There's a theory I've seen that Caine is actually a human who forgot he was human. The whole time we thought he was an ai, he's actually just gone a bit crazy like Kinger. And he'll be the one to abstract, because of his crippling loneliness. What do you think?
I like it... in fanmade concept.
The moment it becomes canon, it will be a major turn off for me. Not because I'm a Showtime shipper and I like AI x Human, but because what makes Caine so compelling is the fact that he IS an AI. He IS following a set of rules. He needs to accomodate everyone, he needs to keep appearances up to not spark panic amongst members. He needs to complete the goal of making the humans happy, but at the same time, he has found himself at a crossroads between "people pleasing" and "goals twisted for personal use". And most of all, he can't process ANY emotion besides "happy", because he's limited to his simple encoding of being the boisterous ringmaster.
These said rules are suffocating him behind closed doors, to the point that I think it's so intentional we haven't seen much of Caine behind the scenes during episodes, because like the humans in the circus, we are meant to see him in the shallow point of view that the humans are also seeing him in: the jovial ringleader of The Amazing Digital Circus. But the perk of being an omnipresent audience is that we get to see treats of Caine losing his control over the circus, and himself, and that's what separates us from the humans stuck inside the digital circus.
Not only does the show present psychological/philosophical questions about existence and it's worth, but it also presents the idea of discrimination and how when groups form, there's always an oddball left out of it. Not even Jax is left out (mostly), solely because he's a human, and there are only 6 humans in the circus. Part of why Caine is excluded is BECAUSE he's an AI. He doesn't understand others, and it causes him to be segregated.
Because no one is willing to extend a hand, because we're afraid of something we don't fully understand. The Bystander effect showcased in it's full capacity. Don't get me wrong, the humans are absolutely valid for fearing Caine because he does put them in harm (unintentionally), but imagine if at least one, JUST ONE, reached out to him and asked how was his day? If all it takes is one bad day for all hell to break loose, I think the same works vice versa: one gesture of kindness is enough to change someone's life.
I think it's one of the reasons why I find Showtime captivating: Out of everyone in the group, as much as Pomni wants to punch Caine (valid), she's also the one who's most probable to point, and reach out.
And before anyone says, no I don't think Ragatha would do that. She's flighty, fawning. The thought would slip from her mind. She has the best intentions, but sadly she isn't the type to do so. It's also very funny that you can place the afabs of the show in like a progressional scale of how assertive they are? Like we have Ragatha who absolutely wouldn't > then you have Gangle who would, but would back down > then we have Pomni who would but would be nice about it and hold her ground as much as possible > and then we have Zooble who would and WILL be aggressive. Just a little detail I noticed lol
Also because Pomni's been exhibiting behaviors that express her attentiveness to smaller, finer details. Like how she's the one to point out Caine swore, while everyone else was too focused on the topic at hand. If she saw just how extensive Caine is falling apart at the seams, Pomni wouldn't be encumbered by the bystander effect, she'd be the first responder and I think that's why things began to shift A LOT inside the circus after her arrival. We've seen it happen time and time again, since the Pilot dropped.
Anyways uh... what were we talking about?
OH YEAH RIGHT, I wouldn't like it if Caine was human. It would ruin his character and the point of the show, me thinks.
