Pluribus has been one of my favorite series of 2025 and even though I was very upset with them for throwing 3-4 "filler episodes" in the middle there where almost nothing happened, they did work their way to a crescendo that while predictable, provided as a very good ending to season 1 that is going to have all of us on the edge of our seats waiting for season 2.
For those of you like me that are on the edge of your seat and really anticipating the release of season 2 I have some extremely terrible news for you: They haven't even started filming season 2 yet and having finished writing it. It is predicted that season 2 will not premiere until late 2027 or even early 2028.... dammit!
I won't go over the filler portion of the series again because I already detailed that a great deal in my last post about this series but as a recap, from episode 4 entitled "Please Carol" all the way to episode 8, just a few things happen of substance and the rest of the 50 minutes of the show is spent with establishing shots and occurrences that have no meaning as far as the overall progression of the plot is concerned. This was frustrating to watch because I expect a lot from the creators of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and feel as though very little of either of those shows has anything resembling "filler" and that is why it was such a shock to encounter it in this show.
Anyway, moving forward, I would like to talk about how great the final episode of the season was and there is a good chance that there are going to be spoilers in here so if you haven't watched the show, you should turn back now.
Seriously, there are spoilers incoming! Turn back if you haven't finished watching the show!
In episode 9 which is entitled "La Chica o El Mundo" which means "the girl or the world" is done extremely well, and almost makes me feel as though sitting through 3 episodes of nothing happening was nearly worth it. They did this in Game of Thrones afterall, so why not Pluribus?
The opening sequence is so powerful and masterfully done. Without using words that most people can understand as they do not translate a lot of what is being said, you can tell what is going on here. One of the people who like Carol and Manousos is in her remote village and the people are carrying on just like their old-timey ways would have dictated before the hive-mind took over the planet. The villagers are all consoling the one non-hive girl and telling her about how something that she is about to do is not painful and how there is nothing to be afraid of. They are going through some sort of ritual that the girl is familiar with and comfortable with and are accommodating her all the way through the process.
They are chanting, speaking to her in her local language and being very loving throughout the entire process of the ritual of sorts.
Once the chemical that she takes in that is meant to make her "one of us" has done its job they immediately stop chanting, stop speaking, strip off their ceremonial clothes, pack up the village and all of them, including the new addition, leave the village and everything that is in it, including the little girl's pet goat, who is clearly distressed she is leaving but she doesn't do so much as look behind her to say goodbye to it
This was extremely heart-breaking and also, without explicitly stating it, a sign of the objective of the hive-mind others. They have no intention of preserving any culture of the people of this planet. They have no use for language or culture, and seek out only sustenance and expansion in the most efficient way possible. While this itself doesn't appear to be at all evil, because what we have seen so far of the "others" they are incapable of harm, but they also do not have any sort of humanity and have no concern for the preservation of anything that is already on Earth.
This is masterful storytelling on the part of Gilligan and co. I love when someone is able to pull off a major part of the story in a "show don't tell" sort of way and this was just outstanding. This is the sort of thing I have come to expect of the showrunners and why I got so sensitive towards the middle of the season why nothing was happening.
Elsewhere in the episode Carol gets increasingly upset with Manousos who has a different idea about how to interact with the others. He has no concern for them and views all of them as enemies. Carol used to be this way but over time and over the level of care and affection she has started to have towards Zosia, she views what Manousos is going as being terrible and it is clear by her words that she has kind of gone over to the side of the "others." Again, this is done in a show don't tell sort of way and I loved it.
As the audience we start to feel as though Manousos is overly paranoid in the way that he doesn't want the phone nearby for translation and he wont talk in a house out of fear of listening bugs and even when talking outside he will only do so under an umbrella so that their lips cannot be read by satellites. We are never shown if this is possible but given how he was tracked so easily through the jungle just a few episodes earlier, I suppose it does seem plausible.
Carol doesn't like the way in which he seems to be harming the others and especially Zosia, who Carol has developed love-like feeling for and Carol runs away to go on a lengthy luxury vacation with Zosia instead of working together with Manousos. This was a really-well done part of the show as well because we are shown how Zosia is completely willing to play along with being a loving partner with Carol all the while never discussing the hivemind plan unless instructed to do so.
They go to exotic beach locations, ski resort villas that must have been the playgrounds of only the super rich, eat wonderful food and have all the time together that they want. It all seems so wonderful to Carol because it appears as though she is starting to love Zosia and since Zosia cannot lie, Zosia's response about this love is one of the hive all loving her and that "this individual loves you just as much as the other individuals." Not exactly your romantic wonderline I suppose.
While Carol is seriously enjoying herself a conversation comes up about how Carol can only be converted if they have some sort of DNA stem-cell stuff from her and it is discovered that they have this already in the form of frozen eggs that Carol had put somewhere in an effort to get pregnant later or something. I'm not sure about this because I don't understand the process and they didn't dwell on it too long but basically, they have the biological material necessary to convert Carol to part of the hivemind and the conversion can happen in as little as a month.
Question?
I feel as though I have been paying pretty good attention to all that is going on in this series but I seem to remember there being some talk about how the others cannot convert Carol or any of the other humans who didn't convert without their permission. Did I mis-interpret this or did the showrunners do a bit of a switcharoo on us? Because if they cannot convert Carol without her permission this doesn't really change a great deal about what is going on here.
Anyhoo, this is the trigger that kind of makes Carol realize that Zosia doesn't really love her in an individual type sense that a human being is so accustomed to and craves so much. Zosia believes that converting Carol to the hivemind is in Carol's best interests and that by doing so for Carol would be the greatest thing possible for Carol. Zosia personally, because there is no Zosia personally has no preferential feelings towards Carol and even though it might not be that devious, she is manipulating her with these vacations and notions of love.
It is at that point that Carol leaves and brings us our final cliffhanger where some mysterious crate gets dropped off back in Albuquerque, along with Carola.
Prior to Carol departing with Zosia, Manousos tried to reason with her by saying "La Chica o El Mundo", which means "The girl, or the world?" It took Carol a little while, but she has ultimately decided on "the world."
If you watched the show you already know what is in that crate. IF you didn't watch the show and you completely ignored my spoiler warnings then I am going to do you a favor and not reveal what is in there.
But the arrival of this crate introduces far more questions than it answers and the fact that we are going to have to wait at least 2 years to find out what happens next is kind of annoying to me.
I suppose the 2 year gap is better than them forcing out some slop and force-feeding it to us. I'd rather wait and have quality.
So what did you think of season 1? I feel as though it is a really great concept that aside from the middle episodes had damn near perfect execution. I would love to see into the mind of Vince Gilligan and see if he was a bit miffed about the 3 "dead episodes" in the middle but we also have to understand that they might be stretching this out on purpose because with only 7 non-other characters on the planet, most of who are not very interesting, there really isn't 9 hours of material to show, is there?
Did you like the first season? Do you have any questions? let's discuss!
The only way to legally watch Pluribus is through an AppleTV+ membership