In case you missed it, here are the episode summaries from the latest season of Shutdown Theater:

Episode 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE
The deadline to pass the next continuing budget resolution draws near, but a long-standing argument between the Red and Blue factions is about to erupt again. Can our rulers reach a compromise, or WILL THE GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN!?

Episode 2: DEADLOCK
Darkness descends on Capitol Hill. Neither side will back down, and neither side is strong enough to force their version of the law on the other. A nation holds its breath.

Episode 3: TRAGEDY
Our noble Praetorians can’t watch football from their colonial fortresses! Our wisest savants at NASA aren’t tweeting! The national parks are mostly still open (despite the Blues’ protests), but the rabble are roaming through the wilderness unsupervised! Will our rulers have pity on us and put their differences aside, or is this the beginning of a new Dark Age?

Episode 4: RECRIMINATIONS
In a back room, the leading Reds and Blues are hammering out a deal. Meanwhile, the rest of their factions take to the streets, each trying to blame the other for a litany of horror stories, or potential horror stories, or inconveniences to government employees.

Episode 5: CELEBRATION
A deal has been struck! Both sides are able to call the other side monsters, and they all keep their power over the rest of us! Huzzah! Meanwhile, ordinary citizens who didn’t have to deal with the federal government over the weekend probably didn’t notice anything happened. The world may never know how heroic our rulers truly are.

Oh, that deal is only for a few weeks? Well, tune in next month, then, for more thrilling episodes of SHUTDOWN THEATER!