Predestination. It is my BANE in religious conversations. I grew up mostly United Methodist with the Free Will doctrine. Mom grew up Southern Baptist with the Predestination idea... warped. Her take is that Humanity chooses, but God already knows. I told her I'd keep my view on being able to surprise God by choosing oddly. (There are long conversations in my past about Omniscient/Omnipresent/Omnipotent God, mostly with my pastor, and with the gleeful egging on by the congregation. I was lucky in the church I spent my late childhood in.)

This is a potent episode, and one that makes the series finale stand out a little more. Hard for me to put words to it, but the finale, Nat's part, comes off poorly in light of the lesson served by this one.