Pluribus: The Loneliest Woman In The World

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Growing up, I was lonely. In school, I stuck out as too anxious, too careful, crushed by the weight of “decisions upon indecisions” – a quote from T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, which is one of my favorite poems. At the end of my senior year of high school, I wrote a piece of creative non-fiction about my changing relationship with “the alone” – a constant in my life that I hated, but had come to accept as a safe space into introspection and comfort with my individual identity. 

At the time, I didn’t detail the most likely reason I accepted this “alone,” which was that I wasn’t alone, not really. I had taken to television with an affinity I haven’t otherwise felt; I felt seen by quirkiness of the humor in Arrested Development and understood by shows addressing the existential threats I myself wrestled with, like Black Mirror, House MD, or Bojack Horseman. Simply put, it made life feel less terrifying — and like other people saw the world like I did. Side note: I watched so many medical dramas in high school that I convinced myself that I wanted to become a doctor. Upon reflection, I wanted to work in television. Glad I eventually got there.

I am thrilled to be starting a new Now Frolic column about my first and true love: TV. I am very excited to dive into TV series as they come out, answering questions like: What characters do we connect with, and why? How does media make us feel seen? What do the biggest shows have to say about the world and human nature?

In case this was not clear, I watch a lot of television. I study it, I read articles about it, and of course, I indulge in TikTok edits on occasion. There was never a question about what my new column would focus on. 

One new show expanded the way I view not only storytelling, but large philosophical ideas of morality and what we truly owe each other as humans. 

Pluribus is one of those rare shows that is like a lightning strike, but Vince Gilligan and his powerhouse team hasn’t missed yet: he is known for The X-Files, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul. Pluribus takes a heavy swing with a bold, ambitious plot: an alien DNA infects all but 12 people worldwide with a “happiness virus.” The result is a cohesive hivemind affecting almost the entire worldwide population: they have access to everyone’s memories, can communicate telepathically, and even go by the collective “we.” This sounds terrifying, but arguably, no — it’s the opposite. They are smiling and helpful, even to Carol who is confused and angry, plunged into this new unknown and coping with the death of her wife.

Carol is presented as the “most miserable person on Earth,” but as I grew to know and understand her, I started to see her more as the loneliest person on Earth. Online discourse seems extremely divided on Carol; people assert that she’s anywhere from “extremely unlikable” to “selfish bitch” to "narcissist," but I would like to present a different perspective. Sure, she has her faults – she is negative (even before the global event), prickly, and often living in her own world. However, she’s also one of two non-hive people who care about fixing the world. At the start, she is relentless in her pursuit to set things right, causing chaos and even running drug trials in order to get information.

The consequence of her extreme means? The hive mind abandons her, moving out of her town and leaving her, again, with nobody. In an impactful episode, I started questioning something about Carol: is her biggest fear being alone? In a way, even before the change, she was incredibly lonely, writing heterosexual fantasy smut novels and publicly denying her sexuality and long-term relationship with her wife Helen – perhaps the only person who truly knew her. When she loses Helen, she turns to action and tries to stop the hive mind, but when they leave her, Carol’s weakness is exposed. In an episode basically only showing her solitary activities, it becomes clear that even though she has access to fun activities, food, and pretty much unlimited resources, it’s not enough. Her extremely human desire for connection wins out. There’s a scene that shows Carol lighting fireworks in boredom. One of them lands incorrectly, aimed directly at her. Carol takes no effort to prevent it from hitting her, seeing no point in continuing to live an alienated life. It misses her (barely), but the point still remains: Carol didn’t care enough to live in this world. At least not alone – she later breaks down and asks the hive (and her chaperone / hive-mind girlfriend, Zosia) to come back.

The public discourse seemed pretty upset at this decision of Carol’s, asserting that she lost her morals and was giving in to the manipulation of the hive mind. However, community and social connection is the most basic of human needs, and to Carol, it seemed the options were to ask them to come back or wither away. From there, Carol and Zosia grow closer despite knowing Zosia is not an individual person and against the ethos she passionately stands for. She can’t help but give in, developing a physical and romantic connection that is only broken when Zosia reveals that the hive mind is still planning on converting Carol into one of “them,” regardless of previously promising they wouldn’t. 

I have gotten into a little debate about this one: is Carol leaving Zosia to pursue a cure to the hive mind a selfish act to prevent herself from being turned? Or rather, was it realizing that Zosia can't really love her the way an individual person (like Helen) would and therefore remembering the hive’s true motives? I think she was choosing to believe the best until she couldn’t, while coping with the grief of not only losing Helen but her entire life and the world. Zosia was a bandaid — one that she had to rip off, forcing her to lean into loneliness once again.

Carol feels very human to me: imperfect, yes, but also alienated, in fight or flight trying to survive utterly unprecedented circumstances. I felt seen in her frustrations, as she tries so desperately to do the right thing only to have it backfire. She yearns to be understood and fulfilled, angry at herself for “being bad at being happy.” Carol is an excellent examination of how loneliness affects a person, and the stakes that they will go to stop it. 

I cannot believe I will have to wait years for Season 2 — this feels like Severance all over again. The thing about Pluribus is that the more times I watch, the more I notice, and the more connected to it I feel. Ironically, I feel less lonely when watching Pluribus — drawn to the complicated female characters and incredible storytelling. 

Vince Gilligan (and team), you have done it again.

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