S01.E07: The Day

[SeanBug]

On 2/25/2025 at 11:02 PM, HerkyJerky said:

I know, right? Hard to believe that “Caroline in the City” was 30 years ago!

She was on a few episodes of The Office about 11-12 years ago. I wonder if it's the lighter hair that made her look older than I thought she was. 

[Haleth]

10 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Ryan might as well have been wearing a red star trek uniform. You knew from the start he wasn't making it. 

Unless he’s the one who somehow sneaked in. 🤔

[twoods]

This episode would extremely anxiety inducing, yet I couldn’t look away. It was so frantic and realistic what would actually happen if this happened in real life. I felt so helpless for all of those that were left behind, and could feel Cal’s helplessness as well. How awful. 

[General Days]

 

On 2/26/2025 at 12:42 AM, TiffanyNichelle said:

If that one guy was able to sneak his dog in and hide him for 3 years it's possible someone else got in during that time.

 

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.

 

[twoods]

It’s easier to sneak in a dog than a person, so am curious how that happened unless someone breached security and snuck into the dome after the fact.

Just realized this was only 8 episodes so at least we will have some answers next week. 

Edited February 28 by twoods

[Bobcatkitten]

I just think the quality of this show is amazing. Writing, directing, acting. Every episode surprises me just a little. 

I was looking forward to seeing how the day unfolded and this episode was even more than I could have imagined. It was incredibly tense and yet had these slower moments like the president talking to the janitor. 

Wow.

[cmfran]

I enjoy most anything set in a dystopian environment, and one of my favorite plot devices is when the writers eventually show us how we got there. This episode nailed that, even though we mainly only saw what was going on in the WH. 

[Paloma]

13 hours ago, twoods said:

It’s easier to sneak in a dog than a person, so am curious how that happened unless someone breached security and snuck into the dome after the fact.

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.

[DrSpaceman73]

3 hours ago, cmfran said:

I enjoy most anything set in a dystopian environment, and one of my favorite plot devices is when the writers eventually show us how we got there. This episode nailed that, even though we mainly only saw what was going on in the WH. 

It made me pretty depressed to learn, BTW, if a huge cataclysmic society ending event occurs, world leaders all plan to bomb each other on top of it all. 

 

WTF!!!  WHY!!! ???

It also makes me wonder if this is true. 

[chaifan]

@Paloma Great points mentioned above!  

I love the theory about Marsha being the killer.  But for that to happen, she would have had to be able to get out of DC really really fast.  Maybe there was another helicopter that landed, just to get people more inland.  Maybe she grabbed the ID/bracelet off of the dead guy who had the "football".  But that's a lot of good luck/coincidences.  But there was a lot of emphasis on her in this episode, a good old fashioned Chekov's Marsha. 😁 I'd bet we'll see her again.  But I think if she got her way into the bunker from the beginning she would have killed Cal (and X) way sooner.  (And I agree - it would be very hard to hide for 3 years.)  So maybe she found her way to the bunker and got in somehow.

When X went into the computer room to find out how to get Teri to the AFB, there was a screen that briefly showed a video of someone unpacking a wristband.  I'm guessing that comes back into play - it becomes known among survivors that the wristbands are important, people find them in the crash sites.  Or from people who were on plane #3, with the joint chiefs of staff, who were going to try to land in St. Louis.  Or other people that never made it to the bunker but survived.

Since we now know Colorado wasn't nuked, I think it's weird that the bunker hasn't already been breached by all the contractors who worked on it.  Some may have been given slots, but most likely not all.  They know where it is.  That's the first place I'd head for if I survived everything else.  

There is a good article with SKB in the Washington Post from this week, talking about the show in general and this episode.  Here's a snippet of something SKB said.  I'm going to spoiler tag this because it talks in general about something that will happen in Ep 8, but without giving specific details.

Spoiler

"I’ll give you something. We will find out in Episode 8 who killed the president."

 

Edited February 28 by chaifan

[BlackberryJam]

So my guess is:

Spoiler

Cal arranged for someone to kill him as a catalyst to get someone to investigate what is really going on. Either that, or Jeremy, his son did it.

 

[Anela]

I've suspected Jeremy, since I thought Cal revealed that he was named after the Pearl Jam song. I also know that these shows throw out a lot of red herrings, and some have ended up being a character you barely saw. 

Ugh, I accidentally deleted part of this. I also saw someone on another site, suspecting the bartender, because of his wife. 

Edited February 28 by Anela

[Hanahope]

I noted that Sinatra knew exactly where X was hiding his kids.  And when Presley shows up again and says she was with Jane, X still won’t realize that Jane is working for Sinatra.  He will just think Sinatra found out where she was.  
 

 

[General Days]

On 2/27/2025 at 7:13 PM, twoods said:

It’s easier to sneak in a dog than a person, so am curious how that happened unless someone breached security and snuck into the dome after the fact.

 

23 hours ago, Paloma said:

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. 

 

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?

 

23 hours ago, Paloma said:

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.?

 

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."

Edited March 1 by General Days
Typo

[astrohip]

On 2/28/2025 at 9:28 AM, chaifan said:

Since we now know Colorado wasn't nuked, I think it's weird that the bunker hasn't already been breached by all the contractors who worked on it.  Some may have been given slots, but most likely not all.  They know where it is.  That's the first place I'd head for if I survived everything else.  

I don't think we know how strong/secure the exterior security of the place is. We've seen people going into the hangar, but that's inside the perimeter. And we've seen people outside Paradise (like the scene where Pace shoots the scientists), but have we seen anyone actually going outside? There may be massive security between the hangar (or whatever is the outermost section of Paradise), and the outside itself.

You raise an interesting point. My curiosity makes me want to know.

[circumvent]

Do I remember correctly that the reason they are given for the need to be in the bunker was a thermonuclear war? 

I came across something that mentions that a thermonuclear catastrophe would end the lives of 4 to 5 billion people in short period, and make life in the planet impossible. 

Now, if the writers are going with real science or pure fiction remains to be seen. If it is the former, then it is possible that what happened wasn't the worst case scenario. But then I want to know why they showed in the middle of the season the tip of the Washington Monument in DC, surrounded by water and dirty. 

Edited March 2 by circumvent

[Paloma]

2 hours ago, circumvent said:

But then I want to know why they showed in the early episodes, maybe the first one, a scene of what looked like a submarine neat the top of something that looked like the tip of the Washington Monument in DC.

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.

[circumvent]

37 minutes ago, Paloma said:

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.

There was no submarine, that was my mistake. I thought I had edited the post but I guess I didn't. My question is, if there was not a worst case scenario catastrophe, and there are survivors in Atlanta, the thing does not make sense. If DC in underwater, so is Atlanta. 

[Broderbits]

3 hours ago, circumvent said:

Do I remember correctly that the reason they are given for the need to be in the bunker was a thermonuclear war? 

The first threat was the massive global tsunami caused by that Antarctic super-volcano, and its accompanying pressure shockwave. Then you have various governments going ape-shit and nuclear bombing willy-nilly. Insanity can be so contagious.

 

40 minutes ago, Paloma said:

I don't know anything about US military defenses, but there may have been a US sub patrolling the ocean before the tsunami.

Many countries have subs patrolling at any given time.

[chaifan]

3 hours ago, circumvent said:

Do I remember correctly that the reason they are given for the need to be in the bunker was a thermonuclear war? 

I think the original reason for the bunker was the "natural" impending disaster, which we now know was the underground/water volcano in Antartica, which the scientist predicted would lead to massive tsunamis.  And that the volcano would create so much ash that there would be a "nuclear winter" effect.  So areas outside of the tsunami range would still be uninhabitable.  Sinatra said that every scenario played out the same in the end - that countries would resort to nuclear weapons.  And that might be the reason they knew they'd have to stay underground for 100 years. 

But, now that I think about it, Cal knew he disabled (most) of the nukes with the EM blast.  So if it were only the nukes keeping them underground, it would no longer be necessary.  Did Cal tell others (other than Sinatra) that he stopped the nukes?  Does everyone else assume it's a nuclear wasteland up above?  Another lie to keep people from trying to leave the bunker?  Or, would the volcanic ash still make the rest of the US uninhabitable for the full 100 years?

And, now that I think about even more...  if the US has EM blast technology, wouldn't all the other world superpowers?  Wouldn't that be more of a deterrent to nuclear war than bombing back?  Hey, if you launch nukes, we'll set off our EM blasts to not only disable the nukes but leave your country in the dark?  (I have to assume that if these exist, you'd have the option to use one, some or all, not just an "all or nothing" situation.)  

 

13 minutes ago, circumvent said:

If DC in underwater, so is Atlanta. 

OK, so I'm a geek, and after this episode I looked at topographical maps.  The show said that anything under 300 feet above sea level would be covered.  Atlanta is closer to 1000 feet.  So it could have survived the flooding.  The Washington Monument is 550 feet (yep, looked that up, too), so showing the tip of it above water would be accurate within the show.  

[Broderbits]

12 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Hey, if you launch nukes, we'll set off our EM blasts to not only disable the nukes but leave your country in the dark?  (I have to assume that if these exist, you'd have the option to use one, some or all, not just an "all or nothing" situation.)  

That presupposes people in charge acting logically, and maybe with a little compassion towards their fellow humans. Personally, I wouldn't bet money on it. Cal has been shown as conflicted about the position his father pushed him into and the tough decisions he has to make; but even in a world-ending crisis he took time to reach out. On the plane, Sinatra showed the reaction most "people in charge" would have: she was horrified that Cal disabled the nukes.

[circumvent]

Another question related to the time they have been in the hole.

How long was Cal the president until they had to go under? I think I will have to just accept that they could have stocked up the bunker in a few years, this assuming that the place was already being built long before and was ready or almost ready. Too many logistics to happen in a short time. I wonder how the main bunker functions in the US. They have the technology, which could become useless, but how much food and how much preparation is actually happening?

If they are preparing for a hundred years, how will the leaders be chosen? I would prefer to see a rebellion*, it would be more realistic but if the show is going the peaceful, satisfied people, they should have a plan for succession. This should also have ben part of the information we get. Waiting until the middle of next season to reveal that, if they ever do, is too long and then more questions will pile up.

*there is a movie, I think it is also a TV show, that depicts what happens with people that are being controlled in a caste system - Snowpiercer. The movie is really good, don't know about the TV show.

[Paws]

Cal had just been re-elected when Xavier becomes his agent. So he’s been president at least 4 years when “the day “ happens, and probably more like 6 years given that he and X have become  very close by that time. 

[chaifan]

On 3/2/2025 at 1:02 PM, circumvent said:

How long was Cal the president until they had to go under? I think I will have to just accept that they could have stocked up the bunker in a few years, this assuming that the place was already being built long before and was ready or almost ready

I don't think we've been given a concrete timeline.  But, at the conference, the scientist warned of the tsunami within 10 years.  We know Cal was allowed to serve a third term, but he was clearly only in his second term when the disaster happened.  So he was somewhere between 1-3 years into his third term when he died.  While we don't know for sure, I'd guess he was near the end of his second term when they got to the bunker.

And I agree, stocking the bunker wouldn't take long.  It's the planning/building of the bunker that would have taken the bulk of that 8-10 years between the conference and the disaster.  I can't remember 100% if, in Ep. 2, when Sinatra has all the scientists on the plane, if Cal was president yet, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't.  I will assume Sinatra started planning, and maybe even some of the excavation while getting Cal into the White House, and then the gov't jumped in from there.  Maybe it was partially excavated already - an old mine or nuclear bunker of some sort.  Just spitballing here.  

On 3/2/2025 at 1:02 PM, circumvent said:

if the show is going the peaceful, satisfied people, they should have a plan for succession.

I think they did.  We now know they planned to keep the basic form of the US gov't, which to me says they would keep a democratically elected gov't.  I don't know if all of Congress & the justices were evacuated, or just a portion, but they obviously intended to keep the 3 part gov't going.  And it would make sense for the VP to be the next President, or someone in Congress.  But Congress and the justices went down in Plane #2, so Cal was allowed to serve a third term.  

[transitfan]

On 3/2/2025 at 9:34 AM, circumvent said:

There was no submarine, that was my mistake. I thought I had edited the post but I guess I didn't. My question is, if there was not a worst case scenario catastrophe, and there are survivors in Atlanta, the thing does not make sense. If DC in underwater, so is Atlanta. 

Perhaps.  Depends on how high the waters rose.  Some people may not know this, but Atlanta is at a higher elevation than much of the east coast (per Google, 1,050 feet)

[circumvent]

6 hours ago, chaifan said:

We now know they planned to keep the basic form of the US gov't, which to me says they would keep a democratically elected gov't. 

But that's not what is happening. It is not democratically elected if instead of electing another president they just give the current one a third term.

Not to mention that the ratio of billionaire to population is skewed towards plutocracy.

But if the plan is for long term, people age, dies, the population would grow and how would they keep the appearances of a peaceful place and control new people? Who would be able to be a president in 20, 30 years?

I can make several real and current analogies of how this is would not work unless the system is clearly oppressive. 

Those are the things that make me not get completely into the show. Too few episodes for too many questions

[gonzosgirrl]

The way I was chanting, "Shoot her, shoot her, JUST **&^*$#& SHOOT HER!!!" at my tv. I'm not proud. But damn, I hope he just decided to kill her with his bare hands instead.

 

[General Days]

6 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

The way I was chanting, "Shoot her, shoot her, JUST **&^*$#& SHOOT HER!!!" at my tv. I'm not proud. But damn, I hope he just decided to kill her with his bare hands instead.

 

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.

[gonzosgirrl]

2 hours ago, General Days said:

 

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.

I'll take it! :D

[chaifan]

On 3/4/2025 at 5:03 AM, circumvent said:

But that's not what is happening. It is not democratically elected if instead of electing another president they just give the current one a third term.

Right, I said keeping a democratic gov't was the plan.  We know something changed, because 2/3 of the democratic gov't didn't make it to the bunker.  Of course, we actually don't know how Cal got the 3rd term.  Did everyone in the bunker vote for that?  If so, that's ok with me.  I'm also ok if whoever is now making up the rest of the gov't made that decision as a short term stop gap measure, giving them 4 more years to figure things out.  Either way, it doesn't say to me that democracy is dead and gone.  Just different.

On 3/4/2025 at 5:03 AM, circumvent said:

Not to mention that the ratio of billionaire to population is skewed towards plutocracy.

Hate to beat a dead horse here, but that is just an assumption.  We have no evidence at all to back up the theory that the bunker population is predominantly billionaires.  I'd argue that what we've seen shows the opposite, personally.  (I've gone into this in several earlier posts and won't be redundant here.)

[nilyank]

53 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Hate to beat a dead horse here, but that is just an assumption.  We have no evidence at all to back up the theory that the bunker population is predominantly billionaires.  I'd argue that what we've seen shows the opposite, personally.  (I've gone into this in several earlier posts and won't be redundant here.)

Google tells me that there are almost 2900 billionaires in the world (nearly 800 in US alone). Considering that the volcano explosion and tsunami came quicker than they thought it would, I doubt all the billionaires would have made it to Colorado especially when the other countries started dropping bombs. The population has small amount of billionaires with their families and people that they brought, government people and their families, and the rest would be the people who will need to run and operate all parts of that city.

[marinw]

1 minute ago, nilyank said:

I doubt all the billionaires would have made it to Colorado especially when the other countries started dropping bombs.

Aren't there already a bunch of doomsday bunkers in the US already? The other billionaires would use those. 

[chaifan]

51 minutes ago, marinw said:

Aren't there already a bunch of doomsday bunkers in the US already? The other billionaires would use those. 

I agree.  I don't think the premise of Paradise was to "save the billionaires".  I think the premise of Paradise was to save the human race, to have a base population of 25,000 people in 100 years that were healthy, educated, knowledgeable in different skills/trades, civilized, etc., so that humanity could rebuild.  Are some billionaires/very wealthy people there?  Sure.  But I'd guess that would be limited to the people that were responsible for creating/funding Paradise.  

 

[circumvent]

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

Hate to beat a dead horse here, but that is just an assumption.  We have no evidence at all to back up the theory that the bunker population is predominantly billionaires.

The billionaires are the government. They have those meetings, like a board meeting. They paid for Paradise. The place was for 25k, we saw a table with what, ten billionaires? That's a lot of billionaires for the amount of people. That's why I used the word "ratio", and not predominantly. It is a plutocracy though.

I am glad they at lease killed congress and SCOTUS because it would be totally unrealistic to have all of them taking up places. I am definitely not convinced that Paradise has as many people as they need because it looks like they have the billionaires, the security people, the people in the control room and that's already a lot of people that are not really producing what is needed to sustain a bunker. If you count how many children are there, who do not produce anything, plus teachers who are obviously teaching, the librarians, the people in pubs and cafes/dinners, who is actually in charge of the food distribution and continuing production, clean water, roads, etc? Plus, I think we are to assume the "brilliant minds" have to be there trying to figuring out the future. Add families, because if they need the brilliant minds, those would demand that their families come too.

I think it would be interesting to see if there are actual plans to recruit an "ideal" number of people to live in a bunker.

 

1 hour ago, marinw said:

Aren't there already a bunch of doomsday bunkers in the US already? The other billionaires would use those.

There are. And they are freaking out after realizing that once inside the bunker, their money is worth nothing and if they don't have skills they are toast. This is a real thing, it is happening and they are freaking out.

22 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I don't think the premise of Paradise was to "save the billionaires".  I think the premise of Paradise was to save the human race

True, but the billionaires built the place and they are the government. They could just be there, living their lives doing nothing,  and not having meetings where decisions about everything are made. Of course, after a while someone would ask why are they doing nothing when supposedly everyone else is building life. I don't hink money is needed down there and the future does not require the same monetary system to survive. 

[chaifan]

23 minutes ago, circumvent said:

The billionaires are the government. They have those meetings, like a board meeting. They paid for Paradise. The place was for 25k, we saw a table with what, ten billionaires? That's a lot of billionaires for the amount of people. That's why I used the word "ratio", and not predominantly. It is a plutocracy though.

We (the viewers) don't know who most of the people in the board room are.  Some are the scientists we've seen in other episodes.  There's the VP and Sinatra.  Other than that, as far as I know, they're unidentified.  We also don't know who paid for Paradise, besides Sinatra and the US gov't. 

Your statements make sense, especially given current world events, and a lot of people agree that this is a billionaire's playground.  In the end you may be right.  But right now these are assumptions.  They are not facts because the viewers simply haven't been given that information at this point.

 

 

 

[circumvent]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

We also don't know who paid for Paradise, besides Sinatra and the US gov't. 

I think it was established that the billionaires paid for it. Not 100% sure but I think I remember something like that being said

[topanga]

On 2/26/2025 at 9:40 AM, chaifan said:

A few thoughts as I've been marinating on this episode...

1.  Paradise was originally planned for 25,000, but how many people are actually down there?  We know they're missing at least one plane load of Congress members, justices and presumably their families.  But how many other people weren't able to get in the air on time with such little notice?  Apparently everyone thought they'd have 10 days or so notice.  I think it would be interesting to find out that they lost a good % of the people, maybe up to half of who is supposed to be there.  And of the people who are there, a good amount would be people who are there to make it run, who were there setting up the place.  (Most likely their families didn't make it, though.)  The entry way/hangar has only a few planes, but a lot of space.  Does that signify most of the planes that didn't make it?  

1a.  How did Billy and Jane get there with so little notice?  Were they already embedded in the secret service before the disaster?  Or were they already in Paradise?  

2.  How does everyone have a full personalized wardrobe, able to last a lifetime?  If no one had notice, they only came with what they had at the time.  I can see Paradise having planned out stocked warehouses of clothing, school uniforms, things like that.  We know the liquor had arrived (2 football fields worth).  But all those suits for X and the other secret service agents?  Really nice suits and business clothes for Sinatra and the board?  It seems like only a handful of people really knew what "Versailles" was about.  So Cal, Sinatra, Gabriella and maybe a few others would have shipped stuff down in advance.  But everyone else?  Did someone else stock their closets for them, or are they now using resources that were meant to be replacements or for future generations.  (And now I realize why so many sci-fi shows centered around new world building have everyone wearing the same outfit - standard uniforms are easier from a resource standpoint.)

3.  How were they able to get all that artwork if no one else in the world knew this was coming?  Yes, we saw them taking some pictures off the walls in the White House, but so much of what we've seen would have been in museums around the world.  Either the White House came up with some ruse (loan those to us for an upcoming special exhibit at the Smithsonian) or they're all fakes.

4.  How ready was Paradise?  Was it at 100%, just waiting for the volcano to erupt?  Or were they still working on things?  Is this the first construction project ever to be finished ahead of time?

 

You should also post this in the "How does paradise work" topic. These are great questions.