I haven't see any discussion for this show on Lemmy so I thought I'd be the first!
Pluribus is the new show from Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. The marketing on this show was so vague that it was intended to be watched completely blind, with nobody knowing what it was even about.
18 Comments
popcar2@programming.dev · 14 pts · 300d
I just finished watching the first two episodes and thought it was excellent. It's been a while since a show hooked me from the very start.
::: spoiler Episode 2 theory After finishing episode 2, I now have a theory on where this is going. When the hivemind says that it can't hurt anything, I think they mean it literally. They are not allowed to hurt any living thing and are completely docile.
The reason they have a seizure when shouted it is that they want to hurt Carol back but aren't allowed to, so they deadlock. They also seem to do 100% of everything they're told to do. Nobody noticed this yet in the show but potentially this could mean someone could order around everybody on earth to try and rule it, which could be wild. Curious to see where this goes and whether I'm right. :::
IcedRaktajino@startrek.website · 4 pts · 300d
MimicJar@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 299d
Something to consider is that they did say "Your life is your own" and Pirate Lady refused to choose between Carol and Air Force One man. Hurting someone emotionally isn't something they want to do willingly. So unless they're lying I don't think they'll force joining the hive mind on anyone.
Similarly when they saw they were causing Carol distress they acknowledged it backed away from the interaction.
Forcing Carol to drink water would have been distressing for Carol, so they could also be why they didn't force her to drink.
HOWEVER we saw during the initial infection that people were activated and joined more or less one by one. But as we saw when the countdown reached zero, the majority of the world was held back from activation and instead activated all at once. We also know the global activation was rushed as the military was catching on.
Now they may not have known the activation process would kill some people, but they must have known a global seizure would cause some number of deaths and harm.
So they have a sense of self preservation and that sense does allow them to cause harm.
MimicJar@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 299d
They, I think as the US Agriculture guy, did say it wasn't an alien invasion. I guess technically they might not know that, but to me that was a clear indicator that there isn't a ruling outside force.
Also while they are doing whatever they are told, it's just some light babysitting from their perspective. There are 12 (?) people worldwide who aren't part of the hive, we met the half that can speak English. Each of them has a chaperone and that one guy has a small harem. The other 99.9% of Earth is doing... Something. We've seen them cleaning up. They know how many months away they are from improving the infection rate (based on the guess of all the best scientists in the world).
So what do "they" want?
z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 300d
I'm definitely down to see how this intriguing concept plays out. Glad to hear I'm not the only one on Lemmy that's excited about this show.
There is also a community here on Lemmy.
IcedRaktajino@startrek.website · 6 pts · 300d
cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 300d
Good line of thinking. I also started wondering what "they" do when they are not busy pampering the last remaining individuals.
popcar2@programming.dev · 3 pts · 300d
::: spoiler spoiler I think you're on the money. The signal humanity got is also most likely from an alien species that suffered the same fate, it's a virus trying to spread to the whole universe. :::
teft@piefed.social · 6 pts · 300d
If the hivemind can't cause harm then how did the rat bite the first lady?
IcedRaktajino@startrek.website · 5 pts · 300d
popcar2@programming.dev · 5 pts · 300d
Animals seem immune. There was some throwaway line in episode 2 about how one of the survivors told a giraffe to shoo and go away but it completely ignored her.
MimicJar@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 299d
FYI !pluribus@lemmy.zip
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 300d
I can't remember if it's from a book, or just a thought experiment...
But there was something about a "love ray" being the most powerful weapon that an alien race would use on us.
They'd just zap a planet and pacify them, and the inhabitants would welcome aliens when they arrived.
The vegan conversation and "pirate lady" not being able to make a choice because it might hurt someone's feelings really make me think that's the inspiration.
It's not that there's aliens on earth, or that the compound "made" them into aliens.
Humanity just got domesticated, and whether it takes 10 days, 10 years, or 10 generations...
The aliens will show up and face zero resistance. They've got an entire planet of slaves who will do anything asked. Maybe they aimed it at us, maybe they just sent it everywhere.
Also a slight chance that they can't kill anything including plants. If that's the case humanity starves to death as soon as already harvested food runs out. They can't even pull a stalk of celery to eat it, if they consider plants to be alive, and theres a good chance they do.
Or that there is no endgame.
The ray would make any technologically advanced race a non-threat.
It might not be about them coming here for nefarious reasons, they may just be playing defense. Anyone that develops the compound, would no longer be a threat. Not just short term, but ever.
If humanity does leave the planet, it'll be as a species literally incapable of harming anyone they run into.
MimicJar@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 299d
I mentioned this in another thread, but "they" do have a sense of self preservation. They activated once the military discovered what was going on. I find it a little curious that the US Agriculture guy mentioned a lot of the top people, including the President, was dead.
They might not be harmless if their main goal is to survive and spread.
(Assuming you view joining the hive mind as harm.)
EisFrei@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 299d
Very interesting concept so far.
Two questions keep popping up in my head:
Archer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 299d
Gotta say this made me much more worried about bioweapons and how good the Army is at surveillance
scytale@piefed.zip · 3 pts · 300d
Copying over my comment from another thread:
Just watched the first 2 episodes last night. It’s great so far! I love the pace and that it’s not relying solely on the initial plot point to keep the show going.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 299d
Because he's doing something complete different and not trying to drag out the Breaking Bad franchise into shit like Hollywood constantly does.
Novel premise. Looks promising after two episodes. What if humanity was not just a bunch of self-centered assholes?
blave@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 300d
I was looking forward to this show for months before it finally aired. I watched the first two episodes, and they suffer from the same pacing problems that other Vince Gilligan shows do, especially Better Call Saul. But some people actually like that, so I guess that depends on you. personally, I would’ve trimmed up the first episode in the editing suite a bit.
That aside, the story is fascinating, and the actors are doing a spectacular job. I look forward to seeing more of this show.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 299d
What are you talking about. A good plot needs to be built, if you want fast pace, watch TV with asplosions.
driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br · 1 pts · 299d
I saw an screenshot and see the actress from Better Call Saul and assumed it was another show in the breaking bad universe, like continuing her story aft3r bcs.