With Mr. Diabaté’s Las Vegas fantasy fading in Carol’s (Rhea Seehorn) rearview mirror, Pluribus turns its attention to what life really feels like in complete isolation.
In parallel stories, Carol and the only other survivor upset by the state of things—the mysterious Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga, whose presence is as formidable as Seehorn’s)—embark on separate journeys that make them realize nobody can remain an island forever. Even if they’re stubborn as hell, which both of these characters definitely are.
Carol’s two chunks of narrative, which chart her declining mental state as her weeks in total isolation roll on, frame Manousos’ more literal trip as he departs his home in Paraguay and points his car north, with Albuquerque as his destination.
Carol’s first segment picks up with her driving away from Las Vegas, and initially—perhaps buoyed by the information we learned last week, that the Others cannot try to convert her without her permission—her mood is almost… jaunty? Chipper? Euphoric?
Humming and singing REM’s late-’80s apocalyptic ditty “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” she dials up the Others’ “need some space” hotline multiple times. She has a very specific Gatorade order, which then requires a scolding follow-up because the drone-delivered beverage is not, as she requested, “ice cold.” She buys an alarming amount of fireworks. She grabs a scratcher and wins $10,000, which she can never collect, but it’s still nice to feel lucky.
The “Carol singing to herself and doing stuff alone” sequence continues. It’s 12-ish days post-Joining; we see her guzzling beer and setting off fireworks in her cul-de-sac (patriotically vocalizing “The Stars and Stripes Forever”). We see her playing golf, singing “I’m Alright” (the theme from Caddyshack, duh) as she carts around.
When her cop car finally dies, she takes her pick from the discarded rides outside the country club (a Rolls-Royce with “Just Married” decorations all over it) and zooms off to a nearby hot springs; her thematic song choices are “Born to Be Wild” and “Hot In Herre.”
Then she pulls up to Santa Fe’s Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (crooning “Georgia on My Mind”), takes a look around (it’s totally empty, just like every other place she’s been), and removes Bella Donna from its display. Back at home, Carol grabs the Bella Donna poster print she has hanging up and puts the priceless O’Keeffe original in its place. She smiles. She’s satisfied with this.
Then she calls the hotline and demands a fancy dinner at the restaurant “where Helen and I had our anniversary.” Dressed to the nines, she sits down alone to enjoy her (again) very specific menu requests, then selects an easy-listening version of “I Will Survive” on the electronic player piano positioned near her table. Carol will survive! At least, for now!
Meanwhile, Manousos is well into his own long voyage. His life as a defiant holdout is actually rather similar to Carol’s, despite their geographic differences. (No offense to Albuquerque, which is quite lovely, but the South American landscape we see here is drop-dead gorgeous.) And since the Others haven’t exiled themselves from his presence, even in the rural areas he travels through, he’s greeted with teeth-grittingly cheerful hails of “Hola, Manousos!” and offers of help, water, advice, and so on from the side of the road. The Others just want him to be happy, after all.
As he drives, he listens to language cassettes, learning English so he’ll be able to talk to Carol eventually. He trims his hair. He catches fish for food. He reaches the literal end of the road at the Darién Gap, the formidable swath of land that he must pass through to continue his journey. The Others beg him not to attempt it, because everything he’ll encounter—plants, animals, insects, terrain, weather—will be hostile and potentially fatal.
But Manousos is hostile too, and the confrontational speech he gives as he calmly lights his car on fire is an all-timer: “Nothing on this planet is yours. You cannot give me anything because all that you have is stolen. You don’t belong here.”
As he fights his way through the perilous forest, he adopts a sort of mantra. It’s the first words he plans to say to Carol when they meet: “My name is Manousos Oviedo. I am not one of them. I wish to save the world.”
When he’s gravely injured on an evil-looking tree covered in spikes, he falls to the ground and nearly passes out—still muttering Carol’s name—as a helicopter circles overhead, aiming to rescue him whether he wants it or not.
Back in Albuquerque, it has now been 48 days since the Joining. Carol has been alone-alone for weeks. She’s now hitting golf balls off a downtown rooftop, blasting Judas Priest (needle drop: “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”), and smashing through every office window her swing can find.
Then, we see her back in the cul-de-sac with more beer and fireworks. This is different, though. This is morose. This is “if a firework flies toward my head, I won’t duck.”
When one of the rockets accidentally ignites a neighboring house, she does get up with a hose to put it out. But the next day, her errand run (still in the Rolls) to the home improvement store isn’t to pick up supplies for repairs. It’s to obtain paint and a roller so she can inscribe a desperate message to the Others—who are, of course, always watching from the sky—across the pavement: “COME BACK.”
The last scene is Zosia (Karolina Wydra), fully recovered from her Carol-induced grenade injuries and subsequent heart attack, pulling up in her little blue car. When they reunite, Carol gives her the biggest, most grateful hug. Will this period of forced loneliness have changed her attitude at all toward the Others? Or will Carol be back to her boundary-pushing ways—and her detective work—next time we see her?
There are just two more Pluribus episodes to go, and we are extremely hopeful that Manousos will recover from his own grisly wounds and reach New Mexico before season one ends. Wonder what kind of music he listens to?
New episodes of Pluribus arrive Fridays on Apple TV.
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