I've been thinking about the finale, and I can't reconcile something.

The show ends with the original James Cole surviving and ending up with Cassie.

At the same time, the finale says "children are fated to their parents," and shows examples like Ramse reuniting with Sam and Hannah growing up with her biological parents.

If that line also applies to James, then Hannah should eventually meet Cole's father and give birth to James again in the repaired timeline.

That raises a question:

What happens if the surviving adult James Cole eventually meets the newly born James Cole?

Earlier in the series, the Army of the 12 Monkeys intentionally created paradoxes by bringing different temporal versions of the same person together (using a person's future bones with their younger self). The whole point was that contact between the same temporal entity damaged time.

Wouldn't two James Coles eventually create the same kind of paradox?

If so, wouldn't that start damaging time all over again, essentially undoing the repaired timeline?

Or is the surviving James somehow no longer considered the same temporal entity after the reset?

I'm curious if there's an in-universe explanation or if the writers ever addressed this, or if there's a fan consensus that I'm missing.

What a journey it’s been. I’m glad i watched through to the end. Found myself having started a few shows like Mr Robot, Fringe but life happens. Recently got the chance to get back to all i started but didn’t complete and i feel i got to experience this now when i needed it. When it was impactful.

Watching the first season and being able to remember exactly where i was in life, the friends still alive, it really got me emotional and the theme of this show was just perfect. If you could go back in time to save someone but in doing so then another relationship would never have existed.

I think i’ll have a post later on to dissect the show. Also a bonus this is the first show i completed and posted on it’s sub. All other shows i discovered their subs long after completing the show.

Really enjoyed the whole experience of watching this. Curious about your experiences, where you were in life when you watched this.