Pluribus – Grenade Review

I once spent a night in an ice hotel. It was my sister’s dream stop on our Scandinavian vacation and since I had made her check something off my bucket list (that would be seeing Edvard Munch’s The Scream), I agreed to sleep in a room made of ice. On a bed made of ice. I wasn’t thrilled about it – much like Carol. But my sister, like Helen, was having the time of her life. And you know what? It turned out to be a very cool experience – and I have a sneaking suspicion Carol also ended up enjoying her time in the cold. Because you know what? When someone you love asks you to do something with them to make them happy, you do it. And Carol, despite her misanthropic nature, was more than willing to do things Helen wanted. Because she loved her. And she wanted to make her happy.

And the grief of losing Helen, boy is that on display throughout this episode. One of the key threads of Pluribus is how loneliness impacts humans. We see that someone like Koumba deals with the potential loneliness of a world where he’s one of a dozen survivors by diving in and trying to surround himself with excess. Helen, on the other hand, tries to isolate herself. She’s grieving the loss of her wife – her person, the one she was willing to put herself in uncomfortable positions to make happy. And the continued reminders from the Hive that they know everything about their life together? That they’re using that knowledge to try to make her happy? Well, that’s just making everything worse. It turns out attempts to make someone happy without a true emotional link don’t work quite as well as something like Carol did for Helen. You need to have that emotional connection, that relationship, a sense of comradery to find real worth in grand gestures. And the Hive mind definitely doesn’t have that type of relationship with Carol. At least not yet.

Carol was making progress trying to find her way in this new world. She made the conscious choice to ask Zosia to come back with her, to be there so she didn’t have to feel completely alone (and running in front of Air Force One demanding it stop is a pretty massive gesture for someone who doesn’t want people to see under her carefully constructed, emotionally aloof façade). She was starting to trust Zosia, asking important questions, and trying to figure out if there might be an easy cheat code way to bring back the old world (or, failing that, keep the Hive from forcing her to become one of them). And she was starting to get close to answers she could use. No, there aren’t any survivors who might have the knowledge to bring back the old world. Yes, there’s a survivor – Manousos in Paraguay – who might be someone with the same distrust of the Hive that Carol has. And boy, is the Hive being awfully cagey when it comes to laying out their plan for when and how they plan to bring the survivors into the fold – which is interesting for a group that claims to have all of the known knowledge in the world.

But then Zosia had to start talking about Helen, without any understanding of why such a discussion might be painful for Carol. It seems that despite having a wealth of knowledge and a deep desire not to cause any harm, the Hive doesn’t remember how devastating it is for an individual to lose someone they love. I guess, when you’re a living consciousness without a single identity, the loss of one (or more) body among many doesn’t really matter so long as the mind survives. This is the first real sign as to just what is missing in the Hive (outside of individuality as a concept – but that’s a given with what happened). They claim to want to protect Carol, to want to give her whatever she wants or needs, but they have lost their ability to truly be empathetic. If you cannot fathom what is great about being an individual, how one feels, cares, hates, etc., well, you cannot be human in the truest sense of the word. Stripping someone of their sense of self also strips them of their emotional needs as well.

So, the Hive keeps making critical errors in trying to get Carol to listen to them because they don’t understand how referencing her time with Helen hurts Carol. They’re so focused on giving her things they know she liked in the past that they don’t stop to recognize that their knowledge ultimately comes from Helen’s memories. And that Carol knows that. And that Carol is barely holding on by a thread trying to work through her grief, her loneliness, and her fear about what might be coming next. She knows she can’t fully isolate herself – or, at least, she doesn’t want to. She wants Zosia there, even if she really doesn’t want the Hive there. Quite the predicament.

It’s an episode full of contradictions and starts and stops. And it works because Rhea Seehorn is so damn great at showing us each moment of Carol’s confusion, worry, and resignation. And the pain. The waver in her voice each time she tells Zosia that Helen is off limits. The tipsy shock when it turns out that the grenade is real. The genuine fear at the thought that Zosia might actually die as a result of her actions. The internal conflict Carol feels at wanting to have Zosia close but not wanting to be beholden to the Hive in any way. Seehorn is just so damn good at this. And Karolina Wydra isn’t exactly a slouch either. Zosia needs to be a vessel for the Hive but also a singular entity that Carol leans on (barely, but it’s there). Wydra is great at plastering on that smile while hinting that perhaps there might be more than just a piece of a much larger whole within the character. It’s a part that could easily become a robotic recitation of lines, but Wydra makes sure that we can see the charm that is slowly working to thaw Carol. The duo are engaged in a strange dance with one another, a push and pull that never feels too weighted in one direction – to trust or distrust.

While not much happened in this episode compared to the initial two last week, we had some great character beats. And we learned a bit more about who Carol was and how her life with Helen has continued to impact her grief. Lest we forget – it’s only been a couple of days since Carol lost Helen. That wound is fresh and not healing any time soon. But as we watch Carol try to figure out what her next move is – I sure hope it’s not getting a nuclear bomb – it’s interesting to see just how her relationship with Zosia (and the Hive) is evolving. We’re a long way from trust. But Carol seems to be getting a bit more understanding as to just what she’s up against. And just what she can make the Hive do. Which could be a dangerous bit of information.