Pluribus season 2 needs to answer these 9 major questions
The hivemind has some explaining to do after the Pluribus season 1 finale.
That was quite the explosive season finale for Pluribus. We learned quite a bit, are left questioning even more, and have no idea what's going to happen in season 2. Luckily, we have the coming weeks and months (but hopefully not years) to talk, theorize, and angrily tap our feet while we wait for new episodes of Vince Gilligan’s hit new science fiction drama.
[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for Pluribus episode 9.]
At least we're not as hopeless as Carol (Rhea Seehorn) seems at the end of Pluribus episode 9, "La Chica o El Mundo." After finding out that the hivemind is using her frozen eggs to reverse-engineer a cure to her immunity, the woman who had finally begun softening with regard to her relationship with the hivemind is gone. In her place is the person telling Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) she wants to help him save the world — with an atomic bomb in two.
Sure, there's the immediate question: What the hell are they going to do with that bomb? That's just scratching the surface, though. All season, Pluribus has been giving us little bits of info that leave us wondering and now that the first season is finished, we're ready for some answers. Hopefully, Gilligan sees this article and addresses them all in the season 2 premiere.
9 What's the real purpose of the hivemind, anyway?
Image: Apple TV
We’ve watched this hivemind virus spread and even know the next step is to broadcast it to other planets, spreading the infection further and further across the universe. Why, though? What's the endgame for the alien race broadcasting it from Kepler 22-b?
Will we meet them in a future episode? Will they come to Earth? Will the planets the hivemind is spreading to become colonized or — worse — strip-mined for resources and ultimately destroyed? We don't know anything about whatever species of alien is doing this to us. We don't know that we can actually trust the hivemind to be truthful, regardless of what they say. And, come to think of it, we don't even know that the signal is originating from Kepler 22-b and that it's not just another hivemind-controlled planet spreading the message.
8 And what are the hivemind doing all day, anyway?
Image: Apple
Based on Carol's whiteboard in episode 8, we know the hivemind is building a massive antenna to spread the hivemind virus even further across the universe. We also know they're hard at work to find a way to convert those that were immune to the initial virus. But what about the literal billions of other people under the hivemind's control?
While they all share the same knowledge, having billions of people working on the same experiment is a logistical nightmare and seems counterintuitive to the way the hivemind operates. So what are they doing, then?
7 Will the hivemind-controlled humans reproduce?
Image: Apple TV
In theory, the answer is an obvious yes. If the aliens want the antenna they're building to be maintained, future generations will need to care for it, and thus, reproduction is a necessity. Without babies being born, there can't be adults down the line to keep the world moving.
However, that's taking everything the hivemind is telling us at face value. As noted above, we don't know the true purpose of the aliens sending the hivemind signal to Earth, only what they want us to think it is. Perhaps they're being truthful, but if they're not, they may have no need for people once they colonize or strip-mine the planet.
6 What's happening around the world?
Image: Apple TV
We've already seen that the hivemind consolidates people and resources to conserve power, even sleeping in large groups and shutting down power grids to entire cities. However, we only see that through the lens of Carol's existence. What's happening elsewhere? Have entire countries in some parts of the world been abandoned?
Given we are primarily stuck in New Mexico, there's a lot of the world out there we just don't have information about.
5 What happened to the other immune people like Carol? Have any of them but Kusimayu been converted to the hivemind?
Image: Apple TV
When we watch Kusimayu joining the hivemind in episode 9, it was a jolt to the system and a stark reminder that acts as a stark reminder of the hivemind's ultimate goal. It also set the stage for the revelation that the hivemind is using Carol's frozen eggs to reverse engineer a cure to her immunity.
We haven't heard about the rest of the immune, though. There's a brief moment of Carol briefly speaking to one of them on the phone in the finale, explaining that she didn't cause the hivemind meltdown this time. We also know that Koumba (Samba Schutte) declined to have his stem cells harvested via a giant needle to develop a “cure,” so he may also be safe for now. But outside of that, though, it's been a few episodes since we've heard about them.
Logically, if anyone else in the group had chosen to join the hivemind, Zosia would have mentioned it like she did Kusimayu. So where are they? What are they doing? Perhaps season 2 will give us one-off episodes following the others in their lives.
4 Can someone thoroughly explain the hivemind's rules with regard to killing?
Image: Apple TV
From what we are led to believe, the hivemind cannot end life, whether that's plants, animals, or otherwise. That's not counting the hundreds of millions that died during the "Joining," for some reason, but what about all of the domesticated animals left behind to starve to death?
We learn that some animals follow the hivemind-controlled husks of their owners to their new lives. What about the ones that don't? Are we to believe the hivemind is fine with all of these animals they are technically responsible for dying? Abandoning them is making a conscious choice, leading to their eventual death. How does that square with their non-killing ethos? And do they have plans for that meat like they did for all of the dead humans?
3 What killed Helen and stopped so many from being able to join the hivemind?
Image: Apple TV
We know 886 million people died during the joining, one of whom was Carol's partner, Helen. What we don't know is why any of that happened. When exposed to the aerosol that spread the hivemind infection, Helen fell to the ground and started convulsing. Ultimately, she died.
That convulsing looks a lot like what happens to the hivemind when they're exposed to Carol's extreme negativity — or whatever Manousos is doing with radio signals in the finale. So it could be something that's triggered that could, in the end, help stop the hivemind. First, though, we need to figure out what the trigger was and how much the hivemind actually knows about it.
2 And speaking of death, how did most of the U.S. government die?
Image: Apple TV
It's mighty coincidental that most of the federal government was part of the 886 million that failed to join the hivemind, don't you think? Maybe creator Gilligan simply wanted to avoid a direct connection to the modern political landscape. Then again, what about the major leaders from the rest of the world? Are they part of the hivemind, and if not, what happened to them?
1 And most importantly, are Carol's books actually terrible?
Image: Apple TV
Look, romantic fiction is very popular. In the world of Pluribus, Carol is a wildly successful author known for her romance-fantasy novels. That doesn't mean she's a great writer, though. There have been examples of people many would consider poor authors finding fame in the literary world. There are three Fifty Shades of Grey movies proving that point.
So where does Carol's work fall? Was she going to write the next great American novel, or was she destined to spend the rest of her days writing smut for the masses? Based on what we learn about the stories from her discussion with Zosia, we're guessing the latter. It doesn't exactly sound like she's aiming for a Pulitzer.
Then again, maybe we're wrong and she's secretly a brilliant writer. And sure, we could just look at this 11-page excerpt from one of her books Apple released, but that sounds like a lot of work. So the mystery lives on.