It wasn’t clear exactly what Pluribus was going to bring to the table when it was first unveiled. A sci-fi TV show that touches on the usual tropes like body snatchers and hiveminds? These are tropes that have been done to death. With Apple ordering up two seasons of the show right off the bat, I couldn’t quite figure out what the central plot was going to be. Would the entire show be about Carol trying to find a cure? Would there be conspiracies to uncover and mysteries to solve? Would I have to wait two years between seasons to get my answers? I binged Lost and even that was painful. I don’t know if I could handle watching a mystery box show week to week.
From its first two episodes, however, Pluribus‘ MO has become a little clearer. Maybe this isn’t a show about a mystery at all. Maybe it’s much simpler than that. Just maybe, it’s really about what the world can look like from the perspective of someone who thinks she’s superior to the common man, taken to the extreme.
The Artist Who’s Above It All
Carol, played brilliantly by Rhea Seehorn, is a fiction writer. Specifically, she writes historical fiction romance and is known for a book series called Wycaro. There are swoon-worthy pirate men and women and steamy scenes, all written specifically to cater to housewives and older women looking to get swept up in a good romantic fantasy novel. Carol is shown to be great with the fans at first, doing an animated reading of her new book and engaging with her fans at a signing, but it soon becomes clear that she’s tired of it all.
You see, Carol believes that she’s above writing such silly, vapid books. When her driver asks what she’s known for and if he’s supposed to recognize her, she responds: “Depends. You a fan of mindless crap?“
Later on, Carol and Helen bond over reading fan comments about the latest Wycaro book. Specifically, they quote Houstonmom78, who absolutely loves Raban, the dreamy pirate man designed to appeal to all straight women. In a deadpan manner, they poke fun at the number of exclamation points Houstonmom78 uses and her spelling errors.
Look, as someone who also believes that she speaks and writes better than your average person, and has elevated tastes in media and books, Carol and Helen are extremely relatable. Here are two women having a laugh at the expense of what they deem to be the common, shallow person who’s incapable of critical thought or reading between the lines.
Look at this silly woman who’s been hypnotized by the conventionally attractive pirate man. Look at all these people dedicating their entire existence to a fictional book series about hot dudes and dudettes who do nothing but look cute on a ship and have unrealistic romantic trysts. Is this really all the world is capable of comprehending? What happened to intellectuallism? What happened to subtext and subtlety and social commentary and having an original thought or opinion on a subject matter that’s actually worth something? What happened to thinking deeper and being smarter about the content we choose to consume? Those are just a few of the many thoughts that probably run through Carol and Helen’s heads on a daily basis, especially when Carol’s forced to interact with her vapid fan base of lovestruck morons. I know that sure is what I think about on the regular. That scene spoke to my soul.
It’s telling, then, that despite being presented as a rather haughty (but still likable!) character, Carol is still trapped within the Wycaro web she’s weaved for herself. After all, this is still her livelihood. She needs to follow mass appeal, and when the world is obsessed with dreamy pirates, how dare she even think about releasing a “serious book”?
The Vapid Hivemind
If we assume that Carol believes herself to be above the average person, and she’s constantly drained and exhausted from having to interact with her silly fans, I can only imagine how horrific Pluribus‘ virus outbreak would be for her.
Looking past the initial shock of the entire world collapsing within a few minutes, Carol’s true reality finally sets in. If you thought living a world where the average person was incapable of a single original thought was scary, try the virus in Pluribus, where all of humanity assimilates into a hivemind. And the worst part? They appear to be incapable of making their own decisions.
This is where Pluribus stands apart from your usual sci-fi trappings. Instead of forcefully converting Carol, imprisoning her, trying to keep her under control until they can figure out how to assimilate her, Pluribus‘ hivemind seems strangely amicable. The hivemind appears to be genuine about making Carol as comfortable and happy as possible, and they’re willing to do a lot for her.
In the show’s second episode, we learn more about the hivemind and how it bends itself at Carol’s will. I have no doubt that this is just a facade or part of some sinister plan that will get uncovered later on, but for now, it works. The hivemind genuinely wants Carol to be happy, and to do that, they’ve placed themselves at Carol’s beck and call. When Carol meets another man who’s also immune to the hivemind virus, he asks for her blessing to take Zosia — a hivemind lady who’s been serving as Carol’s chaperone — with him to Vegas, she insists that she’s in no position to make that decision. Zosia herself states that the hivemind cannot make this decision because choosing one or the other would leave someone hurt, and that’s against the hivemind’s MO.
It’s here that we start to realize that Carol’s fears have become reality and taken to the extreme. Now, she is truly trapped in a world incapable of free will or thought, or any sort of creativity, it seems. It isn’t just the idea of the hivemind itself that’s scary; it’s the fact that Carol is now forced to live in a world that’s essentially an AI void. Humanity has merged into one, drawing from everyone’s knowledge and experiences. But when everything has been assimilated into one homogenous entity, does creativity or originality still survive? Or does humanity simply turn into a well-oiled machine that will run like clockwork, as we’ve seen, but will never do anything to push boundaries again?
Pluribus is billed as a show where the most miserable person on Earth must save humanity from happiness. As it turns out, being too smart for your own good is a surefire way to lead you down the path of pain and misery.
Pluribus is now available for streaming on Apple TV.
