Caine is Dr. Jekyll, guys
Ok so like. Caine and Bubble are like if Jekyll and Hyde actually got separated right? Like Bubble is all those thoughts and feelings Caine would rather suppress for the sake of keeping up a clean image, the part of himself he'd rather not deal with. Like does anyone else see my vision?
Caine being the respectable face he puts out to the world, clean and professional, and Bubble vulgar and wild and impulsive. The self loathing and terror of a being who fears his own mind, who fears that he will be shunned should some wretched desire bubble to the surface. He would rather offload the blame for these desires onto him as if he were a separate party altogether despite Bubble being part of himself.
I think it's interesting reframing everything Bubble does through the lens of being Caine's unwanted thoughts and desires (including that of his own self destruction) does a lot to further one's understanding of him as a character.
As an addendum about what this says about his relationship with Pomni and Kinger that I originally made as a reblog but thought would be best added to the original post...
In their character introduction videos, Bubble drifts towards Kinger before Caine reels him back in. I'm sure this means nothing though-
And I'm also sure Bubble emerging from Pomni means nothing either-
They're both Utterson to him your honor. Pomni represents all he yearns to be (loved, clean, put together, but also note that she was felt her life was dull and dreary and wanted a little harmless excitement) and Kinger is his longest standing companion who becomes a witness to his self destruction. Both are non judgemental and willing to be there even for people with terrible repute. Both overlooked, Pomni in the outside world and Kinger in the circus.
Caine's dynamics with the whole cast makes me sick ugh but these dynamics felt important to point out for the purpose of this post
(Another addendum I'm afraid, sorry to everyone who reblogged previous iterations on this post)
One key difference though, Caine doesn't even get the thrill of acting on these desires that Jekyll gets through being Hyde, all Bubble is doing is voicing those desires. And Caine's just like. Repressing and repressing until Bubble is fed up with his denial and snaps back at Caine.
