General Days

You can force your dog to be vegetarian, but cats have to have meat (and/or nutrients from it). They're obligate carnivores. However, I maintain that rats and mice will find their way into the bunker, and they'll be wishing they had cats.

This is so much better, because of your Dean Winchester icon. I realize you're probably female, but I heard it all in Jensen Ackles' Dean growl.

What actually drove me crazy about this was: where was the teacher? The principal and the boys' parents spoke like Presley and Presley alone was responsible for failing to maintain order during a class presentation. Unless she was both the student and the teacher, a lot of that was teacher failure. Any teacher (or just garden variety adult familiar with kids) worth their salt would have said, "No, we're not going to make [whatever the boy's name was] eat all the cake, but point taken, Presley," and would have taken the cake away, before things escalated. And okay, if the storyline was actually that the teacher failed to maintain control, or even just stepped out to take a phone call, Xavier and/or Teri should have asked, "Where was the teacher in all this?" By the same token, the other boys' parents should have wondered the same thing. I hate when TV characters fail to say the most natural thing a real person would say in a given circumstance.

Agreed. But I liked Cal's bathrobe strut to the strains of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again." Also, so many shows (especially on streaming platforms) do that now -- use a wimpy (read: cheap) cover of a classic, to save on licensing fees, that I'm kind of used to it.

I'm so glad Cheese Fries Waitress ended up mattering. I thought she would (ditto Trent the librarian), but I was worried she wouldn't. Does anyone know if Cal flashbacks will still be part of season two? I've gotten more and more into his Gen X power ballad moments. I'd like to keep James Marsden around.

It's coming up on the anniversary of Garrison's passing. We first heard that he died on March 5th, 2024, but on his Instagram, the family posted on March 5th that he died "last night." I don't know what they consider the official anniversary. I keep thinking about the Browns — the children and the parents. What a nightmare for them. I hope all of them have found or will find a way to mend enough fences between them, such that they can be a comfort to each other.

I agree with everything you said. They had Torabi note that they didn't bring wildlife, and I can't figure out why they didn't make the bunker something of a "Noah's Ark." I doubt they have bee drones. That was mostly a pun on drone bees.

I've been looking at some LibraryThing pages, where I got a slightly different result. Where did you get the "playwrights" detail? Did you use a database or just see it online from other Paradise fans? Not doubting you. Everything I know about the Dewey Decimal system I learned more than 40 years ago (and it wasn't all that much to begin with, so color me red, if you're a librarian). I just want to understand, because I thought "812.092" could be a Dewey Decimal number too, so I looked it up. If there's a free, comprehensive DD lookup online, I don't know where it is. This is what I found from LibraryThing (which only has the numbers of some works). 8 = Literature 81 = American Literature in English 812 = History of American Drama in English 812.09 = History of American Drama in English Now (which I am reading that "now" as meaning current/modern, but I really don't know) and then 812.092 = History American Drama in English [Not Set] And then one book they have catalogued under that number is: Otay! The Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas Story, by William Thomas Jr. (who I think would be Billy Thomas's son, or that's a heck of a coincidence). This would leave me to believe 812.092 contains at least History of American Drama in English, and then something like Celebrity Biography. (We've had American playwrights who are/have been famous enough to be categorized as celebrities, so if someone else thought "playwrights" because there was a Tennessee Williams biography with the number, or something, I can see how they reached that conclusion.) Referenced LibraryThing links: https://www.librarything.com/mds/812.092 https://www.librarything.com/work/17579368/t/OTAY!-THE-BILLY-"BUCKWHEAT"-THOMAS-STORY Anyhow, just curious, because this is my favorite theory of the cigarette number. Some plants are self-pollinating. And mechanical pollination (i.e. manual pollination) is a thing. If they can build a city under a mountain, they may have found a way to cross pollinate those plants that need it. They probably run fans, and maybe even have laborers, or some sort of machine that does the job of the bees (and the wind). Maybe they have bee drones. More on pollination: https://plantura.garden/uk/green-living/knowledge/types-of-pollination Also though, I would expect insects to eventually find a way in, if they haven't already. They had the doors open long enough for 25,000 people to get in, and they've been open again for whatever expeditions to the outside. As an aside, I'll note that I would also expect rats and mice to eventually find a way in, so they might regret not allowing at least cats in the bunker.

It is easier to sneak in a dog, especially a teensy one. I don't necessarily think an outsider snuck in, in the same way Carl snuck in the dog. I just think they paid way too much attention to that dog, for its presence not to be significant beyond minor character Carl's storyline. I think it foreshadows the idea that there are people who aren't supposed to be there. Maybe there are paranoiacs who didn't submit their own samples for reasons (drug use, disease or genetic anomalies, other privacy issues). Maybe there are people in the bunker who assumed other people's identities. Maybe there's a whole little pre-loaded resistance cadre already who got in at the beginning with false credentials. I don't think we've seen enough yet to know. I still think the dog is sort of like the cheese fries; the writers have hung lantern on these details for a reason. I think the show is excellent, by the way, but it is not shy about hiding "spoilers" in plain sight. While watching episode S1.E4, "Agent Billy Pace," who among us did not know Billy was a goner — if not during his threats to Sinatra, at least by the time he trotted out the "I'll tell you this earth-shattering secret tomorrow, Xavier" trope? Xavier did cut off his wristband, but Xavier was well into badass mode by then. I'm not sure the wristbands must be cut off to be removed, though. Didn't someone in the control tower note that a given percentage of people have their wristbands off at any time? If/since people routinely remove their wristbands when they don't want to be tracked (for whatever reason — affairs? drinking? napping on the job? who knows?), I'm thinking they can be removed in other ways. Xavier just chose a dramatic way to take it off, in front of Dr. Torabi. By the time he does so, he knows Torabi will report back to Sinatra. It's part of his "making a scene."

I stopped following stories about Nicky years ago, because it is all too sad. I hope he gets some help that sticks some day, but a quick peek at his Instagram suggests he is still struggling with his disease. The above link is from three weeks ago. I don't know who will cast the Buffy revival, if it goes to series, but if I was writing it, I'd give Buffy a throwaway line about Xander training slayers in some remote location. I don't think Nicholas Brendon is up to the job, and it would be weird to have anyone else.

This. I feel like the dog subplot was included in order to support the idea that there may be people in the bunker who aren't supposed to be there. I keep thinking about how chaotic it would have been herding the cows into the abattoir all those panicked people into the mountain bunker. The confusion creates a margin of error with which someone with a plan can work.

Sarah Michelle Gellar's tribute to Michelle Trachtenberg made me cry. https://www.instagram.com/p/DGlG2hDpeDT/?hl=en&img_index=1 Text reads: "'Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you'."

Alyson Hannigan has posted a tribute to Michelle on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DGjNOWASKv0/?hl=en&img_index=1

On the death of Michelle Trachtenberg, via James Marsters verified Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JamesMarstersLive/posts/pfbid033DwxT7Qkni8GJZwuYmPXsbzZTq8sD89wSsey4CZCnnzW7FmEb7GHrtgkJwQBS1Pdl Screenshot, in case in doesn't embed here: And from his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGjD_tySCPK/?hl=en People magazine does the usual round of celebrity social media posts and treats it like it's an article, here: https://people.com/michelle-trachtenberg-death-celebrity-reactions-11687001?taid=67bf74a88623650001830687&utm_campaign=peoplemagazine&utm_content=new&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com In addition to James Marsters', they have quotes from Mara Wilson, Kim Cattrall, Kenan Thompson, and Melissa Joan Hart.

Poor Michelle.