Anonymous
Post 12/26/2025 09:34     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:I have to wonder if when Carol and Zosia are having sex, is the entire hive right there with them, thinking their thoughts? Doesn't seem like there would be much privacy in a relationship with one of the hive.

In that vein, is Zosia really attracted to Carol or is she just going along with it as her "chaperone"? I'm so confused about their relationship, especially when none of the other hive member have relationships with one another.

I'm also very curious about what Manousos discovered with the radio frequency and how it helps to calm the hive when they have their seizures. He seems extraordinarily intelligent.


This was the point of the whole introduction with the indigenous girl. They surrounded her with love and affection and performed their rituals to make her feel as if those things are still part of them and the second she joined they all stopped, packed up, and left.

They are good at and intentionally manipulating the survivors into joining.

Zosia is the full history of humanity’s knowledge on how to manipulate someone. They clearly have no qualms about misleading even if they can’t lie
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 23:51     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

I have to wonder if when Carol and Zosia are having sex, is the entire hive right there with them, thinking their thoughts? Doesn't seem like there would be much privacy in a relationship with one of the hive.

In that vein, is Zosia really attracted to Carol or is she just going along with it as her "chaperone"? I'm so confused about their relationship, especially when none of the other hive member have relationships with one another.

I'm also very curious about what Manousos discovered with the radio frequency and how it helps to calm the hive when they have their seizures. He seems extraordinarily intelligent.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 23:40     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Some questions:

Manousos seems wildly capable- why didn’t he just take a boat around the gap?

Is it just me or is the actor who plays Manousos very, very sexy?

What is going to happen when Manousos wakes up in the hospital?



HA! I had all of the same questions/comments!
Wildly capable - 100%
Very, very sexy - 100%
Why not a boat??? Exactly what I was wondering.

I understand he refuses to ask for any help whatsoever from “them,” but I was so hoping he would just take them up on the offer to fly him to Albuquerque.

It seems from the date display the show uses that he’s in the hospital for a long time. I wonder if he’ll accept their help to get to Carol when he’s recovered or if he’ll just continue driving.

Too bad we know they won’t be falling in love, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of relationship they form.

I might have cried a little when Carol embraced Zosia at the end. How lonely she must be at this point!


pp you are responding to- my husband didn't get it! But he was jealous.

"He's not even that handsome."

"I didn't say handsome. I said sexy. Crazy sexy."

I think things aren't going to be rosy when Menousos makes it to Carol and find her palling around with Zosia. Menousos is hard-core and laser focused in a way that Carol isn't. He's going to look at her the way she looks at Diabete. The man set his favorite possession on fire just so the Hive wouldn't touch it. Carol is hitting golf balls into office buildings.

And can you imagine what Menousos would do if he met Diabate, someone who is using stolen bodies for his own entertainment and pleasure? He would consider him a rapist, which, well, he is.

I think Menousos failing to get a boat was just a plot contrivance so that he would need the Hive which is my least favorite thing in the show so far.

The episode was beautiful and cinematic but way too slow. If it was a Youtube video I would have put it on 2x speed.


Really that’s what you think?

Didn’t it occur to you even for a moment that the creators wanted to depict the trek through the Darien Gap so Americans on their sofas could think about what it is that migrants are going through, often with their young children in tow, in order to escape their homes for a better like in America?

This show only depicted the heat, the lack of potable water, the insects and other creatures that can harm you, the deadly flora and fauna. It didn’t depict the traffickers and other deadly humans that exist in one of the most lawless stretches of land on the face of the earth. Over 1.3 million migrants have traversed the Darien Gap since 2021 trying to reach a better live in North America.

Art is to entertain, but it operates on many levels. I was very impressed with the many themes at work in Gilligan’s Pluribus. I was especially impressed with The Gap episode. He is teaching Americans something there.


If the purpose of that sequence was to illustrate how dangerous the gap is instead of staying true to the character and the plot, that is by definition a plot contrivance. It pulled me out of the show because Manousos appears to be too intelligent to mindlessly wander into that situation. I don’t really see the “teaching moment” as relevant or needed in this show.


100% agree.
DP
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 23:36     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

The Darian gap as social commentary I think feeds into the ai/sameness social commentary. The whole scene with the indigenous girl kind of choosing to let go of her individuality and that immediately ending her people’s culture was so disturbing/interesting. Young people walking away from tradition does erase this type of cultural life.

Then Carol goes on this eat pray love journey (notably very different to what she chose to do when left to her own bored devices (golden girls, golf, Georgia o’keefe). She’s in this Instagram reality and still finds something lacking.

This two exceptionally curmudgeonly people refusing to give up what makes them them being beautiful despite them being aholes I think makes it even more interesting.

My question after this last episode is about the rules. They will give her an atom bomb but I assume not her own stem cells. Why? Did she just not think to demand that?

And why will they give her an atom bomb despite that largely being very destructive to their goals as well.

Why do they feel love for their missing pieces, this is the most inexplicable question. Putting make scientific research development into the conversion of these twelve people is inefficient and somewhat inexplicable. They cannot lie so they do believe she will be happy but why is the happiness important? Can’t believe that was just end of the season!
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 22:27     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Some questions:

Manousos seems wildly capable- why didn’t he just take a boat around the gap?

Is it just me or is the actor who plays Manousos very, very sexy?

What is going to happen when Manousos wakes up in the hospital?



HA! I had all of the same questions/comments!
Wildly capable - 100%
Very, very sexy - 100%
Why not a boat??? Exactly what I was wondering.

I understand he refuses to ask for any help whatsoever from “them,” but I was so hoping he would just take them up on the offer to fly him to Albuquerque.

It seems from the date display the show uses that he’s in the hospital for a long time. I wonder if he’ll accept their help to get to Carol when he’s recovered or if he’ll just continue driving.

Too bad we know they won’t be falling in love, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of relationship they form.

I might have cried a little when Carol embraced Zosia at the end. How lonely she must be at this point!


pp you are responding to- my husband didn't get it! But he was jealous.

"He's not even that handsome."

"I didn't say handsome. I said sexy. Crazy sexy."

I think things aren't going to be rosy when Menousos makes it to Carol and find her palling around with Zosia. Menousos is hard-core and laser focused in a way that Carol isn't. He's going to look at her the way she looks at Diabete. The man set his favorite possession on fire just so the Hive wouldn't touch it. Carol is hitting golf balls into office buildings.

And can you imagine what Menousos would do if he met Diabate, someone who is using stolen bodies for his own entertainment and pleasure? He would consider him a rapist, which, well, he is.

I think Menousos failing to get a boat was just a plot contrivance so that he would need the Hive which is my least favorite thing in the show so far.

The episode was beautiful and cinematic but way too slow. If it was a Youtube video I would have put it on 2x speed.


Really that’s what you think?

Didn’t it occur to you even for a moment that the creators wanted to depict the trek through the Darien Gap so Americans on their sofas could think about what it is that migrants are going through, often with their young children in tow, in order to escape their homes for a better like in America?

This show only depicted the heat, the lack of potable water, the insects and other creatures that can harm you, the deadly flora and fauna. It didn’t depict the traffickers and other deadly humans that exist in one of the most lawless stretches of land on the face of the earth. Over 1.3 million migrants have traversed the Darien Gap since 2021 trying to reach a better live in North America.

Art is to entertain, but it operates on many levels. I was very impressed with the many themes at work in Gilligan’s Pluribus. I was especially impressed with The Gap episode. He is teaching Americans something there.


OMG. We don't need a lecture, thanks.
DP


DP and I appreciated it, honestly.

SAME!
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 22:12     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m finding the show more and more boring. It’s too slow!


I kind of like the slowness. It’s relaxing to watch instead of shows that are intense or fast paced.

+1
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 21:55     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Just caught up with the show and read this thread.

- The people complaining about pacing are going to have to deal with it. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul both had similar aspects, leaning heavily on showing repetition and “setting” shots that intend to immerse you in the world of the characters. It paid off immensely in those shows snd I hope it does so here too.

- Up until the Darien Gap, Manousos was “paying” for gas and other items. The idea that he would have stolen a boat at that point would have felt like a character break.

- I am also wondering how they are going to deal with procreation. Especially knowing that starvation is likely. That’s the topic that does make it seem more like an alien invasion where they use resources and then move on (not in the physical sense, but beaming their way of life).


On the last point, if it’s like a virus that wants to repllicate, a virus only “cares” about killing its hosts if that means it can’t spread. So if the goal is just to have humans send the virus code out to additional planets (which they presumably are doing), the hive might not care much about human extinction/proceeation.

The question carol never seems to ask which is driving me nuts is … if you weren’t skiing in aspen with me, what would you be doing? It seems like none of them have individual desires/intetests. So do they just work and then stare at the wall? And how do they decide who does what work since they are all equally capable? Why isn’t the ditch digger asking for a turn at a desk job? Who is allocating the resources? Even the proletariat needed a vanguard. A hive has a queen bee. It’s not 8 billion people coming to instantaneous consensus over how to organize each little task every day, is it?

This is what seems to make procreation problematic. No one has an individual urges so ….. basically they would only have sex if/when the hive decides to allocate those resources in that direction???

PS they should inseminstr carols eggs to manouses — presumably their babies would be immune to the virus?


A virus doesn't want to do anything. It just keeps replicating, like a little machine, until it runs out of resources or is killed.

The hive mind does seem to want to procreate, but to the stars. The entire population is working toward the goal of sending out the signal. After it starts sending, there will be less demand for workers, just a maintenance crew. I expect the population to decline significantly before procreation is necessary. The hive mind is already running low on food.
Anonymous
Post 12/25/2025 21:41     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:Just caught up with the show and read this thread.

- The people complaining about pacing are going to have to deal with it. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul both had similar aspects, leaning heavily on showing repetition and “setting” shots that intend to immerse you in the world of the characters. It paid off immensely in those shows snd I hope it does so here too.

- Up until the Darien Gap, Manousos was “paying” for gas and other items. The idea that he would have stolen a boat at that point would have felt like a character break.

- I am also wondering how they are going to deal with procreation. Especially knowing that starvation is likely. That’s the topic that does make it seem more like an alien invasion where they use resources and then move on (not in the physical sense, but beaming their way of life).


On the last point, if it’s like a virus that wants to repllicate, a virus only “cares” about killing its hosts if that means it can’t spread. So if the goal is just to have humans send the virus code out to additional planets (which they presumably are doing), the hive might not care much about human extinction/proceeation.

The question carol never seems to ask which is driving me nuts is … if you weren’t skiing in aspen with me, what would you be doing? It seems like none of them have individual desires/intetests. So do they just work and then stare at the wall? And how do they decide who does what work since they are all equally capable? Why isn’t the ditch digger asking for a turn at a desk job? Who is allocating the resources? Even the proletariat needed a vanguard. A hive has a queen bee. It’s not 8 billion people coming to instantaneous consensus over how to organize each little task every day, is it?

This is what seems to make procreation problematic. No one has an individual urges so ….. basically they would only have sex if/when the hive decides to allocate those resources in that direction???

PS they should inseminstr carols eggs to manouses — presumably their babies would be immune to the virus?
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 21:57     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Just caught up with the show and read this thread.

- The people complaining about pacing are going to have to deal with it. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul both had similar aspects, leaning heavily on showing repetition and “setting” shots that intend to immerse you in the world of the characters. It paid off immensely in those shows snd I hope it does so here too.

- Up until the Darien Gap, Manousos was “paying” for gas and other items. The idea that he would have stolen a boat at that point would have felt like a character break.

- I am also wondering how they are going to deal with procreation. Especially knowing that starvation is likely. That’s the topic that does make it seem more like an alien invasion where they use resources and then move on (not in the physical sense, but beaming their way of life).
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 14:18     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wonder what happens to babies in the hive. How much do they know?


I saw a theory that they have the collective knowledge but obviously not the physical capabilities, so they’re sitting around in rooms practicing motor movements while they grow.


I’m not even sure about the collective knowledge. The show said the card game Spit originated in the UK in the 80s, but I was definitely playing that game in my 6th grade classroom in the late 70s in the US, every time we had indoor recess.

Other than that, the whole living in isolation thing really resonates with me. That’s been me for a few years now. Having the ability to do anything isn’t as much fun of an idea when there’s no one you really want to do anything with. Having the ability to do anything also somehow detracts from the appeal of things to the point where you often feel paralyzed to make a choice, and end up doing … nothing

I can see how billionaires and monarchs start to become a little squirrely


Yep. I turned to someone and said, "I was playing Spit in the US in the 1970s."
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:42     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Carol should challenge zoysia to a game of pac man. Something that relies not at all on knowledge but on reflex and muscle memory. Just to test how much of that is transferred in the hive.


It's Zosia. And the card game they played demonstrated exactly that.


I disagree to an extent. Card games do not require that much muscle memory. But both scenarios would require Carol to have enough muscle memory in there to evaluate. IE, does Carol have more muscle memory for Spit than the average person has for a similar type of card game. I doubt she would have the muscle memory to be that competitive in pac man herself. But I think this is kind of semantics, because they might not have muscle memory but the way they describe their communication as kind of intuitive breathing type thing, and how they all have kind of ever present knowledge, it would equip almost anyone with the tools to do something fairly well. Even if perhaps only the body of the expert would be able to say, execute a quadruple axel to perfection.

I think I'd take her skiing. Something that you can understand entirely in theory but until you're using your body to do is hard, and she came from a very hot place. But still I expect she would do it well quickly.
.


Watch the latest episode. They do exactly that, but Zosia’s skiing ability isn’t shown or discussed.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:35     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Some questions:

Manousos seems wildly capable- why didn’t he just take a boat around the gap?

Is it just me or is the actor who plays Manousos very, very sexy?

What is going to happen when Manousos wakes up in the hospital?



HA! I had all of the same questions/comments!
Wildly capable - 100%
Very, very sexy - 100%
Why not a boat??? Exactly what I was wondering.

I understand he refuses to ask for any help whatsoever from “them,” but I was so hoping he would just take them up on the offer to fly him to Albuquerque.

It seems from the date display the show uses that he’s in the hospital for a long time. I wonder if he’ll accept their help to get to Carol when he’s recovered or if he’ll just continue driving.

Too bad we know they won’t be falling in love, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of relationship they form.

I might have cried a little when Carol embraced Zosia at the end. How lonely she must be at this point!


pp you are responding to- my husband didn't get it! But he was jealous.

"He's not even that handsome."

"I didn't say handsome. I said sexy. Crazy sexy."

I think things aren't going to be rosy when Menousos makes it to Carol and find her palling around with Zosia. Menousos is hard-core and laser focused in a way that Carol isn't. He's going to look at her the way she looks at Diabete. The man set his favorite possession on fire just so the Hive wouldn't touch it. Carol is hitting golf balls into office buildings.

And can you imagine what Menousos would do if he met Diabate, someone who is using stolen bodies for his own entertainment and pleasure? He would consider him a rapist, which, well, he is.

I think Menousos failing to get a boat was just a plot contrivance so that he would need the Hive which is my least favorite thing in the show so far.

The episode was beautiful and cinematic but way too slow. If it was a Youtube video I would have put it on 2x speed.


Really that’s what you think?

Didn’t it occur to you even for a moment that the creators wanted to depict the trek through the Darien Gap so Americans on their sofas could think about what it is that migrants are going through, often with their young children in tow, in order to escape their homes for a better like in America?

This show only depicted the heat, the lack of potable water, the insects and other creatures that can harm you, the deadly flora and fauna. It didn’t depict the traffickers and other deadly humans that exist in one of the most lawless stretches of land on the face of the earth. Over 1.3 million migrants have traversed the Darien Gap since 2021 trying to reach a better live in North America.

Art is to entertain, but it operates on many levels. I was very impressed with the many themes at work in Gilligan’s Pluribus. I was especially impressed with The Gap episode. He is teaching Americans something there.


DP. Yes, it only occurred to me as part of the plot to show how determined he is, or maybe so he would need the hive’s help. I doubt most Americans are even going to make the connection about migrants.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 10:13     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Carol should challenge zoysia to a game of pac man. Something that relies not at all on knowledge but on reflex and muscle memory. Just to test how much of that is transferred in the hive.


Most of the people who have beat Pac Man memorized the patterns of the ghosts. They aren't random. These patterns would be something the hive would have access to.


Hmm. Maybe Galaga? Trying to think of something that really relies on muscle memory and/or the thing that some people are just weirdly good at which doesn’t depend on acquired knowledge. Obviously trivial pursuit would be a disaster! I guess she could also just ask, but it seems the hive is a little evasive when asked questions that might point out their weaknesses.
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 08:05     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wonder what happens to babies in the hive. How much do they know?


I saw a theory that they have the collective knowledge but obviously not the physical capabilities, so they’re sitting around in rooms practicing motor movements while they grow.


I’m not even sure about the collective knowledge. The show said the card game Spit originated in the UK in the 80s, but I was definitely playing that game in my 6th grade classroom in the late 70s in the US, every time we had indoor recess.

Other than that, the whole living in isolation thing really resonates with me. That’s been me for a few years now. Having the ability to do anything isn’t as much fun of an idea when there’s no one you really want to do anything with. Having the ability to do anything also somehow detracts from the appeal of things to the point where you often feel paralyzed to make a choice, and end up doing … nothing

I can see how billionaires and monarchs start to become a little squirrely
Anonymous
Post 12/24/2025 04:03     Subject: Pluribus on Apple TV

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Some questions:

Manousos seems wildly capable- why didn’t he just take a boat around the gap?

Is it just me or is the actor who plays Manousos very, very sexy?

What is going to happen when Manousos wakes up in the hospital?



HA! I had all of the same questions/comments!
Wildly capable - 100%
Very, very sexy - 100%
Why not a boat??? Exactly what I was wondering.

I understand he refuses to ask for any help whatsoever from “them,” but I was so hoping he would just take them up on the offer to fly him to Albuquerque.

It seems from the date display the show uses that he’s in the hospital for a long time. I wonder if he’ll accept their help to get to Carol when he’s recovered or if he’ll just continue driving.

Too bad we know they won’t be falling in love, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of relationship they form.

I might have cried a little when Carol embraced Zosia at the end. How lonely she must be at this point!


pp you are responding to- my husband didn't get it! But he was jealous.

"He's not even that handsome."

"I didn't say handsome. I said sexy. Crazy sexy."

I think things aren't going to be rosy when Menousos makes it to Carol and find her palling around with Zosia. Menousos is hard-core and laser focused in a way that Carol isn't. He's going to look at her the way she looks at Diabete. The man set his favorite possession on fire just so the Hive wouldn't touch it. Carol is hitting golf balls into office buildings.

And can you imagine what Menousos would do if he met Diabate, someone who is using stolen bodies for his own entertainment and pleasure? He would consider him a rapist, which, well, he is.

I think Menousos failing to get a boat was just a plot contrivance so that he would need the Hive which is my least favorite thing in the show so far.

The episode was beautiful and cinematic but way too slow. If it was a Youtube video I would have put it on 2x speed.


Really that’s what you think?

Didn’t it occur to you even for a moment that the creators wanted to depict the trek through the Darien Gap so Americans on their sofas could think about what it is that migrants are going through, often with their young children in tow, in order to escape their homes for a better like in America?

This show only depicted the heat, the lack of potable water, the insects and other creatures that can harm you, the deadly flora and fauna. It didn’t depict the traffickers and other deadly humans that exist in one of the most lawless stretches of land on the face of the earth. Over 1.3 million migrants have traversed the Darien Gap since 2021 trying to reach a better live in North America.

Art is to entertain, but it operates on many levels. I was very impressed with the many themes at work in Gilligan’s Pluribus. I was especially impressed with The Gap episode. He is teaching Americans something there.


If the purpose of that sequence was to illustrate how dangerous the gap is instead of staying true to the character and the plot, that is by definition a plot contrivance. It pulled me out of the show because Manousos appears to be too intelligent to mindlessly wander into that situation. I don’t really see the “teaching moment” as relevant or needed in this show.