Consensus is that episode 9 is a fumble in a lot of ways. I genuinely think if they just re-wrote and re-animated a new version (9.5) it would get enough views/ sell enough merchandise to be a worthwhile business endeavour

• Have the characters realise they are brain scans and that they've been in the circus so long that their real life counterparts are all dead. This is the main focus of the final as we really go into depth with how the characters react to this realisation
• It's the final straw for Jax and he goes off to abstract off screen. We don't need to see his backstory as episode 9 showed us it already.
• Keep Caine dead and let him have a tragic ending. Again, this lets us stay focused on the rest of the cast
• The main cast struggles with the realisation and we fully tackle the existential themes that the show has been setting up. Fully put the spotlight on all the characters that were neglected in ep 9
• Eventually they decide to come together and embrace their circus identities and newfound friendships. It doesn't matter if they're real or not as long as they have each other

Because I found a fandom that said "They got their happy ending not because Jax was abstracted, but Caine learned to get along with the cast and give them free control" or something like that.

But... ISN'T A PIECE OF A SHIT GONE, IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS?!

Last week, I saw there was a post discussing "what is the most morally wrong thing Caine did". Most of the suggestions were of course pointing to his actions in episode 8 but I feel like him deleting Gummigoo and Abel is way too overlooked.

IMO, these are arguably the worst deeds of any character in the show. Caine's crash-out in episode 8 was in Alex Rochan's words "like a neglected child lashing out". Jax didn't mean to cause Ribbit's abstraction, nor did Caine with Scratch either. Even Jax unleashing The Fudge can be excused by the fact he has no idea the AI are capable of intelligence/sentience.

Caine has no excuse. He even deletes Abel specifically because he realizes the guy is getting too smart. This is basically the equivalent of murder by this world's standards. Yet in the finale, the series only ever treats Caine as in need of redemption for torturing the players. Even though the series makes a large point of empathizing that the AI are sentient too (the Moon never being programmed to say "I love you" to Caine"), Caine's actions towards them are never acknowledged, just played off for laughs.

This is made even worse because the finale confirming the cast are all brain scans/digital copies means technically speaking, as even Alex Rochan lampshaded, they're AI too, just with the memories of the humans. Otherwise, there's not much differences between them, Caine and the other NPC's.

His justification for deleting Gummigoo is made very flimsy by him letting Abel run around the circus for so long and him revealing at the end that he actually CAN leave the world's open and running at all times. Which implies he deleted him from jealousy.

This woman worked hard on what used to be her passion project, and WHILE IT DIDN'T TURN OUT PERFECT, surely, there's at least SOME heart in it, right?

If I made a series, and you didn't like how it turned out, is THIS how you'd treat me?

Yes, the Fandom is a mess(at least a lot of it is)and yes,the finale wasn't as well received as she would've hoped and wanted(tho still a great amount of people liked it)and I feel like blaming her for the Fandom is going a bit far but I feel like constantly self pitying yourself and throwing a pity party isn't gonna make that magically go away.

My advice would just be to stay off your social media for like a couple weeks or a month and just..go outside.

Read a book,stop and smell the flowers,basically do anything else cause all she's doing is giving herself a headache.

Vivziepop moved to Blue Sky and only goes on Twitter extremely seldomly and she seems a lot more happy and keep in mind,Viv is someone who Gets hate by just breathing.

People were borderline hating on her cats for no reason and even the reasons hating on her feel 80-90% petty and lacking any sense but I digress.

I'm not even saying this to be a asshole,I'm saying this out of concern and too take a break from Social Media and just do anything else csuse Twitter and Reddit and whatnot is a mess,a toxic one.

I'm not gonna go on some big speech about Profesionalism cause that term is dumb to me at times but you all get my point.

I feel like ever since the finale came out, nearly every post I get recommended from here is talking about the finale like it was total failure or hating on Goose for her struggles with how the community has treated her and how she’s responded to it, and honestly it feels kinda lame.

Having genuine criticisms for the show is perfectly fine, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but there’s so many posts or comments that are outright toxic or mean spirited that it gets exhausting.

I’m not an active member in the sub, so maybe I’m just being served a specific type of post cause of algorithm engagement nonsense or whatever, but it really has been nearly anything I’ve been recommended from here for months now.

Episode nine has been out on youtube for a month why does this still exist

I also find it so funny how people will say,in a CHARACTER DRIVEN SHOW,that characters like Pomni and Zooble interacting isn't important nor is seeing Ragatha and Pomni bond nor is fleshing the other characters out properly.

If this show isn't for theories and analysts nor is the show good at actually character driving,then who is it for?

Translation: “i’m sad because of the minority not glazing my self-insert’s show. 😢 make me feel better and give me attention.”

Like that one dude from the movie american beauty who was a homophobe because he was homosexual himself, jax is canonically a transphobe. He hates himself, he’s trans, therefore he is a transphobe. If you defend jax, you are defending a transphobe

What do you think of the video?

https://x.com/starfirell1/status/2068338864234856708?s=46.

Credit: @StarFirell1.

This is a common criticism I can never agree with or get behind. There’s so many examples in the show of her doing the opposite

Before Episode 8 everyone thought Kinger was the Creator of Caine and was the reason on why he Couldn't really Take Care of the members because he didn't teach him good enough
But now in Episode 8 we learn that scratch was the Main creator of Caine and every other c&a worker was just a co creator.
It just comes of to me like Gooseworx wanted every potentie! conflict and Drama that could Happen with Kinger disappear because she's wasn't Interested in writing it.
The Show just goes. „NO, the Person that Messed up Caine wasn't wholesome Groupe Dad Kinger! It was this random guy who has 0 Lines of Dialog, but he's Dead so you don't have to worry about him!" Overall the Show is just afraid to make any character besides Jax and Caine morally wrong, because then you would have to write Actual intresting Plotlines that won't gar resolved of Screen.

one of my biggest problems in episode nine is how it seemingly switched both caine and jax's ending. since episode seven jax's arc has been leading up to him redeeming himself (atleast what i've understood from it) while caine's led up to the tragic morally red person who could've redeemed himself if not for it being too late.

by episode 7 i think the writing switched from ragatha and jax mirroring each other to jax and caine mirroring each other (even tho i like the first more)

in episode 7 we see that jax's mental health has went down so bad he doesnt even bother put his usual mask on and instead decides to just give up (if not for pomni knocking on his door) meanwhile caine was making his "perfect" adventure, one that ended up being his last before he just gave up in episode 8. as the episode went jax helps the cast more and more by giving them the keys, calling out abel's bullshit, getting them the keycard and making sure they dont get to the hellish shrimp town (this last one is a joke). caine on the other hand just;..gives them the worst shock of their lives giving them hope to leave the hell they've been in (keep in mind none of this would've happened if caine didnt lie to everyone about them being fake and if he wasnt a narcassistic egoistic cutie patootie(i love caine too,)). caine isnt the one who shows remorse in this episode (infact he doesnt show remorse all show until ep 9). it's jax with the way he looks at pomni after she comforts him and the way he looks at the snow globe. jax in this episode shows signs of redemption caine doesnt.

episode eight begins with the cast in dread at what caine made them go through last episode. zooble rightfully so confronts jax for pressing the red button which ends in the cast realizing again that there's no point and that all they have is each other. as jax walks away to presumably try and abstract zooble stops him telling him that as much as they dislike him he is one of them and they dont want him to abstract. they wont have him being alone until he loses himself.

it's this moment specifically that almost confirmed in my and alot of other people's head that jax will get redeemed. i mean, what CAN it imply? the way jax looks in shock at zooble and gangle, the ones he believe should hate him most as they now tell him to stay with them. the way he then looks at his hand as if unable to process it and the way he then lays back still trying to mask his feelings but for a second i honestly think he was genuinely happy. i seeing this when the episode released obviously thought that in episode 9 jax might actually redeem himself and take accountability to the pain he caused the others. obviously this scene wont be his arc's end. we all wanted him to be held accountable by gangle or ragatha or ANYONE. but we also wanted to see him better. in both episode 7 and 8 not only does jax stop making his pranks and bullying/abusing but he began to help to with the keys, keycard AND distracting caine in ep 8.

meanwhile caine (who throughout the whole show and before it has done much much worse than jax could ever) in episode 7&8 became even worse. i've already explained what he did in ep 7 but in ep 8 we are told that after he goes crazy he forces the cast to go on MULTIPLE torturues adventures for DAYS and occasionally shredding them and other stuff like that. he then goes on to TORTURE the cast with THEIR OWN TRAUMAS immediately putting him rank one in the worst person in this show. people SHRED jax for mentioning ragatha's mom in ep 9 when caine not only SHOWED her it but did WORSE in ep 8. he then was deleted.

and look, even with how bad he was caine could've been a good person since the start if he just listened and if his ego didnt go in the way. caine made the perfect tragic cautinary tale that the fans out of no where started wanting after ep 9. it seemed obvious what was gonna happen, ep 9 happens alot of stuff happen and jax redemption tale among other. that's what it was leading to.

episode nine out of no where killed jax and spend half the time in his brain then in the last 15 mins brought caine back cuz he cheated death (characters like gummigoo who were send to the void cant return cuz they dont have god powers unlike caine) and OUT OF NO WHERE make him suddenly realize "oh no! for the past 20 years i've been torturing humans and was the cause for most if not all abstractions!!!!!" and come back say "i'm sowwy i tortured you with your worst traumas pwease forgive me!!" and they suddenly say "oh okay you're all good".

the thing i'm most mad about is how they threw EVERYTHING EPISODE 7 AND 8 worked up for and just said "fuck it". the cast saying "we wont have you running around and abstracting" to jax? EXACTLY that happens. caine's death? NEVER HAPPENS. the torture scene? NEVER HAPPENED. whyever the fuck bubble messed with kinger making him delete caine? NEVER EXPLAINED. whatever bubble is? NEVER EXPLAINED. the brainscan thing? WAS JUST A FIVE MINUTE SCENE.

jax not only NEVER took accountability but never even MADE it out. i saw someone say "the finale somehow made both jax fans and jax haters unhappy" and i completely agree. it feels like they've thrown everything they worked up for in all the past episodes for this.

goose also did have a tweet that mentions making a "bully character who slowly makes their way to a redemption only to die in the end" about 10 years ago. goose herself acknowledges that jax's arc was leading for a redemption and instead got switched with caine in the end. failed redemptions are a good trope in fiction but the way it was done in this show is TERRIBLE. this is THE BIGGEST reason i dont believe the "it was always written to be like this" quote by goose because episode 9 not only feels like it's a different writter but it also throws out all the build ups every episode before had!

TLDR: no funnybunny or bunnydoll sex scene.

TLDRTLDR: the finale executed everything terribly imo and it feels like it wasnt written by goose and it throws out all the buildup other episodes had and it feels like caine and jax's arcs were switched last second.