This article contains spoilers for Pluribus episode 3.
After introducing viewers to its overarching conflict and main characters in episodes 1 and 2, Pluribus progresses Carol’s story in episode 3 by showing how she is slowly starting to understand the infected hive mind.
Towards the end of Pluribus episode 2, Carol almost lets her chaperon, Zosia, leave. However, at the last moment, she stops her plane and decides to have her with her. In episode 3’s opening moments, Carol and Zosia make their way back home before Carol attempts to contact another immune individual from Paraguay. Unfortunately, for Carol, this interaction, too, does not end too well.
In the Apple TV sci-fi show’s episode 3’s ending, Zosia saves Carol from accidentally harming herself with a grenade, which prompts Carol to some intriguing insights about the infected. Before the episode’s credits start rolling, Carol asks some intriguing questions to one of the infected “worker bees,” seemingly realizing that she can do something to save the world before it is too late.
Why Carol Asks The Atom Bomb Question To The “Worker Bee” In Pluribus Episode 3’s Ending
While waiting to know more about Zosia’s condition at the hospital, Carol ends up talking to another infected individual. While the person tries to console her, Carol curiously asks them if they would be willing to give her a grenade again. Without hesitation, they tell her that they would. This makes Carol realize that the people connected to the hive mind struggle to say “no.” They see rejection as an act of defiance and something that goes against their programming of working in unity.
To test the limits of their programming, Carol even asks them if they would be willing to give her an atom bomb. At first, they are hesitant as they try to make her understand that they would help her weigh the pros and cons of using nuclear weapons. However, when Carol prompts them to give her a “yes” or “no” answer, their programming forces them to say “yes.” This could be a tipping point in Carol’s story as it helps her realize that the hive mind is highly agreeable.
If she treads carefully, she can use this to make the infected work under her and help her find a cure for the happiness infection. Before they find a way to make her like them, she could find a way to heal the world. This, in a lot of ways, makes Carol extremely dangerous to the infected people, which is another tool she can use to threaten them and force them to help her.
Why Zosia Saves Carol From The Grenade
Zosia takes Carol’s sarcasm too seriously and gets her a real grenade in the original Apple TV show’s episode 3. After getting a little drunk, Carol starts playing with the grenade, assuming that it cannot be real. She recklessly pulls out the grenade’s pin before things take a shocking turn. The grenade’s spoon flies out, and Zosia quickly steps up to grab it and throw it out before it kills Carol. While saving Carol, Zosia gets severely injured, which again highlights how selfless the infected humans have become.
However, to some extent, Zosia’s actions can also be seen as an effort to self-preserve. Since all humans see themselves as one after the happiness apocalypse, the unnecessary demise of even one individual would harm all of them. Realizing how the grenade could hurt both of them and even harm the entire hive mind, she throws the grenade away from herself and Carol. Zosia’s sacrifice initially makes Carol wonder whether she is wrong. However, her final “atom bomb” conversation with another infected person helps her realize that just because the infected ones are more selfless does not mean they are more human than her.
Why Carol Wants The Hive To Forget Everything About Helen
Carol still grieves about Helen’s death. If Helen were still alive and were a part of the hive, it seems possible that Carol might have been a little more accepting towards the new normal. However, since Helen did not make it, Carol hates how the hive mind is still trying to keep her alive through what they have learned about her through her memories. In a lot of ways, Carol’s sense of individuality strongly rests on her relationship with Helen. As the episode’s opening flashback suggests, Carol truly felt human and vulnerable when she was around Helen.
It would be interesting to see whether Carol will eventually let her guard down and embrace what the hive is doing to keep Helen’s memory alive or double down on resisting their efforts to accept her.
Since the infected people are not human in Carol’s eyes, she wants them to dissociate themselves from whatever they know about her relationship with her late partner. She does not want them to fill the void Helen’s death left behind and wishes to hold on to everything that made her relationship special by individually grieving Helen’s death. It would be interesting to see whether Carol will eventually let her guard down and embrace what the hive is doing to keep Helen’s memory alive or double down on resisting their efforts to accept her.
If she does the former, she could risk isolating herself further, which would make her even more miserable. The latter, however, would mean losing what she believes makes her human, which would bring her peace but at a heavy cost.
Why The Hive Does Not Leave Carol Alone
Many viewers have theorized that the infected humans might actually be plotting against Carol. They are secretly trying to manipulate her and are scheming something evil. However, if they were truly capable of doing something evil only because she is defiant towards them, they would have already harmed or killed her by now. The ones connected to the hive are seemingly as morally righteous as they claim to be. Owing to this, even though Carol is not infected, they genuinely care about her.
Since the hive mind has shared memories of all humans, it also accommodates Helen’s affection for Carol. This could be another reason why the hive is looking out for her. Put simply, all infected people are programmed to have a sense of togetherness, which prevents them from respecting the boundaries Helen creates as an individual.
Why The Immune Paraguay Resident Does Not Talk To Carol
Carol attempts to talk to the Paraguay resident after learning that he has avoided all contact with the infected. She realizes that he, of all the “survivors,” would understand why she is questioning what the human race has become. To her surprise, the man, Manousos Qviedo, refuses to talk to her. He hangs up every time she calls him and even abuses her. Carol loses her patience and calls him one last time to abuse him back.
Strangely, Carol does not consider the possibility that the man assumed she was one of the infected. He must have gotten several calls from the infected humans, which must have been frustrating for him, explaining why he reacts so rudely when Carol calls him. It seems likely that Carol’s abusive language in the final call might have helped him realize she is a “survivor” like him, which might encourage him to get back to her in a future Pluribus episode.
Pluribus
8/10
- Release Date
-
November 6, 2025
