We just want you to be happy, Carol

E pluribus unum is written on the banner

 Spouse talked me into watching Pluribus. A show that I had heard much about, but I didn't want to watch yet another adaptation of puppetmaster/Body snatchers, this time by alien invasion.

I figured that the acclaim was mostly marketing and didn't want to watch yet another series made by a media giant.

I expected to binge watch it, but had enough after 3 episodes looking for the last which I could not find, as I do with some books to see what happens. I do plan to watch the rest of the season, so please no spoilers.

Spoilers for the first 3 episodes.

Hmm. So far it is thought provoking, but obviously heavily inspired by sci fi novels, feeding into or reflecting our current fears of losing autonomy and a hive mentality, which we recently experienced with social media, as well as a complete loss of the individual.

Spouse asked me if the hive reminded me of anything current. It's AI. Access to all the knowledge of the human race, it is looking forward to another book when Carol pretends to want to write again, because the hive does not appear to know creativity. It also cannot distinguish between Carol's trashy bestsellers and Shakespeare. It doesn't understand the knowledge or emotion it has acquired.

Frightening in its parallels to current society and what the internet has become.

Of course it's also about grieving and tremendous loss, but the protagonist, an impossibly strong female character manages to get through it. As to Carol, I really liked her character with all her sarcasm and intelligence.

Something that is interesting is that Carol's anger disrupts the "peaceful" hive mind to the point of incapacity. The koi suite in the ice hotel which represent resilience, strength and  perserverence; after a Chinese legend that koi swim upstream to turn into dragons. There are probably many references that I didn't catch. My attention span isn't what it used to be before all the scrolling.

Something that made no sense to me; if they take Buddhism to the extreme of not hurting anything; releasing animals from the zoo into habitats they can't survive in would harm them. Surely there is a zoologist that would have pointed that out?

The show is interesting but not great and I do not see how they are planning on four more seasons. Rhea Seehorn just won the golden globes. Incredibly well deserved after she is practically the only character in many scenes.

If you watched it and without spoiling it beyond episode three what did you think of it?