My theory is that Sydney Sargent has died (or some other circumstance happened to where Jedidiah would know about his death before it happened), and in a desperate attempt to stop it, Jedidiah trapped the summer camp in a time loop, which succeeded to keep Sydney alive but also plunged the world into a chaotic apocalypse (hence Sydney's past memories being of what we would consider a 'normal' world, Jedidiah being associated with time and clocks, also all of the foreshadowing of Sydney's death). Because of how he says 'What's one more head at the bottom of the lake if it means one more day he gets to live.', which makes me think that in order to restart the time loop, Jedidiah has been repeatedly drowning Sydney in the lake, each time creating a 'new' version of him (Because of Sydney's line 'I feel like a new man' after time is fixed again in ep 16). I think that the story of fruit fly represents how he has done so much to preserve and keep Sydney alive and yet forgot to emotionally take care of him, despite how much he loves him. I think that the 'limn' is either the time the time loop started or the time it will end. I think that the time loop will end in one of two ways, either with Jedidiah drowning Sydney in the lake for the final time, or with Lucille drowning Sydney in the lake, and with her inexperience with whatever specific ritual Jedidiah is using, actually killing him. I believe that the story of Syd and Jed's last time playing house are both foreshadowing for this, but in different ways. If the first scenario is true, the foreshadowing is the fact that their last time playing house was meant to be an act of closure for both of them (You could also argue that this will end up not being the case, as it was only SUPPOSED to be an act of closure, but ended up being bitter and sad), with Jedidiah putting it off and not understandingwhy the closure was needed compared with Sydney embracing it. Also how Sydney says 'I've always wanted to be killed by something that loved me', which could mean that Jedidiah ending the time loop was the greatest act of love he could think to give, ending Sydney's repeated cycle of pain that he has only furthered and continued. If the second scenario is true however, then the foreshadowing comes in Jedidiah's line afterwards. 'Ha. Abandoning your child in a lake....so that’s what motherhood means for you?'.
Although it could be just a gag, what Matthew served for dinner in this episode could also play into this. Ants served in honey in a dish called 'The Drowning'. The name paired with how much symbolism bugs and ants carry in this podcast, I just can't see it as a coincidence.
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