Well, that’s a heck of a start to the show, no? From spending the pilot letting us get a feel for just who Carol was, laying out just how the Joining came to be, and exploring a bit of how this new world order has impacted half of our surviving “humans” in very different ways, these initial two episodes have given us a lot to take in. While also promising a heck of a lot in terms of Carol’s story. Let’s dive right on in.
For starters, the concept of taking a sequence of RNA from an extraterrestrial interstellar signal and then mass producing it to test it out certainly feels a bit terrifying (especially in the specter of Covid). But, then again, does anyone doubt that this is precisely what humanity would do when faced with such a discovery? And when one person inevitably gets infected, you know someone would break containment protocols and start of a chain reaction. That’s just what humans do – and that’s also a huge hint as to just what this virus is about to do to the rest of humanity. Now, the infection itself is also intriguing. Sure, over seven billion people are now part of the hive mind, but losing almost a billion people in the initial rollout? That’s not a small thing. There are a host of logistical things left hanging as well by Zosia’s explanation of just what the Hive can and cannot do. They cannot harm any living thing. She was pretty cagey about how that applies to things other than creatures. Can they cut down plants? Not being able to farm would lead to a massive food shortage pretty quickly. But that’s a question for another episode (knowing Vince Gilligan, I’m sure it’s going to come up at some point).
Let’s talk about Carol. Oof. I have to say, in the before times, Carol was not the greatest person to be around. But seeing her with Helen – and, more importantly, seeing Helen with her – let us in on a secret that I don’t think Carol would want us to know about. Deep down, when she’s with someone she trusts fully and completely, Carol is a softy. She loved Helen deeply. And Helen loved her. I don’t think Helen always liked Carol, but she definitely loved her. It’s clear that at some point in her past, someone did something that shattered Carol’s trust in others. Something truly devastating. Helen was able to get under the layers of emotional armor and break through. But Carol isn’t someone who trusts easily. She is skeptical of everyone and everything. She’s terrified that if she lets someone in – if she’s vulnerable – she will be burnt.
And now, in this new world, she’s completely and utterly alone. Having four of the five surviving English speakers come complete with family members within the Hive mind only exacerbates that situation for Carol. In her mind, the clear next step is to try and bring the world back. But for those four, well, they still have their families (most of them). They can continue moving forward without any sort of acknowledgement that something is different. Surely their family members can just play pretend with them, acting “normal” should they ask. They can move on as if nothing is different for them because they haven’t lost everything. Carol can’t.
And then there’s Koumba. Like Carol, he appears to be alone. But unlike Carol – who has chaffed against everything that is happening around her – Koumba has accepted that this is what the world is like and has opted to embrace it. There’s something especially interesting about Koumba as a character (highlighted through Samba Schutte’s excellent performance). He’s not just a guy out there, getting his rocks off with models and living it up (despite Carol’s angry outburst accusing him of just that). No, he’s much more introspective than Carol gives him credit for. He is aware that this is his life now. He’s opting to put on a happy face and take advantage of doing what he wants. I mean, asking for Air Force One is a fun flex. But he’s also walking a delicate line, as Carol points out. After all, if everyone in the Hive wants to do whatever he asks to make him happy, is he taking advantage of people? Hell, are they even still technically people? He has his “harem,” presumably sleeps with them. If they are agreeing to make him happy, is that consent? Is consent even something that matters to the Hive? And even if it isn’t, morally, how does a human with free will square that?
Which is getting to the heart of the series itself. We’re presented with Carol as our chief protagonist. She’s pushing against the Hive – out of grief for what this transformation as cost her personally, but also because she cannot accept that humans can be humans without free will. She’s a loner. She’s someone who doesn’t seek out the company of others. The idea of losing that sense of individuality and being swept into a sea of sameness is terrifying to her. For others, who are more attuned to thinking of the whole instead of the individual, such a choice – to give up yourself to become part of the group think – might not be nearly as daunting. But for Carol, she is all she has. And to willingly give that up is unthinkable. I suspect that if asked, Koumba might also be a bit wary to divest himself of his individuality to join the Hive. Because even if he doesn’t want to dive deeper into the question of consent and individuality when it comes to members of the Hive, he seems to have a bit more in common with Carol than the other survivors we met. After all, he doesn’t appear to have anyone else to lean on either.
There’s one more thing that I think we need to keep our eye on moving forward: Carol’s anger. As we saw, multiple times, when Carol gets angry around members of the Hive, they freeze – around the world – and bad things can happen. This is devastating to Carol – she might want to be left alone, but she doesn’t want to hurt others. Because she still sees each of the Hive members as individuals, as human, even if they likely don’t see themselves that way. Another piece of the Carol puzzle there – she might be a misanthrope, but she’s not evil. She’s not emotionless. She’s emotionally stunted, she’s lost, she’s lonely, she’s grieving. But she’s not vicious and she’s not intentionally trying to harm the Hive.
Carol is such a complicated character (and we’ve only known her for two episodes) that it’s astonishing how much Rhea Seehorn and Vince Gilligan have already managed to reveal to us about her. And that’s with having entire stretches where Seehorn has been on her own with no scene partner to spar with. The introduction of Karolina Wydra’s Zosia, modeled after her leading man Raban, no less, was a welcome addition, giving Seehorn someone to spar with once more. The incredible chemistry between the pair is also something to take note of. Remember everything I just wrote about Koumba and the question of consent? Well, at some point, I think we know that the Hive wants Carol to trust Zosia. Perhaps confide in her. Maybe be attracted to her. After all, why else would they model her look after Raban? What should we, the audience, be rooting for here? There’s clear chemistry between the pair, but Zosia is part of the Hive. She cannot make her own choices. She just wants to make Carol (and Koumba) happy. How will Carol react when she reaches a place in her relationship with Zosia where she starts to trust her? Of course, she has to get Zosia back from Koumba. But still, something else to keep in the back of our minds.
It’s so refreshing to have a series that, right out of the gate, seems so fully formed with so many questions and story points I cannot wait to see explored in the coming weeks. Gilligan and his team have such a great track record that I have the utmost faith that Pluribus is going to give us these answers and more. I’m so taken by Carol as a leading lady, this concept as a backdrop for her story to unfold, and have more than enough questions that I want to see answered. This is a heck of a start for a high concept series. Let’s see where it takes us.
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