Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Pluribus Season 1 finale.
Although it briefly seemed like Carol (Rhea Seehorn) was giving in to the Others’ attempts to woo her into the hive-mind’s state of collective being, the ending of the Season 1 finale of Pluribus told a different story.
In the closing minutes of the ninth and final episode of Vince Gilligan’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama, which dropped on Apple TV on Dec. 24, a few days earlier than its original scheduled release date of Dec. 26, Carol returned home to Albuquerque following a failed romantic trial run with her chaperone-turned-love interest Zosia (Karolina Wydra) and reunited with fellow virus-immune individual Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga). Carol came bearing an atom bomb and an apparently renewed sense of commitment to reversing the hive mind’s hold on Earth’s population, which was welcome news to an ever-more-determined Manousos.
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Here are the five biggest questions we were left wondering about after the finale’s end credits rolled.
Why are Carol, Manousos, and the rest immune from the hive-mind virus?
Considering there were only 13 total people in the world who were immune to the so-called “Joining,” it must be an incredibly rare anomaly that prevents the virus from taking hold. But so far, we haven’t been given any real clues as to what that might be. We know the Others have figured out how to turn the immune by tailoring the virus to their individual stem cells, but it’s still unclear what the issue was in the first place. The finale revealed that, despite Carol’s refusal to consent to an extraction, the collective was able to obtain her stem cells from her frozen eggs and intends on using them to convert her against her wishes. Whether it has to do with their innate psychological makeup or something else entirely, figuring out the reason they were protected in the first place seems like it might come in handy for Carol and Manousos right about now.
How would a cure for the virus work?
We know the hive mind was born from a lysogenic virus, meaning the virus’ genetic material gets incorporated into that of its host, and that it can be spread through kissing, donut licking, and drinking from an infected water supply, among other modes of body-fluid transmission. We also know it was passed on slowly and covertly at first before attempted military interference necessitated swifter action. In Episode 4, Carol learned from Zosia that there seemingly is a way to reverse the effects of the virus. But how would Carol and Manousos go about administering a potential cure to every remaining hive-mind infected person on the planet? And how would the world move on from such a cataclysmic event if they did manage to achieve their goal?
Is there any of the real Zosia left inside the hive-mind version of her?
While Carol had to learn the hard way that her relationship with Zosia was really nothing but an attempt by the hive-mind to endear her to the collective, we’re still wondering if there’s any of the real Zosia fighting to break free from the virus’ hold. Of course, that begs the question of whether the true Zosia, if she were ever to regain her individuality, would be someone Carol understands or even recognizes. Given everything Carol has done to her in her hive-mind form, it also seems like there’s a chance the real Zosia might be holding a grudge against her assigned ward.
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What are Carol’s plans for the atom bomb?
The closing scene of the Season 1 finale revealed Carole had not only snapped out of her temporary state of loneliness-induced hive mind acceptance, but showed she was making good on her idea from Episode 3 to demand the Others give her a nuclear weapon. At this point, it’s clear Carol doesn’t view killing those infected by the virus as a solution to the problem, so how she’s planning to use an atom bomb to gain control of the situation is still in question. Perhaps the mere threat of the nuke will be enough for the Others to answer some of the questions about the cure they’ve been avoiding.
What is the ultimate goal of the beings who engineered the virus?
In Episode 8, we learned one preprogrammed directive of the hive mind is to build an antenna big enough to beam out the same RNA sequence radio transmission that brought about Earth’s Joining to lifeforms on other planets. Considering the signal apparently originated 600 light years away, Zosia tells Carol it’s likely Earth’s Others will never meet the extraterrestrial beings who sent the virus. But she also says the Others know these beings love them and that they “have to share their gift with whoever else might be out there.”
Still, the questions remains of whether we’re ever going to find out what the goal of all this was in the grand galactic scheme of things. Perhaps the virus is simply intended to pacify any potentially dangerous, technologically advanced civilizations and prevent them from becoming interstellar threats. Maybe the aliens who engineered the code have the means to travel hundreds of light years in a short period of time and are on their way to take over Earth as we speak. Maybe it’s something else entirely. Either way, we’re going to have to wait until Season 2 (or beyond) to find out.
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