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SQUAWKing down a couple rabbit holes: we uncover more evidence that Vault-Tec's cluster of vaults - 31, 32, and 33 - are merely a science experiment. The Enclave? Merely Vault-tec rebranded. On top of an immediate Season 2 announcement, will we at least get an announcement that Bethesda will be releasing a new game based, in part, on the events of Amazon Prime's knockout season?
ðŽA word of advice: tip us on Ko-fi or, for as little as $1 /month, join a membership tier on either Ko-fi or Patreon to receive the unedited episode recordings in advance of these premieres. We had the raw and unfiltered version of this episode available for your streaming pleasure a while ago, but unforeseen personal matters have taken precedence and we're behind on our episode releases. It will most likely continue that way for the next few recordings. As we also mentioned near the end of this episode, we could really use your support from here on in, so if you enjoy what we're doing and want to see what we're made of, be a part of something big and show your support!
Editor's note: as of this blog, both Dave and Bridget (along with a handful of supporters) will be in attendance!
We speculate on the reasons why ghouls might survive a little longer by eating their own kind and why/how normal folks become ghouls after the bombs fall. It's also possible that The Ghoul's serum is Horse Tranquilizers.
Cooper Howard is not a traditional protagonist and his actions are shaped by the harsh realities of the wasteland and what is shaping up to be a tragic past, pre-nuclear apocalypse. Had we not received the opening scene with he and his daughter escaping the the initial nuclear explosions, we might not have seen him as a protagonist at all. Survival and loss of humanity has shaped him into what he is, today. Watching his pre-apocalypse self at the end was a lot more like the pre-apocalypse version of him judging who he is today (feo, definitely, fuerte, maybe, but formal, definitely not).
The Ghoul is dragging Lucy MacLean down what appears to be a star-spangled path, indicating the type of hyper-nationalistic society pre-apocalypse America used to appear. Alogn with the touch of MacCarthyism we've seen in the previous episodes, we get a bigger picture of what lead to the fall.
Cooper's character development and choices are complex and thought-provoking, especially in relation to the way he put down Roger before he went feral, but then subsequently made ass-jerky out of him in order to survive. Ghouls are what Walkers might be like if you didn't have to die to turn (and it took, potentially, decades to go feral). Also, what if Cooper allowed himself to be studied (while in hibernation mode) so that scientists could discover the properties of what makes ghouls live longer without having to ghoul-out?
Were the Pip-Boys the cause of death of the residents of Vault 32, two years prior, since they died mid-riot? The inter-vault communication system containing information on interval trade, plus the video of the population experiment on rodents playing on loop, helps Norm MacLean & Chet get answers.
If basically everything is nuclear-powered in this universe (Pip-Boys? Mr. Handy/Snip-Snip?), could a(n intentionally forced) collapse infrastructure lead to the explosions seen at the start of the first episode, rather than an actual nuclear warhead? What if the first-mover wasVault-Tec?
The presence of Lee Moldaver's Raiders in Vault 32 raises questions about their motives and possible involvement, if any at all. According to inter-vault communications, messages were sent as late as a year ago (excluding Lucy's inter-vault marriage proposal, just recently). If these residents died 2 years prior, was it the raiders who sent those messages or was it someone else?
Each vault in the Fallout universe has unique features and designs, which breeds potential for interconnected vaults (like we see in this series, via vaults 31, 32, and 33). Carinae informs us, however, that just as every vault in the Fallout universe has its own quirks, they were equally built to serve a(n often nefarious) purpose. And, small side-note, Cooper seems to recall Lucy's last name, MacLean: it's possible that we may see his pre-apocalypse self bump into one of her ancestors (who may have been involved, somehow, with Vault-Tec?).
Video games and TV shows can inspire each other, but the execution of such projects can be challenging: Fallout does an incredible job of not only accomplishing this but further expanding the lore in the games. The bottom line: what if the television series was not only a way of adapting the games to a new medium like television, but a built-in advertisement for not only Bethesda Games Studios' existing games but a brand new game that is presently in the works? This reminds Bridget of Defiance's adaptation to a video game whose mechanics changed based on the events of the show.
The "death" of Rose MacLean: Lucy's mother's voice echoing the words, What are you doing out here? during a memory she has while coming out of sedation is an intriguing mystery that we'll hopefully see uncovered in some form or fashion. She supposedly dies in the plague of 2277. Is Lucy starting to remember an important interaction with her mother that she might've suppressed? Dave also happens to think Rose resembles Alexa Nisenson who played Charlie on Fear The Walking Dead.
The conversation also touches on the nostalgia and familiarity of certain elements in Fallout, such as the sounds feral ghouls make and visual way in which the surgical instruments are displayed in the Super Duper Mart.
You might've missed the reason why ghouls were refrigerated in the first place and why there were different prices listed for them: replacement organs for ghouls (organs from feral ghouls are cheaper).
The portrayal of Mr. Handy, voiced by Matt Berry, further highlights the humorous foundation this television series (and the games) is built upon.
Mods, like Macho Man Randy Savage, in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games allow for creative and humorous additions to the gameplay experience.
The attention to detail and fan service in the Fallout TV series is astounding and further highlights the dark humorous thread maintained in the games, like the unnaturally huge and wackily-worded Dairy Fresh Ice Cream billboard. There's also the matter of the health posters promoting chemicals and radiation as positives and the comically gaming-like presence of the green cross outside Westside Medical Clinic.
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Expectations are subverted at every turn: and they're just going to do it again next episode! Who's side are you on? Is Cooper Howard or Barb Howard the hero? Is Maximus or Lucy MacLean right about Vault 4? ...and when, since opinions swap! Or is forcing us into a binary choice an intentional distraction that benefits a more malevolent force?
ðŽA word of advice: tip us on Ko-fi or, for as little as $1 /month, join a membership tier on either Ko-fi or Patreon to receive the unedited episode recordings in advance of these premieres. We had the raw and unfiltered version of this episode available for your streaming pleasure weeks ago, but unforeseen personal matters have taken precedence and we're behind on our episode releases. It will most likely continue that way for our foreseeable recordings. As we also mentioned near the end of this episode, we could really use your support from here on in, so if you enjoy what we're doing and want to see what we're made of, be a part of something big and show us some love!
Talking about the singularly unique and pleasant convention experience for fans and cast of The Walking Dead Universe at The Camp. Sincerely hoping we get to talk about our time there, before it leaves our brains, but we do need to eventually post our panel discussion with FearTWD's Mo Collins and (newcomer, to The Camp) Danay Garcia!
After rattling off a bunch of facts about Vault 4's lore from the games, last episode, we're fairly convinced the show's depiction fits fairly well into the overall canon. The only thing that doesn't fit very well: in the games, this vault was meant to have no assigned roles nor overseers so that the vault dwellers would figure it out for themselves whereas, on the show, scientists (specifically, Lloyd Hawthorne and his wife, Cassandra Hawthorne) had specific roles and their purpose was to specifically study the effects of radiation on human DNA.
Rachael's reaction to this episode is hilarious: mostly sounds with excessive use of the word what. She's mostly referring to the cultyShady Sands memorial ceremony at the end, which safely(?) transitions us to Lucy MacLean & Maximus' cringy sex talk while waiting in Room 604 (intake).
In response to Sherrandy's amusement over Maximus' reaction to both hot showers and caviar, we go over the contents of Maximus' gift basket: Sugar Bombs Cereal, Vault-Tec Caviar, Oysters, Cram Classic, Yum Yum Brands Deviled Eggs, Salty Snacks Mixed Nuts, Blamco Mac & Cheese, Fancy Lads Snack Cakes, Champagne, and Water.
It's also an opportunity to juxtapose what the simple life means to both Cooper Howard (pre-fallout) and Maximus, coming from opposite sides of the survivalist spectrum, by way of the song Give Me the Simple Life by June Christy.
We were really excited to see Matt Berry actually (re)appear on the show as the voice actor for Mr. Handy, Sebastian "Seabass" Leslie, by way of The Howards' Vault-Tec commercial wrap-party. The robot was originally a television character that Rob-Co made for the show that they ended up mass-producing for households across the country after they bought out the entertainment studio. Seabass tells Cooper all of this to explain how society is the product to those who are actually in control.
Dave stops the show to alert the audience that both Bridget and Sherrandy's takes are no longer to be trusted since they watched the rest of the series. Only Rachael and he have not watched ahead.
As a reminder, the fall of Shady Sands and The New California Republic is a new development outside the lore of the games. We lay out the timelines and where they differ. In the games, one of the possible endings involves nuking Shady Sands, but this occurs in 2281, whereas in the show, it alludes to 2277 (the bicentennial of The Great War).
We juxtapose the past with the present. Vault-Tec has a vested interest to accelerate The Great War (violating all principles) while the so-called Communists(Charlie Whiteknife et al) are trying to save it by exposing them. What's interesting is how, even though Overseer Benjamin is very prejudicial towards surfies, he still takes them in: adhering to the principles passed down to him by his forebears, despite his feelings towards them. What's even more fascinating Benjamin's nativist attitude: his family is obviously from the surface, since they've only occupied the vault for the last 100 years, yet he regards all surface-dwellers as his lesser. This is punctuated in the way he insists on instructing all newcomers on how a toilet works, which none of us disagree with, really.
Obviously, Lucy & Maximus are falling for each other, but the show makes it obvious by way of the Falling Objects sign in the intake room. Without any real instruction on human sexuality and even though Maximus has the desires of an adult human male towards the opposite sex, his framework is that of a pre-pubescent child. This leads to a rather uncomfortable topic for most: Dave relates this to the manner in which little boys, often prompted by the weirdo of the bunch, show each other their genitalia at sleepover parties. Left to their own devices, with limited education and no real parental figures, the aspirants in The Brotherhood of Steel are essentially little boys flashing their wieners to one another and absurd/terrifying notions of human sexuality.
Benjamin accidentally drinking from a moldy mug of coffee (among a handful on his desk) might be a nod to the gamers who would spend many sleepless nights playing the games doing the same thing. Dave takes this opportunity to give an example from his own life, watching his friend play World of Warcraft for hours on end with many leftover cups of 7-Eleven coffee littered about his desk. And speaking of mugs, why not grab one of two (or both?) SQUAWK-Tec mugs and/or even a SQUAWKING Fallout logo mug, my fellow products?
The Pip-Boy is pre-war technology: Barb and the scientists are using it, even at the party. This links us back to Seabass' speech about people being products and how, in our reality, attention is currency. Pre-war Cooper Howard is actually the biggest influencer of his time. Still, Barb is the product behind him. The irony is that Cooper has been walking around completely unaware of how influential he really is - now that he is coming online, he's also realizing his contribution to the end of the world and is maybe determined to know the truth and put a stop to it.
Still, we have sympathy for Barb: she regards (nuclear) Fallout as an inevitability and is scrambling to make sure she and her family are in the best possible position. Cooper, at the moment, is taking the hint and is determined - by way of attending Charlie Whiteknife's meeting, representing everything he is against - that maybe there's a way out of Barb's foregone conclusion.
Sherrandy finally reveals her theory: what if Ma June's partner, Barv, is actually Barb Howard? Laughter does follow this, but Sherrandy, in earnest, explains that it would be ironic that she would be hiding in plain sight and it is a little strange that they go through the bother of introducing her to the audience to never return.
Rachael supports Sherrandy's theory further by reminding everyone the words of Sorrel "The President of the Government" Booker, You're still looking for her. That could be Barb or Janey Howard, but not both. Sherrandy expertly compares his character to the actor, Sorrell Brooke, who played Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg in The Dukes of Hazard: Booker looks and even dresses a lot like Boss Hogg, and his deputies look and act much the same. Speaking of names, Cooper Howard's first initial and last name, said/spelled fast, sounds like Coward... what that could mean, we don't know yet.
Bridget has to leave because she's not feeling well. We soldier on.
Francisco, in the audience, points out that one of the wanted posters might be a super mutant, as well as obvious depictions of The Ghoul and Lee Moldaver. Speaking of Moldaver, it's interesting that her pre-war, flashback reveal to Cooper Howard occurs at the end of the episode as it cuts back and forth between the past and present: the banner of the flame mother (another one of Moldaver's names) is unfurled at the height of the freakiness that was the Shady Sands memorial ceremony.
What's great about this episode is that you automatically assume that by the very nature of Lucy and Maximus being sucked down into a trap that drops them into Vault 4, you already think this place is bad news. The show, then, lulls you - and Maximus, who was very mistrustful of this place from the start - into a sense of complacency. By the end, Lucy, who was intrinsically trustful of the vault dwellers, is now terrified of them (especially after their disturbing ceremony), while Maximus is lounging around, listening to records, slurping down oysters, and munching on popcorn while couch-potatoing to a looping video of a waterfall. But what if this subversion of expectations is also a subversion of expectations? What if the experiments happening on Level 12 are altruistic, rather than nefarious? Considering the knowledge we gleaned about Vault 4 from the last episode, what if these vault dwellers were saddled with having to save these pregnant women in cryopods, prior to their arrival, from the terrible fate of their young (gulpers? geckos?) devouring them? Birdie alludes to this when she says I'm sure if we came to your home we would say the same thing. Speaking of cryopods, the first Fallout game emerged in the late 1990s, after many years discussing the viability of cryostasis on humanity, primarily to leave a patient suffering from fatal illnesses in suspended animation in order to someday invent a cure in order to save their lives.
Going back to Maximus' hesitation, he was very squirrely when they were about to inject him with anesthetic prior to removing a tooth from his arm. Using teeth as ammunition was something we proposed in the second episode when we saw the Barber / Dentist sign in Filly.
At the beginning of the episode, you get to see Cooper Howard's commercial advertisement for Vault-Tec's vaults. In the first episode, we said we would look out for moments in the series where the screen would shift from anamorphic widescreen to either 16:9 or otherwise. Well, the commercial was one of those times, as the screen was in 4:3 (NTSC). In addition, the commercial included a number on the screen, which Dave both texted and called. You can hear the startling audio in the podcast, but here's a screenshot of the text conversation:
We compare Cooper Howard's tragic story to FearTWD's John Dorie, primarily from 6x04 The Key, where he thinks he knows which way is up until the rug is inevitably pulled out from underneath him, considering we know the great war happens. This is further exacerbated when he talks about the freedoms he thought he fought for: but what if the wars he fought - with fellow soldiers who never came back - were built on a lie, as well? If world governments are in cahoots with one another, it would be easy to stoke the flames of constant conflict and global tensions to distract their constituents enough to profit from the chaos. Toss in what appears to be a ton of collaboration between corporations, along with all the industries they are buying up, why wouldn't they? This pairs very nicely with Dave's theory that Vault-Tec+ corporations or The Enclave were the first mover in the great war.
Heading into the classroom of Vault 4, we not only see The New California Republic flag, but the Fallout: New Vegas opening title theme music. We also snag a sneak peek of one of their military uniforms on one of their Uncle Sam-esque posters behind the flag, which resembles that of the New Vegascover.
Until this episode, none of us under stood that the end credit sequence held clues about the following episodes. The next episode is called The Radio and the end credits scene features a radio studio, K.P.S.S., which is protected by various traps to prevent trespassers and requests. I wonder what the end credits sequence will be for the last episode of the season? We take a moment to reflect on the presence of Tay Zonday as the voice of Fallout radio host, Three Dog, which we mentioned in the 3rd episode's blog, which subsequently becomes an earworm we we can't rid ourselves of for the rest of the episode.
Mr. Robert House's role in the TV show provide exciting connections to the games, enhancing the viewing experience for fans. He is the CEO of Rob-Co, which produces the terminals in the vaults, I-Bots, Sentibots, Protectrons, Stealth-Boys, Pip-Boys, and turrets (which we saw in the second episode). They partner with General Atomics to create Mr. Handy(s) and other military contracts. He also owns both Nuka Cola and Lucky 38 casinos and hotels. Amidst the great war he uploads his consciousness to a super computer, while preserving/enhancing his physical body, to literally become similar to The (Casino's) House in order to protect New Vegas from the fallout by controlling all security and defense systems.
Just before Cooper Howard enters the wrap party, he's seen glancing at his ad in the news paper. On the same page is an article about the failure of Nuka Cola's New Nuka. The paper is flipped over to reveal the front page of The Capital Post where the lead article is titled, Reds Losing Territory! More Troops Deployed to Far East. The second article reads, Wilson Atomatoys Face Lawsuit Over Giddyup Buttercup, and as far as the games go, the parts of this particular heavy metal toy is used as valuable materials to make a variety of things in the games.
Sherrandy has to leave early, as well, to make a doctor's appointment early in the morning. We soldier onward.
One last note, as The Ghoul is rapping with Sorrel Booker, he's sewing on the finger he cut off from Lucy's hand in the 4th episode. It informs us a little further on the regenerative capabilities of ghouls, in general, and justifies the existence of having a market for (feral) ghoul organs.
As we congratulate Carinae for not spoiling these episodes, we poke fun at how little a poker face Rachael would've made had she watched ahead. We proceed to tangent on both the childhood and present-day competitiveness nature of ourselves, our friends, and our tormentors.
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Maximus and Lucy MacLean learn to trust one another, while Betty Pearson (Cooper Howard's long-lost wife?) becomes Vault 33's overseer (obviously planned?). We explore Shady Sands' / New California Republic's lore, as well as Vault 4's, as it pertains to the games and how the TV series has expanded the Fallout Universe.
ðŽA word of advice: tip us on Ko-fi or, for as little as $1 /month, join a membership tier on either Ko-fi or Patreon to receive the unedited episode recordings in advance of these releases. We had the raw and unfiltered version of this episode available for your streaming pleasure weeks ago, but unforeseen personal matters have taken precedence and we've lagged behind. It will most likely continue that way for our foreseeable recordings. As we also mentioned near the end of this episode, we could really use your support from here on in, so if you enjoy what we're doing and want to see what we're made of, be a part of something big by showing us some love!
Speaking of The Past, Maximus' own flashback post the destruction of Shady Sands is a pivotal event in his origin story. Fallout may have started in 2077 but those who don't learn from history...
The New California Republic (NCR) and its capital, Shady Sands, were established by the residents of Vault 15 using a GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) in 2198. It was the largest city created from scratch using no pre-apocalypse tech. It had a population of 3,000 in 2241 that grew, rapidly, to 35,000 by 2281. NCR reflects much of our American founding, both in ideal and early desires of expansionism (like all founding nations).
Lucy MacLean tells Maximus that The United States was established 320 years ago. If the year is presently 2296, that would pin America's founding in 1976; however, if Lucy is saying 320 years prior to the bombs dropping in 2077, that would place American independence in the year 1757. This is roughly during the time of the Seven Years/French Indian War and the siege of Fort William Henry. Maybe if George Washington had made better decisions, calling back to our coverage of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, American history could've been fundamentally altered (then again, we would've ended up in the Fallout Universe, so sometimes mistakes are a good thing).
We ponder why societies tend to repeat the same patterns (as we did in our coverage of The Last of Us) and question whether the vaults were (experiments) engineered by corporations to create a captive consumer audience.
We take a break to show off Sherrandy's (mom's) latest crochet creation: a Vault-Boy. If you want your own (or any other character that comes to mind), start a commission! You can check out a few of her creations on @therealcrochetwitch (Instagram).
Different people have different ideas on how to save the world, leading to disagreements and conflicts. Expanding on the purpose of the vaults, The Enclave's purpose might've been an attempt at disrupting humanity's tendency to tilt towards liberty and self-determination. Also, enclave implies more than one entity, so we may be dealing with a concerted effort of multiple corporations besides Vault-Tec. This same effort might've nudged the world into what became the Fallout universe, using their endless Cold War cum Nuclear War as a smokescreen.
Shady Sands' devastation is larger than a mini-nuke but not as powerful as a full-scale nuclear campaign. On the note of mini-nukes, the weapon that uses mini-nukes as ammunition in the games is called The Fat Man, which is the same name given to the hydrogen bomb that fell on Hiroshima (Little Boy was the name of bomb that fell on Nagasaki).
Selective Memory: We touched on Maximus' recurring memory, emerging from the milk-bottle refrigerator and being saved by a knight of The Brotherhood of Steel, but we wanted go a little further on Lucy's own memory of her mother, Rose MacLean, and how she could've sworn she was with her on the surface (even though she logically knows that it must've been the Telesonic 3-D Projector making her feel as though she was). Still, could she have been outside with her mother and is she actually dead? Did they disappear her just like guests on The Truman Show?
The lack of a strong grieving response from the dwellers of Vault 33 after they were decimated by Lee Moldaver's raiders raises questions: is their docile nature might be a result of selective breeding/genetic manipulation? With the reveal that all the overseers of Vault 33 were transplants from Vault 31, along with the evidence of Vault 32's devastation being perhaps a result of its residents being exterminated for trying to break into Vault 31, it seems as though Vault 31 contains the answers to many of the series key mysteries! This fundamentally changes the way we previously perceived of Stephanie Harper (aka Fork-Eye Pregnant-Belly).
The significance of the two-headed Humboldt Honey bear on the New California Republic flag: Dave had recently listened to an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience (tapping this link will take you straight to this particular conversation, featuring Former Congresswoman and 2020 Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard) in which they discuss how, in celebration of marijuana being removed from a the Drug Enforcement Agency's Schedule I Controlled Substances list, a controversy emerged after an organization of veterans gifted an American Flag made out of hemp to Congress. How this relates to our discussion is having also read an article whereby someone somehow donated the NCR flag, which looks extremely close to the actual California State Flag, to the California State Legislature. It was only later that the legislature found out about it.
The humor in Fallout (and perhaps our own podcast episode) reaches its apex with the extremely subtle reference Norm MacLean and Chet drop - a way of concealing their Vault 32 sleuthing - by checking on the tatos, which is a reference to a hybrid potato and tomato plant in the games.
This episode gave us an opportunity to revisit whether we, as hosts/viewers, felt claustrophobia after Maximus was trapped in his Power Armor.
The possibility of Vault 31 being a cryovault: if all the overseers from Vault 32 & 33 came from Vault 31, then it's possible that these were people that were in suspended animation from before or right at the point of fallout who wanted to make sure the experiments in this cluster of vaults went according to plan.
The planned nature of overseer elections and the role of Betty Pearson: Betty Pearson is played by Leslie Uggams. Photos from the early days of Ms. Uggams career resemble Barbara Howard (Cooper Howard's wife). Seeing as though she was previously an overseer (of either Vault 31 or 32) and originally came from Vault 31 - like Stephanie - we can't help but perceive her suspiciously (whereas, before, we really liked her). If she actually is Cooper's wife, she definitely has an even larger role in the Fallout Universe.
Rachael appreciates both Maximus' and Squire Thaddeus' respective reactions: Thaddeus' desire to flee Maximus after hearing he killedKnight Titus and Maximus' readiness to kill Thaddeus after opening up to him - even though their mutual bond was predicated on Maximus impersonating Titus (especially after branding him). Maximus may have panicked and failed (a bunch of persuasion checks, due to lack of rizz) to explain the situation to Thaddeus, leading to their confrontation.
Maximus' lack of childhood memories prior to being picked up by The Brotherhood of Steel (after the explosion of Shady Sands) may have clouded his perceptions to their actual purpose in the wasteland. It's also established that their power armor is pre-war technology which (we officially discover in this episode) the Brotherhood uses to obtain more pre-war technology.
The existence of cannibals - called Fiends on the show - in the Fallout games and the symbolism behind Rink's resemblance to Lucy. Carinae thought Rink resembled a chem-addicted Raider (what fiends really are, not cannibals) in the games named Cricket.
It's quite possible that Maximus' knowledge on the wasteland is incomplete and The Brotherhood really doesn't know the original reason of why it does what it does. This brings us back to speaking about why societies tend to revert to imperfect systems that largely worked because, as Thomas Sowell once said, unintended consequences can arise from overregulation (whether immediately or down the line), and sometimes it's best to leave things the way they are rather than creating more complexity.
Vault 4 in the games, at least, is portrayed as a legendary vault that is rumored among wastelanders as a paradise, but turns out to be a dangerous hell infested with giant tarantula hawks/hornets called Cazadors. This is where Lucy & Maximus end up by the end of this episode. Are Lucy & Maximus safe, since someone obviously made Vault 4 the paradise it was believed to be, but had to be lured into it via a trap?
The presence of a cryolator (like a blowtorch, but ice) in Vault 32 suggests that their residents may have been bred differently than those in Vault 33. We also see yet another toaster (the same toaster, only fixed). The damaged overseer terminal in Vault 32, which was undamaged in the last episode (how Norm was able to determine that his mother's pip boy was used to access the outer vault door) indicates that Vault 31 intentionally covered up the origin of this vault's devastation and have been monitoring both vaults 31 & 32.
In addition to this, Rachael revisits her thoughts on how the residents of Vault 32 were actually killed. Dave suggests that, like all lab rats, they had to be put down but, like all cover-ups, they had to do it in such a way that it appeared as though they did it to themselves (by perhaps introducing a psychotic). Carinae compares this to the Reavers from the Firefly movie, Serenity, where the population of the planet Miranda were introduced to a drug that was meant to make them docile in an attempt to subjugate them. Most became so docile that they laid down and died, but a small fraction of the population, instead, became so aggressive and violent that they became the number one adversary in the series.
As always, we appreciate the impressive music, especially the 3 different renditions of Battle Hymn of the Republic, and end credit animations that seem to tease the next episode. This one seems to tease a textbook in a Shady Sands Elementary locker called The New California Republic with various check-out dates that end in Nov 2276 (just before Shady Sands' destruction). There's also a comic book poster of a pistol-toting, red-leather-jacket wearing hero that may be another Cooper Howard role.
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