The Pod

It’s the end of the world as we know it. And Lanie? Not feeling so fine. Holed up in a suburban home-turned-survivalist bunker, Lanie does her best to keep going, business as usual, while she waits for other survivors to find her. Unfortunately, it seems she’s the only human left alive. In The Before Times, Lanie was the host of a popular podcast and married to the over-achieving, degree collecting, possibly a smidge paranoid, Jeanie. Jeanie was a climate scientist who saw The End coming before most did, hence the sick bunker. Unfortunately for Jeanie, (and even MORE unfortunately for Lanie) Jeanie didn’t make it. Lanie is left alone, counting down the days and trying to keep herself occupied (she already broke her vibrator, so don’t even ask).
After more than a year into the apocalypse, Lanie is still trying to podcast (normalcy, ya know?). She’s broadcasting her show onto wide frequencies in the hopes of finding other survivors. So far, she’s only talked about how hot her wife is, read ads for possibly scammy online therapy sites, and lamented over her broken vibrator. She hosts the pod with Jeanie (well, a photo of her. We call her Photo Jeanie) to make it seem like there’s a real conversation occurring. She’s picked through most of the rations, and hasn’t even attempted building any sort of sustainable living with the tools Jeanie left behind for her. But the clock is ticking, and Lanie needs to make a decision: try to survive or wait to die. Or just kill herself. Killing herself is also a valid option.
Lanie decides to give one month of effort into growing some food. With the supplies and textbooks Jeanie left behind, it should be pretty easy (except if you spent the last year making new cocktails of vodka and vicodin everyday). She starts reading, and soon becomes enrapt in learning. Her make-shift podcast studio becomes a space for a small vegetable garden, and there are actual signs of life! Take that, apocalypse! It seems like Lanie can actually do this, and do it herself.
Tragedy strikes when the heat lamps above Lanie’s garden beds burst into flames, burning up all of her hard effort and almost burning the house down. Lanie’s had it. She sends out one last broadcast, her low and depressed voice sounding eerily like the voice she uses for Photo Jeanie, she announces that any survivors can come to her house for her remaining supplies. Her wife is dead, and she can’t go on without her.
As Lanie prepares for her end (pills, booze, Photo Jeanie for comfort), she watches her and Jeanie’s wedding video one last time. Before Lanie gets a chance to die, a survivor, Ariel, arrives at her door. Ariel tells Lanie there are many more survivors, and they’re trying to build a sustainable community. Ariel explains that they need scientists, engineers, and doctors. They need someone like her, like Dr. Jeanie Malone. Lanie can’t get a word in to correct Ariel, and Ariel continues to explain that they won’t take in survivors who aren’t completely necessary to helping rebuild society.( So, no podcasts hosts). Lanie must decide if she’s going to steal her wife’s identity in order to be welcomed into this survivalist group or come clean and risk being left alone in her bunker with waning rations.