Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for episode 3 of “Pluribus,” now streaming on Apple TV.
Meatloaf once sang, “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.”
And in the third episode of “Pluribus,” the hive mind that has conquered nearly all of humanity tells Carol, “We’ll do anything to make you happy, including throwing a grenade at you.” (I’m paraphrasing.)
In this week’s episode of Vince Gilligan’s dystopian (or utopian?) Apple TV drama, Carol (Rhea Seehorn) learns how far her new friends will go to please her. Apparently the answer is nuclear.
The episode begins with a flashback to “The Joining,” seven years earlier, when billions of people were suddenly abducted into a single collective consciousness, resulting in hundreds of millions of casualties, including Carol’s wife Helen (Miriam Scholl). Far from Albuquerque, Helen and Carol arrive at the Ice Hotel in Norway, where even the beds are frozen. Helen is in vacation mode, admiring her snow-covered suite and drinking brandy from an iced glass. Carol is as miserable as ever, declaring that “there is hell in Norway” and is obsessed with getting her book on the bestseller list. A seemingly small moment in Carol and Helen’s relationship reveals a lot about the protagonists. In other words, this is a typical Gilligan cold open — get it?
Back in the present, Carol is sitting in the coach of the flight back to New Mexico, which is empty except for Zosia (Karolina Wydra). They have just returned from Spain. There, Carol had lunch with one of the few remaining English-speaking humans on Earth. She tried to make a pact with other people to resist the “pluribus” (the so-called “pluribus”), but it did not work out, so she is now asking Zosia about the leftovers who do not speak English. Zosia tells Carol about a man named Manusos from Paraguay who has largely avoided contact with Pluribus. Zosia gets them on the phone, but Manousos seems reluctant to talk to Carol, and they exchange vulgar insults in Spanish.
Zosia delivers Carol’s mail, but inside is an old package. Carol recently tried out a massage gun in an airport gift shop and Helen ordered one for her as a surprise. At least, that’s what Zosia tells her over the phone. Carol is disturbed by the idea that Helen’s consciousness has been uploaded to the public. Her thoughts and memories are easily extracted and regurgitated by Zosia and the others. So she demands, “You forget everything you know about Helen…I’m the only one who remembers her.”
Later that day, Carol goes to the grocery store, only to find the entire place destroyed. Pluribus “integrates resources and centralizes items useful for distribution.” They can always bring Carol what she needs, but the woman just wants to go buy some oak milk and feel some semblance of normalcy. Is that too much?
Apparently not. Within minutes, several commercial trucks arrive at the parking lot, and a smiling body suddenly appears to help restock the store. Startled by the unsuspecting servants, Carol later jokingly tells Zosia that she wants a grenade. “Do you have any grenades?” Later that night, Zosia arrived on my doorstep with explosives. “I thought maybe you were being sarcastic, but I didn’t want to take any chances,” she says.
Instead of waving her off, Carol invites Zosia in for drinks and asks her some important questions. “If someone takes a sip, does the whole world get tipsy?” No. So how long will it take for Pluribus to turn Carol into one? “It could be as early as a few weeks, or it could be months or even longer,” Zosia says. This group has a “biological obligation” to convert Carol. Zosia compares it to watching someone drown in a lake and throwing a life preserver. “I didn’t think about it, I didn’t wait, I didn’t try to get consensus, I just threw it out,” she says.
“So am I drowning now?” Carol asks. And Zosia smiles. “You just don’t know it.”
Carol has had enough of hearing about this cult paradise and takes a moment to pull out the grenade pin. Zosia’s eyes widen and Carol bluffs her, “Like giving me a real grenade.” But no bluff, Zosia grabs the grenade and throws it out the window. It exploded, setting Carol’s car and front yard on fire. Zosia collapses.
The next morning at the hospital, Carol questions the representative of her heart. Will they give her another grenade? yes. Even after last night? yes. How about a bazooka? yes. tank? Why not? Atomic bomb? Well, Pluribus will have to weigh the pros and cons, but in the end it is. “It doesn’t necessarily make you feel good,” he says. “But we will move heaven and earth to make you happy, Carol.”
So far, Pluribus has been kind enough to kill Carol. Will Carol be able to kill kindness with kindness?
