assaulting all of your newly gained extra senses (and changed familiar ones) from all sides for a week straight and you're not even sure what you're meant to do there because "interstellar ambassador" and "politician" were never actually in your job description and you kind of just really want to be home right now...
...yeah I'd try to burrow myself in the safe familarity of my favorite person's smell, warmth and heartbeat when the world makes me want to explode too
Always remember that the EU did a study in 2013 about the effects of piracy on media publishers and found that there is no correlation between piracy and sales! (And then they tried to hide that study bc that's not the result they wanted)
So piracy is at worst not even a problem, and at best it's free advertisement.
Source: (the link to the actual study is in the article)
In 2013, the European Commission ordered a €360,000 ($430,000) study on how piracy affects sales of music, books, movies and games in the EU
#piracy is always a net good in my eyes#because the fact someone is saving and archiving that shit is what I want the most #also idk sometimes it’s not like a certain thing is even readily available in my country #so hey whoa thank god there’s a piracy site with this obscure show I wanna watch
you spin me right 'round baby right 'round @rorydrawsandwrites - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
