After the last two episodes of Pluribus — in which Carol (Rhea Seehorn) was involved with an exploding hand grenade and an ill-advised truth serum — I couldn’t help but wonder just how long the hive mind would tolerate her destructive ways. Well, here we are in episode 5, and I have an answer. “We just need a little space,” the hive tells her over a recorded message.
Welcome to our weekly Verge-subscriber discussion of Pluribus, the new sci-fi series on Apple TV from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. The show follows Carol as one of the few “survivors” on Earth after a virus of unknown origins turns the rest of the world into a connected hive mind, one seemingly unable to handle any negative emotions. This creates a huge conflict with Carol who is a pretty miserable human being. Each week, I present a handful of questions from the latest episode to get things started, so feel free to chime away in the comments with your own thoughts, theories, and questions. Obviously, spoilers follow for the first five episodes of Pluribus.
There are two major developments in this episode, dubbed “Got Milk.” The first is that the hive has finally become sick and tired of Carol. Her exploits and outbursts have caused a whole lot of pain and death among the hive, and so when Carol takes a nap in a hospital, they all silently abandon the city of Albuquerque. Carol is on her own, though she can still talk with the hive, albeit indirectly. She’s able to leave them phone messages so they can deliver her things and take out her trash, which they do via drone in order to avoid further conflict. It’s a passive-aggressive form of avoidance, which seems to be all the hive are capable of, given their aversion to causing direct harm.
The other big thing that happened is related to Carol’s continued research into the hive. She discovered that they get their sustenance from a strange yellow liquid, and some sleuthing leads her first to a dairy plant, and later to a dog food factory. In the episode’s very last moment she sees… something in a refrigerated storage room that completely freaks her out.
What are the hive drinking?
The most obvious question this week is just what the hell did Carol see? It obviously disturbed her, so it must be something gross. But it’s not exactly obvious what could be hidden under that tarp, especially when you consider that we already know the hive are incapable of killing or causing harm of any kind. It’s certainly an effective cliffhanger.
Are the hive and Carol just on a break?
By separating themselves from Carol, the hive are doing what they need to for continued survival. But they can’t fully stay away; part of their biological imperative is also to keep her happy. So seeing the hive tiptoe around that balance should be pretty fun to watch play out. Maybe the hive are simply planning to keep their distance until they can figure out how to “cure” Carol and bring her into their fold. Also interesting: Carol is now able to weaponize her bad moods, and use them as a threat to get what she wants.
What other dangers will Carol face on her own?
There may be no crime or murder in this new version of Earth, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t dangers for Carol. Seemingly as soon as the hive moved out of town, a pack of wolves moved in, and they instantly targeted the grave Carol dug in her backyard. It’s an incredibly frightening situation. She’s already completely isolated, and now she has to worry about fending off dangerous predators. I have to imagine that’s just the start, and other perils I haven’t even thought about will start to appear now that she’s rolling solo.