I haven’t see any discussion for this show on Lemmy so I thought I’d be the first!
Pluribus is the new show from Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. The marketing on this show was so vague that it was intended to be watched completely blind, with nobody knowing what it was even about.
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Gotta say this made me much more worried about bioweapons and how good the Army is at surveillance
I just finished watching the first two episodes and thought it was excellent. It’s been a while since a show hooked me from the very start.
Episode 2 theory
After finishing episode 2, I now have a theory on where this is going. When the hivemind says that it can’t hurt anything, I think they mean it literally. They are not allowed to hurt any living thing and are completely docile.
The reason they have a seizure when shouted it is that they want to hurt Carol back but aren’t allowed to, so they deadlock. They also seem to do 100% of everything they’re told to do. Nobody noticed this yet in the show but potentially this could mean someone could order around everybody on earth to try and rule it, which could be wild. Curious to see where this goes and whether I’m right.
They, I think as the US Agriculture guy, did say it wasn’t an alien invasion. I guess technically they might not know that, but to me that was a clear indicator that there isn’t a ruling outside force.
Also while they are doing whatever they are told, it’s just some light babysitting from their perspective. There are 12 (?) people worldwide who aren’t part of the hive, we met the half that can speak English. Each of them has a chaperone and that one guy has a small harem. The other 99.9% of Earth is doing… Something. We’ve seen them cleaning up. They know how many months away they are from improving the infection rate (based on the guess of all the best scientists in the world).
So what do “they” want?
:::spoiler
They also seem to do 100% of everything they’re told to do.
I’m also wondering if that is just to placate the immune until “They” figure out the fix. Assuming “they” truly cannot intentionally cause harm to another living thing (and nothing so far has indicated that to be untrue), then the immune population (no matter how tiny) could be considered a threat and acting like a doormat is just “their” way of dealing with that.
Since they don’t consider assimilation to be harm, once “they” figure out how to infect the immune, I think things could turn quite a bit darker after that (but still with the creepy cheerful demeanor).
Edit/addition: While “they” seemingly cannot cause harm to people, they don’t seem to be limited such that they’re forced to prevent harm from occurring.
Evidence:
- Carol was close to heat exhaustion when burying Helen. “Pirate Lady” only suggested she drink some water but did not force her to.
- “They” don’t seem to care that the dangerous zoo animals mauled/killed people
- “Pirate Lady” flat out said “they” could not protect Carol and the other “immune” from each other.
Between that and the “biological imperative to spread” loopholes, I’m definitely curious where those go.
:::
I’m genuinely excited to see where this goes.
Something to consider is that they did say “Your life is your own” and Pirate Lady refused to choose between Carol and Air Force One man. Hurting someone emotionally isn’t something they want to do willingly. So unless they’re lying I don’t think they’ll force joining the hive mind on anyone.
Similarly when they saw they were causing Carol distress they acknowledged it backed away from the interaction.
Forcing Carol to drink water would have been distressing for Carol, so they could also be why they didn’t force her to drink.
HOWEVER we saw during the initial infection that people were activated and joined more or less one by one. But as we saw when the countdown reached zero, the majority of the world was held back from activation and instead activated all at once. We also know the global activation was rushed as the military was catching on.
Now they may not have known the activation process would kill some people, but they must have known a global seizure would cause some number of deaths and harm.
So they have a sense of self preservation and that sense does allow them to cause harm.
Very interesting concept so far.
Two questions keep popping up in my head:
- Does anyone need art/entertainment in a hive mind? There is no suspension of disbelief. Will new music be created or will everyone just go “yeah, that is a nice melody” in their heads and that’s it?
- What about birth? Are babies already connected in utero? Can they recite poems the second air hits their lungs?
I’m definitely down to see how this intriguing concept plays out. Glad to hear I’m not the only one on Lemmy that’s excited about this show.
There is also a community here on Lemmy.
If the hivemind can’t cause harm then how did the rat bite the first lady?
Animals seem immune. There was some throwaway line in episode 2 about how one of the survivors told a giraffe to shoo and go away but it completely ignored her.
I had the same thought.
Couple of possibilities:
Spoiler
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Animals don’t seem to be infected in the same way humans are, and rats bite on their own anyway. Perhaps it was just a carrier rather than part of the hive. While it showed the same symptoms as later humans who became infected that doesn’t necessarily mean it was part of the hive. The zoo animals that were let loose definitely do not seem to be part of the hive (they attacked “them” who couldn’t defend themselves).
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If the rat was part of the hive, then it could just be the “biological imperative to spread” loophole that allows them to assimilate without consent.
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Because he’s doing something complete different and not trying to drag out the Breaking Bad franchise into shit like Hollywood constantly does.
Novel premise. Looks promising after two episodes. What if humanity was not just a bunch of self-centered assholes?
"Them" Theory
I think, at face value, “they” are truly benign in their own way. However, because “they” don’t consider assimilation to be causing harm, merely a biological imperative, ultimately humanity and Earth are merely going to be vessels for “them” to further procreate.
In the first episode, the astrophysicists were discussing the massive energy requirements and how it would have taken an antenna array the “size of Africa” to send that signal.
My theory is that is the endgame for earth/humanity (and was what happened on the planet where the signal originated). “They”, while benign and otherwise passive, will use “their” hive mind and a significant portion (or all) of Earth’s resources to build another transmitter to further spread.
How much of humanity is lost in that endeavor and how much resources remain afterward are yet to be determined though. Maybe “they” leave a remnant population, maybe “they” don’t.
Good line of thinking. I also started wondering what “they” do when they are not busy pampering the last remaining individuals.
spoiler
I think you’re on the money. The signal humanity got is also most likely from an alien species that suffered the same fate, it’s a virus trying to spread to the whole universe.
I was looking forward to this show for months before it finally aired. I watched the first two episodes, and they suffer from the same pacing problems that other Vince Gilligan shows do, especially Better Call Saul. But some people actually like that, so I guess that depends on you. personally, I would’ve trimmed up the first episode in the editing suite a bit.
That aside, the story is fascinating, and the actors are doing a spectacular job. I look forward to seeing more of this show.
they suffer from the same pacing problems that other Vince Gilligan shows do
What are you talking about. A good plot needs to be built, if you want fast pace, watch TV with asplosions.
Copying over my comment from another thread:
Just watched the first 2 episodes last night. It’s great so far! I love the pace and that it’s not relying solely on the initial plot point to keep the show going.
I saw an screenshot and see the actress from Better Call Saul and assumed it was another show in the breaking bad universe, like continuing her story aft3r bcs.
