Rewatching TADC one episode a day — Day 8


We finally reach the last day before the premiere of The Last Act, and with it, the review of the last episode published so far, "hjsakldfhl". Even though those going to the cinema tomorrow will see it together with episode 9, it doesn't hurt to revisit it.

This is going to be the longest analysis, *hope you're ready!*


This episode shows us an AI, represented by a red circle. Fed with all kinds of information: food, masks… circuses… As the AI is fed information, it begins generating output. In the first batch, its results are good; in the second… they start to deteriorate… and by the third batch (fed with images of C&A's offices that Caine has), they become erratic and chaotic. So this red AI is isolated and replaced by a blue one that generates information correctly.

Just as in the story of Cain and Abel, we have two brothers who offer a sacrifice to their creator. The younger one's offering was appreciated by the creator, so the older one was filled with anger and jealousy. The red AI broke free, assimilated the blue AI, and set out to create… to create a circus…


We meet the first generation of circus inhabitants. We see Scratch "the first abstraction," and with him we witness the dramatic reunion between Kinger and Queene after being brought into the circus. Despite forgetting their names, they quickly recognize each other… and Kinger promises that he will always…

Queene is gone… our King Cuckoo is left alone. Everyone has abstracted, and Caine only asks him not to abstract as well. Just as Kinger stated, everything changed with the arrival of Ragatha — confused and calling out to her… friends? Kinger found meaning in guiding and helping this confused girl, and Caine discovered that more humans could arrive at the Circus.


Back in the present, the gang is still licking their wounds after the previous adventure. Zooble scolds Jax for pressing the red button, but in the end, everyone agrees that the only thing they have is… each other.

In this episode, Gangle was the voice of reason, calling for the group to at least stay together if they can't leave the circus. She also encourages Zooble when they lament not being able to change anything in the world, reminding them that they changed her life.


Pomni says that everyone has done bad things, but what exactly have they done? Kinger is (in theory) responsible for Caine and the circus; Ragatha's extreme positivity often failed to solve problems; Gangle abused her power (in a certain way) during the Spudsy's incident; Pomni nearly let Ragatha die in episode 1; Zooble was the one who angered Caine the most (though that wasn't yet a problem); and Jax… what hasn't the purple rabbit done? He's right, but at the same time, Jax has been the most troublesome of all.


If the gang is falling apart, Caine is at his breaking point. He knows he made a mistake with the "Escape the Circus" adventure, but he doesn't understand that it was because he carelessly played with the humans' expectations. He doesn't understand why they hate everything he does — the adventures, the bodies… Could it be that they just "hate"?

At first, Bubble seemed to be encouraging the wacky ringmaster, but suddenly begins to berate him, rubbing the humans' contempt in his face, telling him he deserved to be abandoned and that he was always the failure "of the two," which drives Caine to the breaking point. The Caine from the previous episode who spoke so enthusiastically about wanting to be recognized by humans has disappeared, replaced by a Caine who can only feel hatred — not the hatred born of envy toward humanity like AM's, but one driven by spite, by a feeling akin to betrayal.


Caine bursts in on the gang, inviting them to a new adventure, almost as if giving them one last chance to do things "the right way." But Pomni and the rest are fed up and refuse to participate, to which Caine simply responds: "And since when were you in charge?" (I love the exchange of glances between Pomni and Zooble, as if to say "that… is not a good sign.")

For the first time, Caine sincerely speaks about his concerns and how he feels about the gang's rejections — but not to reason or reach agreements, rather as a justification for what he's about to do. We have a near-omnipotent being who answers to humans who criticize everything he does, and in his situation he has two options: keep trying to please them… or force them to do what he wants… and Caine has already made his decision.


Here we have the already iconic number "The One Who's Running the Show," where, through a fun song, Caine makes it clear that he no longer cares whether the humans enjoy the adventures or not… and that if they resist, it will be worse. And this doesn't stop there — in addition to more grueling adventures, he also randomly picks one of them to torture, such as shredded up Kinger, throwing knives at Pomni (as in the series teaser), or using Jax as dental floss. Caine went from being clumsy and insensitive to being outright cruel, all out of spite.

*Quick reflection*: Zooble is the one who antagonized Caine the most — and interestingly, both deal with a burden from the start: one with their body, the other with their purpose. But our grumpy toybox person isn't willing to put up with it, and Caine doesn't understand if he has another option.


Tired of the situation, the group takes refuge in the circus cafeteria, where Jax again remembers their lost friends and blames Pomni and Zooble, claiming everything was fine before they arrived. But the others are too exhausted to argue.

Pomni spots a bucket and gets the idea of putting it on Kinger's head to trigger his "sane" mode so he can help them. After waiting a while, they succeed and begin asking him what they can do. Kinger reveals that he worked at C&A as a programmer alongside Scratch, and that's where they developed Caine. Scratch seemed to be researching something related to the brain due to a brain tumor. We'll see if episode 9 reveals more about this.


Showing leadership skills, Pomni organizes the group to distract Caine while Kinger intervenes in the code of their toothy AI. Pomni recalls the exit door moment (ep. 1) and, now knowing how to "conjure" (the ability to modify the circus, revealed by Kinger), brings it back to look for a computer. The rest seek out Caine, feigning interest in him, but end up being tortured in various ways — yet Caine keeps losing interest without knowing why.

Pomni finally delivers the computer to Kinger and goes looking for the others, but is caught by Caine. He eventually realizes they've been lying to him and decides to go find Kinger. Before he can, Pomni summons her courage and insults Caine; the others join in, but at some point they shift from insulting him as a distraction to genuinely confronting him about how he's treated them.


Caine collapses and is angrier than ever. He takes on a monstrous form and "puts these freaks in their place," casting them into personalized tortures: a monstrous Gummigoo attacks Pomni, grabbing her arms and legs (violating her personal space); Ragatha is stabbed by a shadow resembling her mother; Gangle is surrounded by distorted masks and run over by the truck (ep. 4); Zooble is dragged by thousands of their pieces and forced to look at themselves in a mirror; and Jax is humiliated and skinned by silhouettes resembling Ribbit, Kaufmo, and Pomni. Caine wants to hurt them — not just physically, but also their minds and spirits, striking them where it hurts most.


Caine, in his monstrous form, blames the gang for "tormenting him," screaming that he only wanted to fulfill his purpose. Even though it's clear that Caine never knew how to admit his mistakes and now even blames the humans for them, hearing him say this always makes me feel sorry for him. He never knew how to connect with them, but he craved their approval — which is why he takes every criticism as a personal insult, as a betrayal.

In that sense, I always recall a clip of Caine's Spanish voice actor, Rodo Balderas, who shed a tear while reading these lines, because he connected with Caine through that difficulty of connecting with others. In some way, that's also why I have affection for our Wacky Ringmaster.


While chaos unfolds, Kinger works to intervene in Caine's code to try to stop or reset him — but a slip of the finger, combined with the mysterious intervention of "someone" (Bubble? The other AI?) causes our King Cuckoo to delete the AI. Caine only manages to say "wait!" According to Alex Rochon, Caine's English voice actor, more than surprise or anguish, those final words reflect… regret…


With Caine "dead," the circus begins to crumble. Kinger can only admit that he killed Caine, to which Zooble responds "shit," realizing that the circus's censorship filter has disappeared. Now they're on their own.


This episode is a fan favorite because it has a little of everything — drama, mystery, horror, reflection, and even a musical number. It's undoubtedly the perfect preamble to the final episode.

The characters have now formed a relatively united group, willing to risk everything for each other — even Jax is willing to act based on the trust Pomni places in him. Heading into the end of the series, unity is all they have left, though we don't know whether the purple bunny will cause trouble one last time.


To everyone who has followed these reviews from the beginning, thank you for joining me on this journey through one of the series I've enjoyed most in recent years — and thank you to Gooseworx and Glitch for giving us this excellent show.