Warning: This post contains spoilers for the finale.
Even though it briefly appeared as if Carol (Rhea Seehorn) was succumbing to the Others’ efforts to persuade her into the hive-mind’s state of collective existence, the ending of the Season 1 finale of Pluribus presented a different narrative.
In the closing moments of the ninth and final episode, which premiered on Apple TV on Dec. 24, a few days earlier than its originally scheduled release date of Dec. 26, Carol returned to Albuquerque after a failed romantic trial with her chaperone-turned-love interest Zosia (Karolina Wydra) and reunited with fellow virus-immune individual Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga). Carol arrived carrying an atom bomb and an apparently renewed determination to reverse the hive mind’s grip on Earth’s population, which was welcome news to an increasingly determined Manousos.
Here are the five biggest questions we were left pondering after the finale’s end credits rolled.
Why are Carol, Manousos, and the others immune to the hive-mind virus?
Given that there were only 13 people in the world who were immune to the so-called “Joining,” it must be an extremely rare anomaly that stops the virus from taking hold. But so far, we haven’t been given any real hints as to what that might be. We know the Others have figured out how to turn the immune by customizing the virus to their individual stem cells, but it’s still unclear what the initial issue was. The finale showed that, despite Carol’s refusal to consent to an extraction, the collective was able to obtain her stem cells from her frozen eggs and intends to use them to convert her against her will. Whether it’s related to their inherent psychological makeup or something else entirely, figuring out the reason they were protected initially seems like it could be useful for Carol and Manousos right now.
How would a cure for the virus work?
We know the hive mind originated from a lysogenic virus, meaning the virus’ genetic material gets incorporated into that of its host, and that it can be spread through kissing, donut licking, and drinking from an infected water supply, among other forms of body-fluid transmission.We also know it was initially passed on slowly and secretly before attempted military interference required quicker action. In Episode 4, Carol learned from Zosia that there seemingly is a way to reverse the virus’ effects. But how would Carol and Manousos go about administering a potential cure to every remaining hive-mind infected person on the planet? And how would the world move on from such a catastrophic event if they did manage to achieve their goal?
Is there any of the real Zosia left inside the hive-mind version of her?
Although Carol had to learn the hard way that her relationship with Zosia was really just an attempt by the hive-mind to make her like the collective, we’re still wondering if there’s any of the real Zosia struggling to break free from the virus’ control. Of course, that raises the question of whether the true Zosia, if she were ever to regain her individuality, would be someone Carol knows or even recognizes. Given everything Carol has done to her in her hive-mind form, it also seems possible that the real Zosia might hold a grudge against her assigned ward.
What are Carol’s plans for the atom bomb?
The closing scene of the Season 1 finale showed that Carol had not only snapped out of her temporary state of loneliness-induced hive mind acceptance but also demonstrated that she was fulfilling her idea from Episode 3 to demand the Others give her a nuclear weapon. At this point, it’s clear Carol doesn’t consider killing those infected by the virus as a solution to the problem, so how she plans to use an atom bomb to gain control of the situation is still uncertain. Perhaps the mere threat of the nuke will be enough for the Others to answer some of the questions about the cure they’ve been avoiding.
What is the ultimate goal of the beings who engineered the virus?
In Episode 8, we learned that one preprogrammed directive of the hive mind is to build an antenna large enough to beam out the same RNA sequence radio transmission that caused Earth’s Joining to lifeforms on other planets. Considering the signal apparently originated 600 light years away, Zosia tells Carol it’s likely Earth’s Others will never meet the extraterrestrial beings who sent the virus. But she also says the Others know these beings love them and that they “have to share their gift with whoever else might be out there.”
Still, the question remains of whether we’ll ever find out what the goal of all this was in the grand galactic scheme of things. Maybe the virus is simply meant to pacify any potentially dangerous, technologically advanced civilizations and stop them from becoming interstellar threats. Perhaps the aliens who engineered the code have the means to travel hundreds of light years in a short time and are on their way to take over Earth as we speak. Maybe it’s something else entirely. Either way, we’ll have to wait until Season 2 (or later) to find out.
