a (very late but i SWEAR i was early to this) tadc episode 8 trailer thoughts and speculations post + a bit of caine-centric rambling, because this is literally his episode
you know what i think this episode will be?
either the cast watches their previous memories in the circus. or, they literally relive it.
there's a lot of allusions to "shows" in these teasers. caine on a stage, the "Showtime." post, the old-timey film intro at the start of the trailer, the TRUMAN SHOW THUMBNAIL, etcetera. and, well. it seems to me that caine’s gonna make a whole show out of these memories.
i'm guessing this show thing is an attempt to “solve the problem,” as he so very humanely and empathetically put it. like a "look guys! just look at all the fun you had here! (and also you’re STILL having fun and you’ve BEEN loving my adventures because NOTHING has changed at all about you guys haha NO MIND ALTERATIONS HERE NOPE. I'M INNOCENT PLEASE LOVE ME). you can't just throw that away and leave!!"
he'll even include their first days, and the moments they had with abstracted members, ouch. caine i get you're a lover without a heart but what the hell
obviously, things will not go well. not just from having to rewatch or relive psychological distress and trauma, but also because the circus is literally breaking while that happens.
which, the only other time this has happened, it was when caine was confronted with the fact that he may be bad at the only thing he's good at.
maybe bubble will keep reminding him of his shortcomings. he can zip up the circus members' mouths all he wants, but how about the other ai who can keep appearing and coming back no matter how much he pops him?
(so obviously these are supposed to resemble the buttons in episode 7. wouldn’t it be funny if that was. like. also actually representing bubble on top of that. i don’t seriously believe this with all my heart, but as they say: well, it’s possible!)
though i do question whether bubble does this as an assistant who's purpose is to keep caine in check, an extension of caine who’s supposed to be a literal thought bubble—to keep “unsafe” and particularly unhinged thoughts separated from him—but has become defective due to running for a long time/caine simply having his sanity slip away, OR as a virus who's purpose is to fuck up the circus through messing with caine
oooh, and i think we’ll also get to see caine’s relation/connection with the outside world (or the macroverse, as he likes to call it for… some reason).
we know that he’s absolutely enthralled by it; it’s a world almost entirely foreign to him, the place where all his beloved humans want to return to, the one thing he cannot give them. pretty ironic, while the humans have reluctantly resigned to being stuck in the circus, its the ai desperate to keep them trapped inside that's never stopped yearning for the world out there. i mean, i'm pretty sure that this is how he spends most of his free time when alone. just, staring at those photos.
it’s also been hinted that at some point, he had some level of access to at least viewing it, before he got “cut off”. since we’ll probably get more of everyone else’s backstories in the circus—including kinger’s, who joined the circus the earliest—who’s to say we won’t see some of caine’s backstory, too?
and another thing! pomni's whole thing is her ability to connect with others, even if they're struggling. if she can befriend an ai gummy gator going through an existential crisis, maybe she can at the very least empathize with the unhinged "lover without a heart" ai ringmaster.
anyway, calm speculation over. guys holy sHIT OH MY GOD. WE GET TO SEE THEIR FIRST DAYS AND THE ABSTRACTED CHARACTERS LIKE QUEENIE RIBBIT MAYBE KAUFMO AND LIKELY SCRATCH AS WELL AND ALSO CAINE CENTRIC EPISODE WHICH IS ALSO THE 8TH ONE AND ITS COMING IN 10 OR 11 DAYS OR SO SOON. HOLY SHIT
