!!Series:

* Is it just me, or are both Colonists phenomenally silly in the fact that neither did (or has so far) packaged fresh water to sell off? It would seem to me that filtered, boiled water would be a good resource for barter, and it's not like its labor-intensive for them either.
** Not labor-intensive...but ''you'' try surviving in that environment and keeping a surplus of water for trade. It's just not going to happen.
*** Er, the Cistern? Had they thought of that on day four or five, they would be much, much better off.
*** ...Good point. The first season, though, wasn't able to get enough water themselves, by the looks of things. It's only the second season that was positioned to really take advantage of it.
** None of the colonists were aware that they would be given the chance to trade, and traders didn't make a return visit either.
** Filtered, boiled water is good for consumption for next few days. After that is gets stale and actively dangerous to drink without boiling it again. Then there is an issue of packaging it. To keep things sanitary, colonists simply lack tools and resources. And even if sanitary issue is ignored (meaning the water isn't all that valuable), they still need a container or containers to do so. In case of season one, the biggest limit was however in the amount of water they had themselves.

* Joey [[spoiler: turning back and reentering L.A. because he "wants to stay" even though the show is over, and so is their experiment.]]
* John V. [[spoiler: giving away food and water to beggars because "God wanted him to"... even though they are all aware, once again, that everything is a simulation.]]
** Which is exactly the point of the colonists being offered the opportunity to interact with the beggars.
** The whole point of a simulation is to have people act as if the situation was real (aside from a few conventions regarding safety and Confession Cams). So the question put to John is: ''If'' you encountered some beggars in this situation, what would you do?
* The colony creating extremely lethal weapons, knowing that they can't actually use them on attackers.

* The psychologists all keep saying that the simulation becomes real to the Colonists, but is that really possible? I mean, there are people following them with big cameras and everything, probably wearing t-shirts and jeans, chowing down on good food while the Colonists have to eat nasty sausages. I feel like that would quickly break the WillingSuspensionofDisbelief. I get that the show just wants US to believe it, but this troper just doesn't think the Colonists can really get immersed.
** See StanfordPrisonExperiment for how people can really get into something even if they are fully aware it's all a simulation. That thing was stopped after six days. The colonists were in the colony for far longer in a much more immersive environment.

* In season one, they collect a lot of oranges, then trade them away, under the logic they can get new at any point. However, they never send out a scavenge party to that site with the orange trees and by the end of the season they are eating white rice with absolutely nothing to it. Same applies to trying to get any food, from anywhere. Am I missing something, or the colonists simply didn't bother to forage and scavange for food after first few weeks?

* So is Tick also a survivor like the starting cast, who chose or was instructed not to interact for a set period, or is he is a part of the experiment, as much as the marauders and other things?
** Given what the question is asking: the former. They state flat-out that he was placed there very early on to survive on his own and merely observe the Colonists. Then he was later given permission to interact with the Colonists.

!!Film:

* If the other colony that created the "oasis" has no seeds to plant in the soil they've exposed, what have its people been living on for all these years? If they have no seeds, then they can't have been gardening underground like Colony 7, and if the world's been frozen since the hero was a child then they'd have needed a preposterous amount of canned goods to survive without ''some'' sort of indoor farming.
** It is possible the facility they were living in had to be abandoned in a hurry, just like Colony 7 in the end. Maybe te creators of the oasis managed to do their job right before succumbing to starvation. Or maybe they did have still some food left, but just not a single grain or pellet that could be planted. It is not very hard to imagine a situation where their own indoor farming was based on hydroponics, caught fungal infection and left them with no plants at all, too.

* How did Sam and Brigg's footprints remain deep and visible in the middle of a snowstorm?