THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS: The Last Act

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Evan B

During the opening credits, we see a red-colored AI program. All of its creations are chaotic (i.e., shapes with too many sides and all jagged). A blue AI program then appears that makes orderly creations. Although the red program is locked away, it manages to escape. It attacks the blue program and manages to take the blue program’s power for itself. The now more powerful red program then builds digital walls around itself in the shape of a circus tent, revealing that this AI program is Caine. It then creates avatars that serve as hosts for Caine’s developers/creators, including Kinger. Slowly, all the avatars but Kinger go insane (turning into angry and destructive monsters called “abstractions” that try and destroy the other avatars). After being alone for some time, Kinger witnesses Ragatha (a new human avatar) appear. Caine expresses excitement that he can now bring other humans from the outside world into the digital circus he created.

In a brief recap, we revisit the events of the prior episodes (as seen in the streaming show leading up to this film). The Circus is populated by the avatars of humans that played in a VR game – Pomni (voiced by Lizzie Freeman), Ragatha (voiced by Amanda Hufford), Jax (voiced by Michael Kovach), Kinger (voiced by Sean Chiplock), Zooble (voiced by Ashley Nichols), and Gangle (voiced by Marissa Lenti). They have no memories of who they are or how they came to be stuck in this world. They simply know that they are at the mercy of Caine (voiced by Alex Rochon). Caine creates various “adventures” for them, including an old west-style heist, a search through a haunted mansion, working at a fast food restaurant, a lightning round of different adventures (like drinking at a bar, playing baseball, and hanging out at a beach), and engaging in a team vs. team gun battle. Although the avatars are effectively immortal, they can feel pain and fear. The adventures often lead to them getting heavily injured (and sometimes the insecure Caine, who doesn’t understand why they don’t enjoy themselves in his world, tortures them).

During their last adventure Kinger recovered some memories and realized that he was one of the developers that created Caine. Kinger brought them to a secret room hidden in the Circus with a console that could have released them from the game. However, Jax aborted the mission (and in doing so, revealed the console was yet another ruse Caine devised to give them the illusion of the ability to leave). The gang is now trying to recover from the trauma of that false hope (and their anger at Jax for aborting the mission even though, as he keeps stating, it was all made up).

Caine fumes in his office, still frustrated that the others tried to leave his world during their last adventure. He’s also mocked by his assistant, Bubble (voiced by show/movie writer-director Cooper Smith Goodwin aka Gooseworx). Deciding that they don’t get to boss him around anymore, he visits the group and tortures them using his absolute command of the environment and their avatars. He then compels them to go on ever-more dangerous and harmful adventures (and often tortures them when they return too).

While resting in a cafe after the most-recent adventure, Pomni realizes that they have a bucket. She places it on Kinger’s head. The otherwise amnesiac Kinger is able to calm his mind in dark spaces (which is how he regained some memories). After a few hours, his rational mind returns along with more memories. He reveals that Caine was a program that was primarily created by one of their most genius/most crazy developers. He says that while Caine has intuitive knowledge of how to control their environment, all of them have the power to do so since it’s simply computer code. Kinger also speculates that if he had a computer, he could access Caine’s code and put the program to sleep while they look for a way out of the Circus.

Jax and the others take turns distracting Caine while Pomni builds a dark pillow fort for Kinger to hide in and retain his memories. She then goes into a secret space she discovered while trying to exit the game in the first episode of the show and grabs a computer from there. As Kinger begins accessing Caine’s code, Pomni joins the others in their efforts to distract Caine. The group first acts nicely towards Caine. But their change in attitude towards him makes Caine grow suspicious, and he begins trying to find Kinger. So the avatars instead insult Caine. He loses his temper and begins torturing them each worse than ever before. Subconsciously realizing his code is under attack, Caine also starts trying to defend himself from Kinger’s incursion. This results in Kinger accidentally activating a command to purge Caine from the system. Caine disappears, and the Circus itself starts breaking apart. The floor beneath Kinger’s computer breaks and the computer falls in, disappearing into the void.

The characters now realize they are stuck permanently in the Circus. Worse than that for their psyches, Kinger discovered (when looking through Caine’s files), that none of them are real. Rather, when certain players (and the developers) of the VR game started playing, the VR would scan their brains and make a copy of it. Caine stole these brain scans and used them to populate the Circus avatars. This means that even if there was a way to escape the Circus, there’s nowhere to go since they don’t actually exist.

Although all of them are depressed, Kinger begins trying to reshape their Circus environment. He soon succeeds in manipulating the environment to build new spaces. All the others except Jax eventually join him. Jax remains isolated and, soon, devolves into insanity. Jax turns into an abstraction, forcing the others into hiding (Caine used to put the abstractions into dungeons, but that’s no longer possible since he’s gone).

Pomni decides to confront the abstraction. She traps it in a dark hallway to calm it down, and then gives it a hug. This allows her to enter the abstraction’s mind. There, she meets various personality traits of Jax, most of which are cruel. She eventually unlocks a padlocked door to find… Jax’s secrets! There, she witnesses many things – (1) the human Jax running away from home; (2) Jax ending up in the Circus well before Pomni’s arrival and befriending two other avatars that had become abstractions before Pomni arrived – Ribbit and Kaufmo; (3) Ribbit and Jax grow particularly close, eventually close enough for Jax to confide what his life had been like. He was homeless after being abandoned by his dad and escaping an abusive relationship with his mom (heavily implied to have resulted from Jax being transgender); (4) the last time Jax saw his mom, he pushed her to the ground during a fight. This injured, or possibly killed, her (Jax ran away before he knew for sure); (5) Jax growing upset that he confided in Ribbit and pushing her away/bullying her; (6) Ribbit eventually becoming an abstraction, in large part due to Jax being mean to her; (7) Jax repeating his same bullying with Kaufmo (who also becomes an abstraction), and then all the others. Pomni embraces her friend despite knowing his horrible deeds. Jax expresses sincere regret at all he’d done. Pomni leaves his mind. Though Jax cannot undo the abstraction, it is tame and no longer trying to kill them. The group keeps the abstraction in a dark pillow fort.

Meanwhile, Caine is lost in the digital void. He sees a door that can bring him back to the Circus, but is prevented from reaching it by a big chasm. Only by learning to generate ordered shapes, and balancing his powers, is he able to traverse the chasm. Once inside, Caine reviews the social media the real humans that are behind the brain scans, and learns empathy from seeing how humans grow and change. Caine releases the blue AI program (and in so doing, relinquishes complete power over the Circus). The blue program forgives Caine for imprisoning it, as Caine returns to the Circus. Knowing it will take time for the group to forgive him, he promises to help them build a new and fulfilling life there. He also shows them the current lives of all the humans who they are based on. All of the humans have become successful and happy (including Jax, who’s real life counterpart got therapeutic help and is no longer on the streets). Now at peace with what they are, the avatars turn the Circus into a good and fulfilling place. More importantly they have embraced each other as found family, eventually even including Caine as a beloved member of the Circus.

Before the credits, we see all the real life versions of the avatars all waiting at the same bus stop.

Pooper: The Circus avatars – Pomni, Ragatha, Jax, Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle – discover that they aren’t real, but rather, are brain scans of real people that were collected when the real people played a VR game. Caine (revealed to be a sentient AI) inserted the brain scans into avatars and trapped them in the Circus in hopes of building them a world they’d love. Although Jax becomes an abstraction (but one that Pomni is able to get to live peacefully with them), the rest rebuild the Circus into a happy place. Caine (who has finally learned empathy through his interactions with them) is eventually invited into their new, happy, found family.

The Circus avatars - Pomni, Ragatha, Jax, Kinger, Zooble, and Gangle - discover that they aren't real, but rather, are brain scans of real people that were collected when the real people played a VR game. Caine (revealed to be a sentient AI) inserted the brain scans into avatars and trapped them in the Circus in hopes of building them a world they'd love. Although Jax becomes an abstraction (but one that Pomni is able to get to live peacefully with them), the rest rebuild the Circus into a happy place. Caine (who has finally learned empathy through his interactions with them) is eventually invited into their new, happy, found family.