Carol’s Rant on This Week’s ‘Pluribus’ Suggests Yet Another Meaning Behind the Show

Vince Gilligan is a noted hater of AI. But he’s been very careful to say that his new show for Apple TV+, Pluribus, shouldn’t be seen as an overt commentary on how AI and large language models like ChatGPT are taking over.

There are certainly parallels to be found in the ordeal that main character Carol (Rhea Seehorn) is going through as (most of) the rest of the world melds into an infuriatingly benevolent hive mind. But as Gilligan recently told Variety, echoing a piece of advice director Michael Mann once gave him, “Just tell a good story; let the audience figure out the theme. That’s their job.â€

Reporting for work after this week’s episode of Pluribus, the ominously titled “Grenade,†audiences now have a new theory to append to the “Pluribus is about AI†theory (also the “Pluribus is about the pandemic†theory and whatever else the internet has come up with). How about: Pluribus is about influencers?

It exists perfectly alongside those other theories, which are still totally valid, in keeping with Gilligan’s encouragement to apply your own interpretations to his show. But there’s a lot packed into Carol’s rant to Zosia (Karolina Wyrda) as they’re sitting in Carol’s house drinking together.

Carol’s had an especially emotional past few hours, tacked on to an extremely emotional past few days. “Grenade†opens with a flashback to a vacation taken by Carol and Helen (Miriam Shor) to a Norwegian hotel carved from snow and ice. Helen is excited; Carol is grumpy, not to mention anxious about her latest book release. It’s seemingly a familiar dynamic for them: “This is completely your bag,†Helen teases when Carol points out, repeatedly, that the hotel bed is a block of ice. “You love feeling bad!â€

The loss of Helen is still sinking in when we shift to the present day. The main focus of “Grenade†is Carol’s loneliness. There are only so many Golden Girls episodes and supermarket runs—that “Sprouts restocking sequence†is both chilling and weirdly satisfying, is it not?—that can fill the void. After that, there’s alcohol and some awkward companionship with Zosia, who knocks on Carol’s door to deliver the hand grenade she’d (sarcastically) wished for.

The grenade situation doesn’t end well, though it does establish that Carol can get anything she wants out of the Others, including a nuclear weapon if she decides she wants one (TBD on that). But her boozy chat with Zosia yanks some deeply rooted fury out of Carol’s soul.

Always pleasant, always kind, Zosia admits they’re “working around the clock†to figure out how to convert Carol to their cause. She compares it to saving a drowning person. It’s a biological imperative. They have to try.

But Carol can’t and won’t get on board with the Joining. When she lets rip a stream-of-consciousness ramble about what it must be like being part of the hive mind, it all sounds terribly pleasant: “What could possibly be so great about this mild meld of yours? Actually, let me guess. It’s all beautiful scenery, and you feel nothing but contentment. Just wave after wave of bliss and peace, and everything is perfect.â€

Zosia doesn’t correct her.

“It’s like living in a postcard every second of every day,†Carol continues. “You’re taking a hike in the woods and there’s a warm rain and the trees are so tall you can’t even see the tops…â€

Her train of thought is interrupted when she recalls that ice hotel trip with Helen, and Zosia violates Carol’s very strict “only I get to remember Helen†rule by adding to the story. It angers Carol so much she starts fiddling with the hand grenade that gives the episode its title.

We’re not in a hive-mind situation. But sometimes it feels awfully close. There’s something familiar about Carol’s feelings here. Consider social media and the way it jams the perfect lives of friends and acquaintances—but more often total strangers—down your throat on a daily basis.

You know them: the people whose every moment seems blissfully happy. They’re always on vacation. Always eating fancy food and going on shopping sprees. Their hair and clothes are always perfect.

It’s tempting for a doom-scroller, even one who knows about FaceTune, Photoshop, and AI, to be lulled into believing this precisely curated, aspirational content represents that person’s reality. This is absolutely how they live, day in and day out! Any other version of existence is unworthy! It might as well be a biological imperative trying to keep up with what Instagram, TikTok, or whatever platform you use is telling you to wear, buy, eat, do, or be.

“You are a bunch of mindfuckers,†Carol declares. She’s not talking about influencers in the context of Pluribus. But Carol’s words are deeply relatable even if there’s not an actual hive mind fine-tuning everyone’s flaws and pretending perfection exists. And her anger is also relatable, though most of us don’t have access to grenades to make a literal explosion out of things.

New episodes of Pluribus arrive Fridays on Apple TV.

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