Paloma

I wouldn't be surprised if they survived, because I'm assuming that St. Louis would not be a nuke target and would not have severe effects from the climate disaster because of its location (correct me if wrong). I doubt that their plane carried enough supplies to set up a community, but if St. Louis and the surrounding area did not have too much damage, the generals could work with the locals for long-term survival. And Google tells me that the distance between St. Louis and Denver is about half the distance between DC and Denver, so if there was a survivors group in St. Louis that included generals who knew about the Colorado bunker, they might have sent an expedition to Colorado (though they might be better off staying in St. Louis if is not in bad shape).

Now I need to know what it was called, and what the equivalent of "breastaurant" is! (although I would not go to either one)

Not just him - EVERYONE. And this isn't the real world. She is controlling literally everyone. I find it strange that nobody questions her at all. Maybe everyone goes along with it out of fear, just like in the real world--only in Paradise it may be fear of getting kicked out into the ruined world rather than fear of being fired or primaried.

Growing up, I had "better than perfect" vision. 15/20 in one eye, 20/20 in the other. I remember being at an eye exam when I was in high school, and the doctor noted this created a "horizontal imbalance", causing me to see things on a slight slant. I just tilted my head to compensate. (Going back and looking at old pictures I see it.) Anyways, the Dr. quipped "well, there goes your career as a pilot". I really don't know if he was 100% serious or not, but yeah, I can see how that just would not work for piloting a plane. So, you can have "perfect" vision and still have an issue that would prevent you from being a pilot. If the problem preventing him from being a pilot is some deficiency in color vision (red/green), as I suggested in an earlier post, then he would not need corrective lenses or surgery. As far as I know that deficiency would not affect distance vision, so he could still have 20/20 vision.

Yet he could become a secret service agent? The vision requirements for pilots might be somewhat stricter than for SS agents. My husband was accepted to the Air Force Academy but told he could not be a pilot because he has a slight color deficiency (he can see red, but he doesn't see green clearly). Obviously perfect color vision is important for pilots, but I don't know if it's essential for SS agents. I don't see color vision mentioned in the SS qualifications, and they don't even require 20/20 vision uncorrected (though it does have to be 20/20 corrected): https://www.secretservice.gov/careers/special-agent/qualifications

Yes, I think Trent said to Xavier that he got comfortable with living in Paradise but was reminded of why he came there when Cal came to the library. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't just the fact of Cal showing up, but of Cal showing up in a bathrobe and acting light-hearted that triggered Trent's rage.

Did anyone else notice that when Jane was holding Presley in the apartment, Jane was wearing a sweatsuit with the number 45 on the top? And the sweatsuit was orange, or sort of orange? I know we aren't supposed to have political commentary here, but I'm hoping it wasn't just a coincidence that Sinatra's insane assassin was wearing that.

One thing that confused me about Cal making the mixtape for Jeremy: Was the mixtape just music, or did it also contain the secrets in a verbal message from Cal? In the beginning of the tape Cal said something about burying the secrets and urged Jeremy to change the things he didn't like, but we didn't hear Cal actually reveal any secrets in the mixtape (though we didn't hear anything except the beginning of the tape, so he might have). Maybe the titles of the songs were meant to be clues to the truth of Paradise? In a previous episode Jeremy and Presley learned the secrets from the tablet and were already sharing them before Jeremy received the mixtape (which he did not know about until Xavier found it in this episode). So the mixtape may have just been a sentimental message for Jeremy, not including the actual secrets. Because Cal wrote the number on the cigarette and marked an X on the cigarette pack that led to Xavier finding the transcription from the tablet in the book about Peter Lawford ("The Man Who Kept the Secrets"), I assumed that Cal intended/hoped that Xavier (not Jeremy) would find the secrets in the book.

And most cars only last a couple of decades, and then only with regular maintenance and some repair. Did they stockpile auto maintenance and repair parts, and what will they do when the cars eventually wear out? I know these questions are not relevant to the current plot, but world building in sci-fi and dystopian stories is very interesting to me. I'd also be interested in having the story go forward a few decades to see the inevitable changes and problems as the current adults age and need younger people to take over important functions, and as the infrastructure, homes, and supplies deteriorate and diminish. But I guess that would need to be a different show.

I didn't see the artist's name when they were showing the titles on the mixtape, but given Cal's love for music of that era as well as the likelihood of the library keeping classics, I'm sure that Collins' version is what he would have picked. Although I read one recap that said they were lovers, I don't agree. It was clear that they became friends after they shared Adam's lunch and then Trent brought Adam spices for cooking that Adam hadn't been able to find. After Trent reported that his crew was getting sick and then was kicked out, with a warning from the architect about something catastrophic coming, he became obsessed with finding out what the project really was and what was coming. I think the reason he kept trying to contact Adam was because he was the crew member he knew best and trusted, not because Trent was in love with him. But I had to suspend disbelief that those in charge of the project would have even allowed Trent to make contact with Adam or any other crew member after Trent was expelled. Maybe they actually didn't allow this--it seems none of Trent's calls or letters were answered until the one call from prison when Adam told him to stop calling. I can imagine someone standing over Adam threatening him if he revealed anything. Although the workers probably all eventually died from the substance they were inhaling (and that the architect knew about), I wonder if Sinatra and Cal's father planned to have them killed anyway when their part of the project was finished. Even though the workers were apparently told that this was a recycling project, it would have been harder to keep the secret if they were allowed to go back to their homes and talk to outsiders. This also makes me wonder if these workers were the ones who built the city or if they brought in a different crew for that. I think building the city (the infrastructure, the homes, etc.) would have needed workers with different skills than Trent's crew had. In any case it's likely that the Trent's crew would have been too sick to also build the city over the next few years. But anyone who literally built the city certainly couldn't be allowed to leave since they knew too much about the real project, so were those builders given homes in the city or were they murdered after the work was done?

I really wish they had used the original Phil Collins version of "Another Day in Paradise"--that version is so much more haunting than what they used. They also showed Trent with his wall of clippings that included stories and photos of Cal and his dad, which made me think that Trent's rage should have been directed at Cal's dad (since the crew worked for him) at least as much as at Cal. But I can't remember if the wall had any stories or photos of Sinatra with Cal and/or his dad.

I'm assuming that the Washington Monument (and the rest of DC) was underwater because of the tsunami caused by the climate catastrophe (I think it was a volcano in the Antarctic or Arctic that set it off). I didn't notice a submarine in that scene, but it may have been there because the tsunami would have pulled in all kinds of vessels from the ocean. I don't know anything about US military defenses, but there may have been a US sub patrolling the ocean before the tsunami.

I agree that it's a good read, but one thing left me confused (putting the key part in spoiler tags just in case): the author of the article (not Dan Fogelman) describes the premise by saying that But all this time (and I'm up to episode 7) I've thought that it's been 3 years since the event. Did I mishear or misunderstand what was said in the show? Or did the author of the article get it wrong?

I think the background people seem too relaxed and "normal" to us because we are aware of the disaster that brought them there. But the scenes showing "normal" life take place 3 years after the disaster, when presumably most people have adjusted to the new normal. Not that they've forgotten it, but it's hard to live in a constant state of emotional trauma for 3 years, so most people would probably let themselves accept the new normal since they know what the alternative is. But that acceptance may not go very deep, and they may express their anxiety and fear in the privacy of their homes with people they trust. A real-life comparison (though not as disastrous or dystopian as this show) might be Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. (My daughter and her family live there, as well as other relatives and friends.) Initially there was shock and intense grief that affected most Israelis on a daily basis. After some time there was still trauma and grief about the victims of the attacks and the hostages, but people had to resume normal life--going to work and school, shopping, even leisure activities. During the war there have been frequent missile attacks causing people to go to bomb shelters (bomb shelters are all over the place in Israel), but it became sort of part of the routine--go to the bomb shelter and stay there until the all-clear, then resume your normal activities. (Of course, the situation for Gazans was and is much worse, but that is not comparable to the Paradise story.) In Paradise after 3 years there is not even an ongoing threat of attacks from outside (that the residents know of), so I can see how they would be able to relax and adjust to the new normal.

The problem with a person sneaking in either before or after the fact is that everyone was issued wristbands for identification when they got on the planes, or possibly before that when they thought they would have 10 days warning. The wristbands served as both ID for everyday stuff like getting food and for surveilling people in the bunker, as we saw during the rebellion when Xavier and his people cut off their wristbands to avoid detection. Maybe someone could have snuck on a plane without detection during the chaos of "The Day," but once they reached the bunker I think they had to show wristbands to enter. I guess someone could have taken another person's wristband during the chaos leading up to getting on the plane, but that would be difficult because (as we saw with Xavier) it had to be cut off with a sharp knife, unless they stole it before the person who was supposed to wear it put it on. But even if an unauthorized person managed to find a wristband and get in, it's hard to believe they wouldn't be discovered at some point since their identity would not match the wristband. And if they got in without a wristband, how would they have survived for 3 years ("present day" in the show period, when the murder of the President takes place) in the bunker without a wristband to get food etc.? I find it even harder to believe that a survivor from outside could breach security and the President's quarters without detection. I hope the writers can resolve either scenario with some credibility.