It's time for a little...FEEDBACK.

I liked seeing people like Dr. Abbey and Jill and Dr. Lake, and Rick before he met the Masons. And seeing the Masons from the outside: because they were private people. I like how Ash and George's assessment of Congresswoman Wagman was totally different but made total sense in their personalities*, and I kind of adore Wagman and adore the idea that she is marking the extreme left wing of the Republican Party of 2040 and people like Tate are apparently a marginal fraction. Even if Ryman is still the sort of person who wouldn't draft a blog team made of a poly triad including an immigrant and a genderfluid person. (It would make some striking campaign art showing both teams.)

It was also nice to see what was happening in the wings: that all the major candidates got attacked, and the Rymans' was a set-up for interest**. And that the CDC wasn't so much setting up Ryman as making sure the climate was fertile for their goals and weeding out anyone they couldn't control. (I get the impression that if the Democrats won, they had contingency plans.)

I also liked the idea that either George's team or Ash's could have been the whistleblowers, but that, again, both our protagonists made a call that fit their personalities. Georgia Prime was a terrier for the news (and everyone knew it, which is why her stunt worked) and I don't even know if the EIS could get her to walk away***. Ash decided her family was worth more than being a martyr to the cause.

(Also Beth and her dog: I understood that reference!)

* I wonder if Shaun disagreed with George (if he cared enough) or if male Irwin stagecraft is a different enough craft than female Irwin stagecraft (or the choice Ash made; I think Becks also had some leanings that way).
** I think FEED implied the ranch attack was (I need to reread), but Easly was played a lot more straight. But, again that fits Georgia: why assume an attack was to set up a narrative of Brave Senator Ryman when the basic logic of 'zombies kill people, using zombies is terrorism' makes assassination simpler?
*** Georgia II did, but that was after both she and Shaun had been through enough shit to make them consider their life choices.

It occurred to me while reading this that Shaun and Georgia avoid local friends probably in case anyone picks up on their relationship.

I think male Irwin stagecraft would be different--Ash comments on their wardrobe choices too.

I did laugh at "Tate wants to build a wall!" Was that written before or after Trump's wall?

I do wonder how well it's going to go for Ash to RETURN to Ireland, which wanted her pregnant and/or in an institution previously.

Yeah. I suspect Shaun and Georgia know they look a little weird in public, even if they are pretty private in general. There's a limit to the level of 'has issues from being famous children of famous parents' most people allow for.

Mostly I remember that Shaun knew enough about Becks and Becks' Irwin-ing habits to observe female Irwin stagecraft and realize that there was a difference. Maybe less so before he became the head of After the End Times' Irwins and had to evaluate new hires. (OTOH, I recall Becks started as a Newsie and switched: am I mis-remembering that?)

Yeah, I think she did switch.