My dad did that “Become a minister online” shit so he could perform the ceremony for a lesbian couple he knew who were having trouble shortly after same-sex marriage was legalized.
He also had a bit of fun with the whole thing, including the forklift, and “baptizing” a co-worker with cold coffee(it was the co-workers idea). Man even bought a set of cheap golf clubs from a pawn shop to bless, just so if he met Jason Lee, he could ask him to sign a holy putter.
A very solid series, dense as fuck, with an intriguing way magic works. Just be aware that there can be a fair bit of talking in-between action scenes, there’s a lot of time spent in political/religious discourse between characters.
Also, birds with human heads! A prostitute finding out who she slept with by the fact he literally has black cum! Too many scenes of people cleaning themselves up after taking their morning shit!
The Artisan’s Market is worth going to Gatlinburg, but avoid the main strip of the city unless you’re looking to eat. There’s maybe 4 unique shops, the rest are the exact same touristy shit under a different name.
The Knife Works will be busy, also. It doesn’t slow down. Parking will be ass. It’s totally worth it just to go into the downstairs Relic Room.
Hell, they could have tied that into the pre-war backstory even better. A small glimmer of hope of turning the wasteland around, harnessing everything they have done to help fix things. A chance at having your old life back, in some capacity.
They don’t even have to take out the dead spouse/missing kid plotline. Wake up after the last of the systems fail, oh shit, your wife/husband died during all this and your kids gone. Now you’re out in this new world, holding on to a pair of wedding bands as the last piece of your old happier life, lost, confused, and trying to find your way.
There’s still that element of “What happened while I was on ice? Is he still out there?”, could even still tie in to the Institute plot, without making the entire story ride on a rather unfulfilling reveal.
Of course, that would also work better if we could have an actual moment of “Even if Shaun is alive, would he remember me?”. Actually let the character deal with the fact that their child might very well be dead, or that they wouldn’t remember. That they would find an absolute stranger, one who’s been raised in this world, one who isn’t so caught up in “mother” or “father”.