I said I’d wait until the finale of The Amazing Digital Circus came out to post my full review, but I decided to go ahead and post it now anyways. Spoilers for the finale of TADC under the cut.
Episode eight already had me uneasy after Jax basically got off with no consequences for his actions, so I was waiting to see if the finale would redeem it or let me down. I generally try to wait until a piece of media is complete before judging it, but I was already having doubts about the finale. Spoilers: it let me down. Here are my thoughts on it:
Jax’s abstraction practically came out of nowhere with so little buildup I literally thought it was a previously abstracted character who emerged from the cellar that was onscreen and not Jax. I thought we would finally get to see how abstraction occurred on screen but nope. The whole abstraction has practically no build up and just serves as a way for Jax to dodge consequences for his actions and sets up a pity party about him.
Jax continued to be an abusive asshole to everyone until the very end. Even in his own mind Jax is an abusive asshole to everyone. And the scene where he basically fantasizes that Gangle likes his abuse and wants to sleep with him was utterly disgusting, and that’s before his casual queerphobic jokes towards Zooble and him assaulting Pomni! And all for a disgusting pity party of a narrative about how we should pity an abuser who’s the architect of his own and everyone else’s misery because he’s sad and suffered (as if the same isn’t true for every other member of the cast). It’s Catra all over again and I hate it.
Ribbit literally only existed to be a sad backstory for Jax. She got one scene about her backstory and it’s mostly to serve as a way for Jax to open up about his. The rest of her scenes are just Jax abusing her because of trust issues, Ribbit isn’t allowed to exist on her own, and the whole time the narrative weight is on Jax’s regrets. Ribbit isn’t a character, all she exists to do is serve Jax’s character and story, she could literally have been replaced with a frog-themed lamp Jax was sad that he broke. We also got practically nothing on Kaufmo, so even more disappointment there.
Jax’s sad backstory is vague cliched tripe about abusive parents that is told instead of shown, and once again it’s all about him and not the people that he’s hurt. For crying out loud he basically said he injured and left his mother for dead and the narrative wants us to sympathize with him and think he did nothing wrong! He literally injured his mother and probably left her to die! And it really feels like he “missing missing reasons’d” his own backstory (just google the phrase and you’ll see what I mean, but tldr it feels like he kept certain details vague (for example, what did he actually say to his mother that he really regretted) so he could make himself look more innocent). And to end that scene with Jax basically threatening Ribbit into secrecy before saying it was all a lie and then pushing Ribbit down the path to abstraction, it just makes me hate Jax more. Honestly I’d be glad he’s gone, but the narrative expects us to feel bad about him so I can’t even have that!
The reveal that Caine was still alive also came out of nowhere and made no sense. I thought he was completely deleted but I guess not! Episode eight was a good end to him (well good enough for this show), but somehow Caine returned I guess we need him back for vague pretentious scenes. What was the blue thing in him that made him antagonistic? What is the deal with the talking moon that only existed as a gag beforehand? Why didn’t he try looking at the cast’s brain scans and social media before to see what they liked, what was stopping him before? And he’s practically instantly forgiven with minimal pushback on Zooble’s part, everyone instantly forgives him even though the cast has no reason to trust or forgive him. And why didn’t Kinger and Caine have any reactions to each other, despite Kinger being Caine’s creator?!
The whole scene where Caine apologizes by basically going “you’re all basically copies and the real people you’re based on are happy in the real world” and the cast is all happy with this. That wouldn’t make me feel better at all! Knowing that you’re just a simulacrum living in a digital psychological hell with no way out while the real you is living the life you never had but always wanted, that’s not reassuring that’s horrifying!
And then the cast rejects their real names and identities for their virtual ones, and they all lived happily ever after in the digital world. Where have I seen this before? Oh god it’s Ready Player Two all over again! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of the greatest sins you can commit as a writer is reminding me of the works of Ernest Cline. And nothing is done to help the abstracted people, the only difference is that now they writhe in suffering on the surface rather than in the cellar, but they sure do look pretty in their agony!
And we don’t even get any answers to the most critical questions of the story! When, where, why and how did the characters get their brains scanned?! What is C+A?! Why was the circus created, what is its purpose and why is it like this?! No answers. Nothing. No satisfaction. The whole show feels pointless at best. Ordinarily when I find myself hating a piece of media there’s at least something good that I can take from it or say about it, but TADC, nothing, I’m left with nothing but disappointment if not outright anger that I ever got interested in it.
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