The Amazing Digital Circus Episode 8

There's another full series that Glitch has done called Murder Drones. I have not seen this one but have been inter. Might be worth looking into

The whole series is based around the elements of the book "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream!" and this episode really embodies the book well. it is a dark read, but if you can get past that part you can see the elements in this episode. If you have time for a good book, i do recommend it.

A lot of your questions have been answered in the comments already, but another thing that might interest you: You mentioned how old the PC looked. That's because the circus was really created almost 30 years ago. There's a lot to catch when you read the code on the PC screen when Kinger is trying to get Caine under control. Among those details are the dates for the first people coming into the circus. Kinger, Queenie, Scratch and the rest of the C&A employees we could see in the beginning were sucked into this world in 1999. Then there was nothing for quite a few years until Ragatha arrived in 2008. That is also the reason for her being the only one (besides Kinger) who doesn't understand the Breaking Bad reference in episode 5, because the show started airing that year. You can actually find a nice timeline of the events here: https://tadc.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline

There is a theory that Jax used to be Scratch the dog (the other developer of the AI). It was mentioned in one of the episodes that Scratch was the first abstraction. In this episode we see all the originals (including Scratch) just before Kinger's wife sits next to him, and when she abstracts, the others are gone, indicating more time passed and everyone else had already abstracted. What supports the Jax-Scratch theory is that Jax sometimes acts like a dog (the way he attacked Gangle and his own evil counterpart), the Breaking Bad reference with mention of cancer and Kinger saying in this episode that Scratch had a tumor in his head, and the fact that Jax doesn't seem to want to go back to the human world. This is just a theory I read online. But it kinda makes sense. But we'll see. 😅 Also, you asked where I'm from. I'm from Finland. EDIT. Oh yeah, and Gooseworx getting hate from "fans" reminds me of Vivziepop receiving hate from "fans". It's the downside of interacting with fandoms online while at the same time small creators have to interact online to create momentum for their projects.

A few things I've noticed this episode: •Jax nearly has a panic attack when he goes to distract Caine because he's now been shown info on the Circus from a HUMAN (he could dismiss Abel because he suspected that he was an NPC planted by Caine) Jax saying "OMG! This is REAL" shows that he's willing to believe, which is why he is insistent on being told details AFTER distracting Caine. Jax has accused Caine of playing with their minds and suspects that he was influenced by him to pick the red button in the previous episode. Jax choosing to remain ignorant to the plan before going to Caine was for safety at that point. •The gang says that Caine doesn't listen to them when they voice their concerns, fears or wants, but then Caine shows them that he HAS listened to them when he then proceeds to torture them with their own traumas: Pomni= her 1st friend as a mindless beast attacking her, Ragatha= scared of centipedes is served them on a plate with the mother that has been hinted at being abusive shown as a shadowy figure throwing knives at her. Zooble= their body dismorphia in full force as they're sinking into a pile of parts surrounded by mirrors, Gangle= surrounded by distorted masks that blur together and is eventually hit by truck-kun, and finally Jax= always trying to hide his emotions behind a mask of indifference is then put under a spotlight and surrounded by mocking faces while not just his "mask", but his very SKIN is stripped off baring him completely. ☆a note about the previous episode: Abel was giving "pro-Caine vibes" throughout his interactions. Examples: 1.Caine is as much as prisoner here as you all, 2. Caine won't be able to leave 3. His reluctance to include Kinger since he was one of the programmers that developed Caine's AI program, he'd be able to out him as an imposter or even see through the whole adventure. 4. All of the above leads me to see his insistence of"Make the right choice" as "don't leave Caine here alone"☆

I mentioned this in a previous comment but I dont think you saw it. TADC is inspired by the short story "I have no mouth, and I must scream", which has also inspired Black Mirror episodes (notably USS Callister). There was a reference to this in Caine's song with the line "don't need to scream if you ain't got a mouth"

Okay, responses to you and then additional thoughts... First, the bit at the beginning is the creation of Caine. They created the AI, Caine is what the red dot becomes, fed it data, some basic stuff came out. But it was a little off, so they created a second AI, the blue dot. And that was much more in control, but Caine broke free of his firewalls and locks and attacked the second AI and absorbed it. That allowed him to create the circus. Next, they all remember their past lives, that was a big point of the noir part of Episode 5 (Untitled) they all shared bits about their old lives, except for Jax who made a Breaking Bad reference. Even in THIS episode, when Ragatha appears, she's trying to take off the headset and calling to people outside. The first batch was a larger group of Employees, Scratch was the dog. Queenie was also an employee of C&A with her husband Kinger. All they forgot was their names, and then obviously eachother's names. All of them Abstracted, the last two employees were Kinger and Queenie, and then she Abstracted. That was a quick cut without showing the passage of time. Then Ragatha was the next to appear. Somewhere between there and Pomni arriving Jax, Gangle, Kaufmo, and Ribbit appeared. Then Zooble was the last before Pomni. Those were all non-employees. It's hinted at that they all put on the VR helmet and got sucked in, Ragatha was a real estate agent, likely looking at the abandoned C&A building with colleagues. Jax and Gangle were gamers, so no idea if they investigated the building or just found the Circus in VR online, but Zooble and Pomni both were urban explorers, checking out abandoned buildings. Both stumbled into C&A and poof. I might suggest rewatching these a time or two on your own before the finale, there are a LOT of little details that you might have an easier time catching while not reacting, and Goose put a lot of effort into dropping subtle hints. Even the hacking with Kinger in this episode, I freeze framed it and stepped through to read what was there. The level of detail is unreal.

This is my favorite episode of the series! I love Caine's moments in the episode such as his crashout in his office, his song, and him losing it in the end. I am going to miss Caine. At the beginning of the episode, the red dot was Caine and the blue dot is another unknown AI. When Bubble told Caine, "You really were the lesser of the two", he was referring to Caine and the other unknown AI.

I think when Caine is talking about how humans are getting everything they want and still wanting more, even though like you said it is true that AI can never really know what a human perceives to be real, there is also a truth about humans never being content with anything, never anything being enough, always complaining about whatever is that they are at. Also, I feel it is such a shame that we lost a show that could have continued way more because of the fans, I don't blame the bubble guy at all, I blame the fans, the fans always ruin everything good, it happened a lot with K-pop groups as well, with other series, their obsession make people not want to be involved with anything related to them, and sometimes, I feel like things like this need to happen to teach them a lesson. Like they say, don't bite the hand that feeds you, if you love something and you put down their makers in a way that affects them greatly, well then don't be so surprised you lose what you love. Anyways enough of a rant, beautiful reaction, loved the episode!

Since there’s a few weeks or so before the final Circus episode comes to YouTube, I suggest watching some glitch pilots like Gameoverse and then doing the final Circus episode. After that, I’m down for a HB rewatch or shorts.

The opening of this episode is really unnerving for how simple it is visually. If you're looking to check out more animation after tadc, there's a pilot for Lackadaisy on YouTube. It's supposed to be in production for more episodes though that may not release any for long time yet.

I don’t know why, but the silent intro with all the eerie pictures popping up always gives me chills. Also, was super excited to see your reaction to Caine’s song 😭