Lets just cut straight to the chase. This episode is by far the WILDEST AND MOST INSANE EPISODE of the entire show so far. As such, I wanna ramble and mull over most of what happened in this episode. Again, this post has LOTS of spoilers and will be VERY long and somewhat disorganized, so beware! With that being said, lets just jump right into this.
First off, this episode has cemented pomni as my alltime favorite character (sorry jax). Not that I didnt already love her before, but this episode really brings pomnis best strengths forth all at once.
At the beginning of the episode, she basically de facto gives up on the one goal she tried chasing throughout the entire show, which was to leave the circus, but she takes that decision not nessecarily out of hopelessness but more out of self preservation. Basically telling the others that its better to give up hope and instead just be there for eachother. I think its interesting how this mostly dovetails with gooses stated message for the show which is
"To find meaning in a stagnant life"
I think this, aswell as pomnis message to the cast, could also be a prelude to a possible future revelation that the cast wont be able to ever escape the circus. Considering the fact that both goose and caines VA alex rochon apperantly cried during the table reading for episode 9, leads me to believe that episode 9 will have a bitter sweet ending, where the cast makes peace with being stuck in the circus. Although I wouldnt pin the chances at 100% (you never know after all)
But getting back on track, I think its interesting how the moment pomni found an opportunity to change things (with the bucket that she put on kingers head), she takes it and rolls with the punches. When Kingers asks her to get a computer, she cleverly manifests the fake exit door and gets the the pc from there. And when caine is about to go search for kinger, she immediatly attacks him and distracts him that way. Its a testament to pomnis ingenuity and improvisation skills that she can take charge and get something done when its nessecary, and it shows that her hope, despite everything, still remains.
I also love how this episode demonstrated ragathas growth amazingly well. Wheras before, ragatha wouldve tried putting up a facade of positivity no matter what, now she can actually let herself go loose and be herself. She expresses her dissatisfaction and misery freely now, and she doesent feel the need to play up her happy go nice persona anymore. She complains about caines insane adventures now and she even joins in with the rest of the gang when they dig into caine during that intense confrontation. And you know what?
FUCK YEAH
This is the ragatha that Ive been waiting to see for the longest time. The honest and real version of herself. The one that throws caution to the wind and says "Im gonna be myself dammit!". And im glad she got the chance to be that version of herself before the show ends.
Also we got the full kinger backstory. And damn, its a lot more gutwrenching than I remebered. Im starting to wonder how this man has such a resillient mind, as he himself put it. Because he watched not only his WIFE but also his close friend and work partner abstract and be sent to the void. Not to mention everyone else who also abstracted. And he just walked around in a seeming state of autopilot until ragatha appeared. The fact he didnt abstract is insane especially with the undeniable guilt he must've had about bringing queenie into this experiment aswell.
Honestly the fact that he still soldiers on, is just proof that he is the GOAT. That sequence where he worked on modifying caines code on the computer while everything was going wrong also netted him A LOT of aura in my view.
Its incredibly funny seeing jax trying to antagonize zooble and pomni, while nobody buys his bait. The guy who used to effortlessly annoy them, now cant even rinse much of a reaction out of them. I think this shows that jaxs mask is now pointless, because everyone can now see him for what he truly is. A fake idgafer. And he seemingly sees the writing on the wall too as he just admits defeat and lets it go. I hope he takes up zoobles offer on intergrating with the group and being vulnurable next episode, but we will have to wait and see.
Abstragedy is quite possibily, the most canon non canon ship ever made lmao. Nah but seriously, these two are an absolute joy to watch on screen and im certain that the abstragedy fandom will be fed for a million years to come with this one image alone. Especially gangles line of "you made a mark in my life" in response to zoobles despair, its just beautiful
Also im sorry, but I cant not bring up the few funbun crumbs we got. LIKE LOOK AT THEM. Jax just briefly glances towards pomni, not anyone else, only pomni. And she just gives him that reassuring look to say "Im still with you" and ughhh i love these two idiots.
This scene aswell is everything to me. Pomni explicitly tells him to not abstract and he listens to her HE LISTENS TO HER. This to me is de facto confirmation that jax and pomni wont abstract, because they are gonna keep eachother in check. Its a subtle promise that they will stay for eachother and I think thats just beautiful.
Now we're getting to the REAL meat and potatoes of this episode. This entire confrontation scene between pomni and the crew with caine is possibly one of the most tense scenes in the entire show. Pomni does something completley unexpected. She weaponises her emotional intelligence against caine. She fully deconstructs him and insults him, lays into him and calls him out on his worst actions. And everyone else joins in, adding on their own criticisms of caine and airing their entire grievances with him.
And honestly, can you blame them?
Because while this entire confrontation is especially harsh, its not like they arent justified here. After all, even with caine being an AI, he still couldve listened to them (like with the suggestion box adventures for example). But his unwillingness to hear them and his entitlement is what caused them so much hardship with his adventures. And after being tortured for several days by him, why wouldnt they be especially mean and critical towards him?
On the other hand, this episode might as well have been an undeclared act of war against caine fans. Seriously, I feel so bad for you guys, because this is probably the most brutal end they couldve possibly given to caine.
The possibility of caine going crazy and dying was always a known possibilty. We already had hints towards such a path even before the teasers. But the way in which he died, going crazy towards the end, tormenting the cast and screaming at them
"WHY DO YOU PEOPLE TORMENT ME"
"I DIDNT ASK TO BE CREATED"
"I JUST WANTED TO FULFILL MY PURPOSE"
is just gutwrenching, especially compared to the happy go lucky broadway performer he was at the beginning of the show. Caine fully descended into madness and he never recovered...
The worst part is that he spends his last moments feeling fully hated and villianised by the entire cast, the same cast he so desperatly tried to please and it leads to him to falling down to a new low, tormenting them with their worst nightmares, before succumbing to the most deflated death possible. He doesn't even get the dignity to have an epic death. Instead, just like how it can happen in real life, he simply succumbs to an accident. Even though he proclaims himself as their god, he ends up dying not to them or any worthy threat, but to a simple programming mistake (courtsey of kinger). In a roundabout way, its the most fitting death possible for caine.
And now, the gang is left to fend for themselves and fix whatevers left...
Thats all I have to say about this episode for now. I thoroughly enjoyed it and im already impatient for the finale (I mean heck, they left us on a cliffhanger again, so I think I can be a little impatient) But either way, I think im going to enjoy this upcoming finale a lot.
Honestly its hard to believe that it'll only be a few months until this show, that has touched the hearts of millions, comes to a close. It might just be a once in a generation show at this point. Regardless, im glad that I and many others got to experience this show and i'll be happy to see the show be sent off with a bang. Anyways, that's all I have for now. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good week!
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