Warning: spoilers for Pluribus episodes 1-2 ahead.
Turns out that we were all right to be incredibly hyped for the new Apple TV Original Pluribus, created by Breaking Bad mastermind Vince Gilligan.
Rhea Seehorn stars as Carol in the series, an author of “crap” books who’s incredibly disillusioned with her life. Thankfully (depending on your perspective) that’s about to completely change, due to a virus from alien technology making 99.9% of the human race a hive mind. Carol, however, is one of 12 people worldwide who are immune to its effects.
Basically, it’s like that Rick & Morty episode (titled ‘Auto Erotic Assimilation’ from season 2 episode 3) where Rick visits the hive mind planet he used to be in a relationship with… only without the weird sex fantasies or mountain of hamburgers.
However, there’s a much more macabre message at Pluribus‘ core. The hive mind insinuate they will eventually figure out why Carol is immune and integrate her, with millions of others dying as a result of the virus’ spread. Carol seems to be the only one not affected in the US, leaving her completely alone with no immediate friends or family around to lean on (even though they’re no longer themselves, if you’re keeping up).
There’s no doubt in my mind that episodes 1 and 2 of Pluribus – which are now available to stream – are two of the best episodes of TV in all of 2025, and the rest of the season is likely to be even better. But Carol’s loneliness, or rather the cause of it, is like a fly in my drink, almost ruining the entire experience.
Pluribus has already “buried its gays” in its first episode
If you’re in the LGBTQIA+ community, or just really into visual media, you might have heard of the ‘bury your gays’ trope. In short, it explains the phenomenon of LGBTQIA+ characters being killed off at a disproportionately higher rate than heterosexual characters in film, TV and books.
The 100, Orange is the New Black and Game of Thrones are all recent examples of this. Pluribus is now joining the list, killing off Carol’s partner Helen (Miriam Shor) as the virus takes hold in the first episode.
Prior to this, viewers need to read between the lines to understand that Helen and Carol are a romantic couple. Helen works as Carol’s publicist, and it’s easy to mistake their professional relationship as a close friendship outside of work (e.g. just gals being pals).
It’s not until after Helen’s death that the truth is made clear, with images of the two scattered around Carol’s house, their answering machine spelling out their shared plans in Helen’s voice. It’s the one thing that’s affecting Carol most as episode 2 draws to a close, and frankly, I’m not far behind her.
As an LGBTQIA+ viewer, it’s always disheartening when queer characters are the first to bite the literal bullet. When you see it unfold time and time again, without much else in the way of representation, your own self-belief starts to be impacted.
Granted, we’ve got a much wider range of representation now, but fictional LGBT relationships grounding to a halt because of death is something I’ve seen play out on screen since my childhood… and it hasn’t gone away.
Still, I could give Gilligan and Apple TV the benefit of the doubt and assume this plays into a wider explanation about The Joining and why Carol is immune. Zosia (Karolina Wydra) has explained that Helen technically “joined” before her death, meaning the hive mind has access to all of her thoughts, feelings and memories.
With the threat of assimilation hanging over Carol’s head (despite constant reassurance that she is safe), it’s clear we’re far from discovering what everything actually means in Pluribus. I’m just hoping that Helen didn’t die in vain, like so many characters who came before her.
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