the one thing keeping me sane after (re[re])watching ep8 is my theory that the real people aren't actually stuck in the circus. maybe the versions we see are digitally uploaded versions of the real people, copied and pasted into the circus
the copies still experience everything like its real so it wouldnt be fair to call them entirely fake, but maybe there's still hope for the real people in the real world. they could be living their lives happily like nothing happened, they just tried out a weird vr game demo at an expo or something, just a blip in their life
my little bits of proof being:
in the pilot, when caine mentions 'digital hallucinations' (~5mins in) he says they are caused by "your mind's transition to the digital plane". this could be nothing and just a weird bit of phrasing however.
that is not at all how i would describe someone going into vr, even if it was some ultra mega fullbody immersive experience, like sword art online style. that is instead how i would describe someone having their brain uploaded into a game (though that is a subjective thing and maybe other people would describe it that way)
and they cannot leave (because they're files in a machine, they can only be deleted)
abstraction happens because the digital copies dont have the full 'bandwidth' that a real human brain does, they cant take as much distress, and the files become corrupted
this theory would also explain how caine can alter their memories (deleting their memories of their own names) hes just deleting the files
anyway. im gonna go to therapy now yall want anything
oh and edit: while a part of me does hope this is true for the sake of the fictional characters, I really hope I’m wrong for the sake of the actual show and storytelling, since it would basically be an ‘it was all a dream’ cop out ending, edit: or at least considered that way by a considerable and likely vocal part of the fandom
