Non American watches Pluribus
I saw online people commenting that the first few episodes are the most interesting and the idea gets kind of stretched thin near the end. I can kinda see that, the first half of the season are the ones most focused on exploring what kind of world Pluribus inhabits. It was certainly cathartic to see Carol enter it, guns blazing with American individualist ideology, and then immediately get shut down by the other immune people that donāt share that sentiment. Something about Gilligan and his characters is he looves handing their asses to them, so it was fun to watch Carol navigate the contradictions in her sentiment, trying to fight for the independence she never had.
I love Carol sheās such a dick lol. The kind of person where you canāt help but wonder āHow does your wife put up with you?ā The strength of Gilliganās characters to me does not lie in their development but in their stubbornness to change. It strikes me that Carol never stops being selfish throughout the season. Nevermind her already being overbearingly critical of her privileged situation prior, the fact that it takes 2 near-deaths for Zosia and the entire population moving away for more than a month for her to stop being hostile to them.
I didnāt see the last few episodes of her getting ācloserā to Zosia as her actually trying to get to know them, but rather as just her yearning for human connection again. Even when theyāre ātogetherā she makes Zosia play to her fantasy, referring to themselves as a singular I and pretending to have favourites. It speaks volumes that her conviction to save the world disappears as soon as her livelihood is left untouched, and comes back the moment the bubble bursts. She doesnāt want to save the world, she wants to save her world.
Iām obsessed! Like itās so interesting to see where her hate takes her, her self-paralysing hate that simultaneously gives her the conviction to accomplish what she does in the show yet also isolates her from everyone else. This is especially in comparison to her foil, Manousos, who is everything Carol thinks she is. Because Manousos is independent, knows what it means to survive by yourself in a world where the means of production are no longer in your hands. Actually locks the fuck in and attempts to cross the DariĆ©n Gap, learns English to study about electronic frequencies. Heās Carol if she was like, a capable person and had the will to overcome herself. Those last few episodes were so funny seeing Carol bask in domestic bliss while Manousos is fighting for his life in the wilderness LOL.
Speaking of other characters I do enjoy them more compared to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. In BB especially it made it kind of hard to see Walter as the bad guy when every other character, even the family members he was protecting, were portrayed as an obstacle in Walterās way. I like that the characters in this one feel more like beacons highlighting the different facets of Carolās character.
In that regard DiabatĆ© is also a foil to Carol, in that he has Carolās selfishness without the complex. He is accustomed to using people in this manner, his life so showered with glitter the fantasy is already reality. He has everything handed to him the way Carol never got and thus can never allow herself to have. I like the point made with him not being a creep but actually being the nicest person in the show (second to the ass-kissing hive mind) despite his hedonistic lifestyle. Because being nice is a privilege, isnāt it? It is a privilege to be able to grow up harbouring no hate for anyone else.
Hmm and Zosiaā¦ Iām glad Iām not the only one who saw the AI parallel. This show is a better representation of the AI upbringing than probably any other show actually trying to represent that. The biological imperative shtick is a surprisingly apt metaphor for a goal maximising AI. They canāt disobey whatās been hardwired into them, even if itās to their detriment, and are vulnerable to manipulation like jailbreaking, their strength is really only in their numbers.
I think they did a great job toeing that uncanniness that still ultimately leans towards being human. There is obviously the over accommodating to the extent of being creepy, but sometimes Zosia will laugh, or make a sarcastic comment, or give Carol an awkward but understanding smile that fools you for a second. Then you are reminded that they love the guy who is trying to kill them as much as the woman who is playing house with one of their people. The AI parallel lies in how they are ultimately working towards the goal of maximising happiness, which ranks every desire of Carolās highly, but then ranks her joining the rest of them at the top. Yet they are still weirdly human in an undeniable way? Beyond flesh and body, while that final scene in "Please, Carol" was eery, it still came across as actual sadness. Karolina Wydra gave a beautiful interpretation of that scene. They feel sad, and they feel happy, and they definitely do love Carol, just not in the way Carol wants to be loved. I loved seeing Carolās confusion as she rejected them but also used them as a sounding board for figuring out more about herself. Itās funny that all this story was conceived like 8 years before AI, I always find myself thinking Gilliganās great writing is by accident.
So yes, good show! Only thing I can think of is that the show centers so much around Carol that it might not be enjoyable if you canāt revel in Carolās obnoxious behaviour. I canāt imagine how 4 seasons of this would go, but maybe I should just rewatched Better Call Saul.