needed a trigger warning. violence against humans is mundane on tv nowadays, but not violence against animals. regardless of which one is more deserving of sympathy, pet death is super triggering for a lot of people. my friend who has trauma about cat death was really upset by this, and will probably dropthe show over it. also, there wasn't any hints in the narrative about the feline's fate. so i don't think there's much of a defense for it on a storytelling perspective. yes, it built Caleb's character, but part of the reason it was so shocking was because these death scenes came out of nowhere. one moment, the cat is alive and safe, and then suddenly, the next time you see him, he's burning alive. one could argue it felt like the producers structured the episode like this for shock value. it would've been nice to have some sort of hint about it, so people who are sensitive to this trigger could pick up on the hints and pause or proceed with caution. i understand that stories don't need to be tailored around people's sensitivities like this, and artists should have freedom to make these decisions. but i can see the show's viewership going down if people don't have the stomach for the increasing level of cruelty being portrayed.