Pluribus Shows How Independence Is Impossible in the Modern World

This article contains spoilers for Pluribus episode 3.

Watching Apple TV’s Pluribus is an interesting experience in that it practically forces viewers to ask themselves what they would do if they were in the protagonist’s shoes. Would we be like Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) – eschewing any help from the hive mind that has taken over humanity – or would we use the drones as servants and pretend that our infected family were still normal like the five English-speaking immune people elsewhere do? Those of us who value free will and individuality may confidently insist that we would follow Carol’s example, but her high moral ground may not be as solid as it at first appears.

With the hive mind in control of all infrastructure worldwide, Carol (and any other like-minded survivor of the viral apocalypse) would have a hard time staying off the grid. Although keeping away from the internet and all broadcast television may be simple enough since it’s unlikely those media will operate the same way under the new regime anyway. That’s where it comes in handy to own all seven seasons of Golden Girls on DVD!

But Carol can’t just pretend to be in her own bubble of existence when the power grid that allows her to bingewatch herself into oblivion is being maintained by the pod people. Their energy consumption are significantly reduced by enforced brownouts, and this version of Albuquerque doesn’t need lights at night since the city is free from the influence of criminals like Walter White, Gus Fring, and the Salamanca cartel from creator Vince Gilligan’s other ABQ TV universe. Carol must allow herself to be coddled in order to keep the lights on in her neighborhood.

Carol’s dependence becomes even more obvious when she chooses to go shopping rather than have a gourmet breakfast delivered to her front door. Given the more efficient (and probably more equitable) food distribution of humanity’s new setup, there’s no need to keep specialty organic markets like Sprouts open for affluent best-selling authors like Carol. In fact, delivering home-cooked meals arguably involves fewer brainwashed drones than stocking an entire grocery store with food that will undoubtedly spoil to preserve Carol’s illusion of independence.

And the irony of Carol choosing frozen meals prepared by others instead of fresh produce and other ingredients to cook for herself is lost on no one. Perhaps she thought that if she only visited Sprouts once to stock up with enough Lean Cuisine to last for months, she could live in denial that all of that food would be rotting on the shelf for her exclusive benefit. Whatever her reasoning, Carol’s inner conflict is clearly evident as she watches random Albuquerque residents stock the shelves. How can one of the last human individuals on Earth truly be free of hive mind assistance?

Perhaps the answer lies with another disgruntled immune person: the mysterious man from Paraguay. Zosia (Karolina Wydra) confesses that the collective didn’t even discover his presence until much later than the others like Carol, and that admission comes from those who successfully prioritized isolated humans like those on the International Space Station and in arctic research centers in the earliest part of their takeover. Might the Paraguay man have been off the grid, or could he perhaps at least have the skills to remain separate from this new unified version of humanity for extended periods of time?

We know from their broken phone conversation that Carol and the Paraguay man have one thing in common: their surliness. Because Carol used her final exchange with the mysterious stranger to curse him out, it’s possible that he’ll realize that he has found a kindred spirit in his American counterpart. It seems likely that he will be back in touch soon, and if he is, perhaps he could share the secret with Carol to being truly independent of interference so that the real work of saving humanity can begin.

But first, one more episode of Golden Girls…

New episodes of Pluribus release Fridays on Apple TV.