evlogiy

Honestly, this was the weakest episode for me. What happened to Carol during the 40-day solitude period? Why did she suddenly become protective of the Hive? She was anti-Hive for seven episodes, telling fellow munies that the people around them weren’t their family. Then after the 40-day breakup and sleeping with Zosia, she’s suddenly all protective. I expected her to call the Hive back and try to get closer to Zosia to explore ways of freeing people from the Hive. Remember that moment in episode 8 when Carol asked Zosia something personal and she stuttered, as if briefly disconnected from the Hive? Nothing came of that?

Some viewers haven’t loved the show’s pacing, but this episode moved so fast I feel like we missed crucial pieces—what actually happened to Carol, and why has she changed so suddenly?

And why didn’t she forbid them from developing the personalized virus? Or take the eggs back? All that “You wouldn’t do this if you loved me” dialogue feels completely unlike the Carol we’ve seen all season. At this point, we need a spin-off just to explain what happened during those 40 days of solitude.

Also, it’s impossible to produce stem cells from eggs alone. Eggs only carry half of Carol’s DNA. It seems more feasible to clone her using her full DNA from hair, skin, saliva—basically any somatic cell—than to derive stem cells from just half her genetic material. We’d need a biologist to clarify, but this feels like total bullcrap to me.

I should say I really like the pacing so far. The cinematography is excellent — the director of photography did a great job — the screenwriters are strong, and the actors give excellent performances. There aren’t big cliffhangers or frantic mysteries, and it doesn’t feel rushed.

Two things shape my perspective, tho: first, the main plot feels a bit flat to me — I’m not in a rush to discover or understand the Hive. I’d like answers, but I’m not hungry for them; the visuals and atmosphere are enough for me right now. Second, I have ADHD, and slower pacing works much better for me. Complex, fast-paced shows with many characters are hard for me to follow, so Pluribus’s small cast and more deliberate pace have been a big plus.

That said, I totally get that some people might find the pace dragging — I’m definitely not one of them. Honestly, it could be even slower and I’d be happy.

That song playing during Manousos’s journey is “Esperanza” by Hermanos Gutiérrez

https://youtu.be/DrIQLiB3HPI

Nothing on this planet is truly yours. You cannot give me anything because all that you have was stolen.

The parallels to LLMs were 99% intentional. Vince Gilligan has strongly criticized artificial intelligence, calling it "the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine." He even included a disclaimer in the show’s credits stating, "This show was made by humans."

Carlos-Manuel Vesga is phenomenal! It might be the writing, the character, or maybe just not enough exposure yet, but every scene with him hits me emotionally—I feel everything. I can already envision him being recognized as an outstanding actor by the end of the show. His work so far is incredible.

And that line, "My mom's a bitch," was completely unexpected and delivered with absolute perfection.

I’m no biologist, but after some research I did, frozen eggs are probably not enough.

• Eggs can’t substitute for stem cells. They’re completely different cell types and don’t do the same job, so they’re not the kind of stem cells the Plurbs seem to be after.

• Frozen eggs contain only half of Carol’s DNA, so they can’t be used to clone her on their own. And no — the frozen eggs wouldn’t be contaminated with Carol’s full DNA (like blood or other bodily fluids). In fertility clinics, eggs are collected directly from the ovary in a clean, controlled process, and they’re prepared before freezing. So they don’t come with extra cells containing full DNA. (I still can’t believe they wash the eggs, though.) 😁

It might be necessary to keep those scenes to tell us something about Carol’s character or about the Plurbs themselves (they might have thought about shortening the message but didn’t, and Carol might have asked them to shorten it but didn’t either). Or they included the voicemail scenes simply to mischievously annoy the viewer.

Honestly, I’m fine with either. I was annoyed the second and third time she listened to the voicemail, but now I kinda like it. It’s funny that they keep including these scenes.

That is so cool and sad at the same time… 🥲

I’d definitely be asking a lot of questions. Have aliens visited our planet in the past? What are the most recent scientific breakthroughs? What is your ultimate goal? Why are you unable to lie? Why are you so naïve? How do you communicate? Do you still allow human bodies to reproduce? If yes, by what principle or criteria do you select mates? Why are you helping me instead of trying to imprison or kill me?

And then there are the questions they probably couldn’t—or wouldn’t—answer, but I’d still want to ask: The virus only affects humans, so was it designed specifically for us? The signal comes from a source 600 light-years away. That means someone must have visited Earth at least 1,200 years ago, collected genetic material, flown back, and then sent the signal. Why? Why not just release the virus while they were here? Why even create a virus at all? Were there other attempts to subdue humanity? Are there other alien races? Do aliens live among us?

And finally… why does she have to be so goddamn fuckable?

The CGI was so bad this episode. The blurred rooftop scene, the wolves — they looked completely unrealistic. With 15 million per episode, they could have either hired better graphics artists or used real animals. This episode broke something for me. Like… I can see now that Gilligan isn’t perfect.

I thought of Soylent Green the moment Zosia revealed that 800 million people (10% of the global population) died during the conversion. It seems like a logical step to use them as food rather than bury useful nutrients. I personally wouldn’t care, but it would be hilarious if this fact ended up helping Carol gain support from a few people who are still unaffected. “You consume the consciousness and personality of people? We don’t care. You consume the flesh of people? No, no, no, you can’t do THAT.”

Question, though: is it even possible to turn flesh into this kind of grain/dust/powder? Why not just eat the flesh directly—make “human jerky” or something like that? I mean… as humans we don’t consume or produce meat in the form of liquid or dissolvable powder; it’s too hard to make and not very feasible. Why did they decide to make it a powder specifically? Just for the plot? Really strange, considering Gilligan’s love for science and chemistry.