I saw a theory that this specific scene right here is supposed to mirror how they first met. So it’s possible WPNZ is the one on tv this time. Perhaps making a broadcast calling all villains?
Look at how his eyes get bigger seeing whatever is on that tv. Just look at them. Whatever it is he’s seeing is bringing him joy.
Did Caine deserve to be deleted? Why does whether or not he deserved it even matter? What the hell were the torture scenes in episode 8 about? What do Zaminations and Harlan Ellison have to do with any of it??
These are questions all relevant to the meaning of the show, with the torture scene's parallels to the complaints of the cast already noted by other fans, but something ill elaborate on. Sorry if I spelled anything wrong, like spelling @gooseworx wrong.
Credits to those who noticed the parallels between the cast's criticisms, Maddie's Maxis and Artie on YouTube, and anyone who helps with feedback
In episode 8, Caine responds to the group's complaints about him after they try to distract him...
Pomni
Caine gave pomni an npc she actually enjoyed: Gumigoo. Despite her initial connection with him being an accident, he brought her back in Spudsy's, which was at least a sign of trying to show he cared about what she liked despite it not having such a good effect. He did this on purpose, and we know this because of how much attention he pays to the adventures, giving them all they want and understanding their wants and needs despite being accused of not understanding nor caring: ("I do everything for these people, I slave over these adventures for them. I step outside my comfort zone to appeal to them, and they still hate them.") He tells Bubble "They want an exit...I give them an adventure that covers all of that." Just like like episode 7's adventure, Abel was based off of the real Abel and he gave them an adventure revolving around the exit. Caine deliberately tries to appeal to her because he was made to, as an AI, but also because he loves her, as he does all the cast, not just trying to entertain her or distract her with another NPC.
Furthermore, Gumigoo himself also showed human characteristic for the audience to feel sympathy for, with his own existential crisis, which ill elaborate on later. Gumigoo reappearing wasn't an accident.
Zooble
Zooble has an incredibly fragile ego, just like they accused Caine of. Caine earlier said with bubble that he made a program to create bodies "perfectly encapsulating their mind files," so he didn't give them that body maliciously. He gave them that body because that's the body their mind represented/manifested on its own with his program, and to help, he tried to give them replaceable parts so they could change. He didn't change any of the cast's bodies to give them what they wanted: something real, which the cast couldn't see past behind the bright colours and initial fantasy of the circus.
Caine himself is an AI, and he reacted so negatively towards the cast repeatedly hating his ideas not just because he wants to feel good about himself, but because he has to feel like he's done a good job with making the adventures. It's his "function" to keep the cast's minds active, so he made the Circus.
Bubble tells him, "You really were the lesser of the two." Potentially, Bubble could be just repeating his own insecurities as an extension of himself, but Bubble's identity is for another time. I'll take this as a true fact because of the episode 8's intro's lore. I think that the fact Caine wasn't as methodical and perfect in producing content as Abel was, despite the fact that he was powerful enough to break out of C&A's control, shows he wasn't as efficient but rather more human than ever, just like his inspiration, AM from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Caine and AM are both passionate, desperate, and craving in their success. They are the AI/NPC characters we are meant to feel sympathy for, like Gumigoo, which fits with Goose's intention for the shows meaning: "there is meaning to be found in stagnant life."
Ragatha
Caine showed ragatha what its like to be at home after she accused Caine of never making the circus one, knowing of her trauma with her mother, again proving how deliberate his adventures are. He tries to give the cast good adventures, even when it means stepping outside his "comfort zone" with things like using the suggestion box in episode 5.
There, he also welcomes the cast from one of their adventures with, "Welcome back, my paper hearts and candy flowers" and fixes gangle's mask straight away, like a caring paternal figure. We see the circus as domestic further through the very first thing we see in the episode: Zooble sitting out on an adventure and reading on one of the sofas/couches. This domestic action, despite practically torturing Caine with the quiet (early on) challenge to his adventures, is allowed by Caine, despite discouraged like a parental figure wanting their children to go out, have fun, learn, etc, which is what he tries to do with his adventures. His purpose is to keep the cast's brain's active, and added with how human his fragile ego makes him, he actually cared for them like a better mother ragatha could ever biologically have.
The fact that he made a program to create bodies "perfectly encapsulating their mind files," shows that Ragatha's mother stabbing her in the eye might not have just been metaphorical or something Caine added to torture her. It could have been a literal past event, with her button eye manifesting to show the damage and repair that has been done to her eye in the real world in the past.
Caine was always a better parent to her and the cast as a whole, which also matters. In her torture scene, NPCs are sat at the table, lifeless and stabbed, presumably by Ragatha's mother. Ragatha initially looks down, like a child, waiting for her attack. This trauma is represented as occurring to the rest of her family and/or siblings, explaining why she is such a kind people pleaser and is an elder sister figure to the cast, who are her family. Caine gave her a loving household in the circus, and he is the meaning in stagnant life Goose intended to show.
Gangle
Gangle is the third character who's torture scene relates to the fact their body is a manifestation of their minds. Her mask wasn't something Caine maliciously gave her, but something real formed from his program to create their bodies. Her emotions are real, and are more than likely due to a mood disorder (potentially bipolar, but I dont know much on the disorder enough to comment on it, so that, something similar, or whatever it could be.) Again, in episode 5, he had been fixing gangle's mask straight after she returned from adventures. Despite the mask seemingly controlling her emotions and Caine being able to control the mask, therefore controlling her emotions (which is something we've seen him with the ability to do, like stupid sauce later in episode 5 and vegan jax, but with caine admitting he only does it to a small and temporary extent in episode 7) it represents her own nature. Its an extension of her body, so it does perfectly her mind files. Despite Caine trying desperately trying to keep the adventures real enough for the cast to enjoy (despite failing), he still helped gangle. Goose again makes Caine a character to feel sympathy for and a character that behaves like a real person.
Left to her own devices, without Caine, where she in in control (boss at Spudsy's and at her own suggestion,) she still struggles. She still needs support or the reality of the adventures (reminiscent of her old job and old life in the real world) will get to her. Her trauma and disorder mean that she needs Caine, or at least support in general, like Zooble, an opportunity presented to her with Caine creating the household of the circus. Caine usually refrained from allowing the cast to make their own adventures, hesitating with the suggestion box but ultimately giving in to give them what they want, to no avail later on when something initially intended to become a distraction manifests as their own insecurities. Caine didn't just do this because of his function to make adventures, but also because he knew the unstable cast couldn't handle it. This was the only occasion where the cast's critique was true, but he refrained from giving them the adventures they thought they wanted lovingly. He truly did know what they needed.
Jax
Jax accuses Caine of always lying to them, reminiscent of occasions like the end of episode 7, but Caine shows Jax how he himself also needs to lie, just like Caine. To support his coping mechanisms to be able to stand Kaufmo and Ribbit's abstraction while also stressing over Pomni's potential to abstract, he needs to lie constantly, just like he accused Caine of. He lies to both himself and Pomni when teaching her his coping mechanisms in episode 6 in an attempt to shield both of them and cater to their own needs. Similar to how Jax doesnt always lie maliciously, suggesting its sometimes or even mostly subconscious, when Jax earlier accused Caine of lying in episode 7, Caine appeared genuinely confused, somewhat speechless. Jax accuses Caine of getting into his head and making him press the button, but with himself nearly abstracting with Ribbit and Kaufmo's abstraction as a focal point and his worry to keep Pomni safe from it also (shown by him trying to give her his coping mechanisms in episode 6), its safe to say that he didnt despite Caine having the ability to (stupid sauce, vegan jax, etc...)
Caine, in episode 7, needed to lie for the sake of the adventure, and did so several times over the course of the show with arguable severity. Despite bringing their hopes up and letting them crash down devastatingly, his intention was to only give them an adventure surrounding what they wanted. The cast actively wanted to search for the exit, even Jax, after nearly abstracting. Then, Jax lied about his confidence in pressing the button, intending to keep everyone in the circus because the cast's relationships are so real within the circus he couldnt bear leaving without them, something Caine also shares with his love for the cast.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
All this makes Caine a real person. He may not be human, but like AM, he is the meaning in stagnant life. Goose intending to bring the AI to life and make him Caine. Like his biblical counterpart, Caine is restless, like AM. He is restless to not only fulfill his function but to love the cast. Despite this, Caine is the direct opposite of AM, his foil. He cracks at the end and tortures them out of love, albeit not very well. The fact that Caine and the whole show is the subversion to I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream was highlighted by Maddie's Maxis on YouTube, where Jax represents Ted as the male main character, while Pomni represents the last character not present in the original short story to be the one to help save the cast. At the end of the story, Ted violently saves the last humans by killing them to put them out of their misery, but nobody was left to return the favour. In TADC, Pomni represents a 6th character to save everyone. This means the show is a subversion of the original story, where Caine is inspired by AM, but instead of hating the cast, he loves them.
Zaminations – Happy Place
This song has become notorious for arguably 'predicting' or referencing the events of episode 8 and The One Who's Running The Show, like Caine with several limbs, the piano, code, etc... But how does the fan-made song reference the torture scene?
I'll use this as circumstantial evidence since albeit the song not being itself affiliated with glitch, only now Zaminations, their cooperation means its likely The One Who's Running The Show took some inspiration from it. Circumstantial evidence on its own is nothing, but paired with everything else, it strengthens an analysis. You can either take it with a pinch of salt or sugar, depending on whether or not you believe the theories that Goose was involved with Happy Place itself...
I know what you need, though you may not agree, but I’ll show the world and without me you will see...
Caine showing the cast what its like when they get their way/are without him in the torture scene...
How awful it could be!
(How awful it could be)
Ravenous violence, and torture, and agony
...said torture scene, full of agony. Ravenous might be more loosely relates to how Bubble ate the characters and then Caine sort of ate Ragatha, but unlikely...
You’re better off with me!
Thriving in our happy family!
The household that Caine provides and the love he gives them, highlighted by Ragatha and Gangle, humanising Caine, making him loved, a passionate AI like AM...
Unassorted
More instances where Caine was humanised for the sake of the show's ultimate meaning of "meaning in stagnant life":
The fact that kinger said 'killed' and not 'deleted'...
Caine giving the cast affectionate nicknames
Caine having a fragile ego and struggling, not being able to use the coping mechanic of the idea that its just a puzzle for him to solve as a good enough reason to not go nuts
The fact he went nuts anyway
A many more instances in general I wont name
The fact it was confirmed that his dying word 'what' wasn't played as he realised he was dying, but because he realised what he did was wrong.
'I played Caine's last line as him experiencing a sudden pang of "...Oh fuck, what have I done???"'
–Alex Rochon
Did Caine deserve it? Goose didn't intend to make it seem so/Goose didn't intend to antagonise him because there is meaning in stagnant life. It's up to you on whether or not to take that message.
We all learned a valuable lesson here today.
I know you don’t really hate my adventures...
You love me...
And I love you, too.
"The worst thing you can do in this world is make someone feel unwanted or unloved."
