We just want you to be happy, Carol. Update

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 8 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 globe. Incredibly well deserved after she is practically the only character in many scenes.

Update:

Watched up to the finale (Episode 9). Apparently the servers are overwhelmed, so couldn't watch it. I miss the good old TV days.

I wont spoil it, but I definitely recommend it. It has a lot of pop culture references. I think what you see is what you get; there are no big action sequences and weve gotten used to either that or elaborate alien spaceships in scifi.

The cinematography is beautiful and apparently not CGI. The first episode is intense. The whole series so far, mostly psychological horror, unease and stressful. What I liked the most is that Carol is relatable. It's the first time that a person in that situation knows the world is suddenly batshit and goes through normal reactions snarky one moment, scared the next and in a panic can't make something work, sleeps on it and then has a facepalm moment.

Finished watching the first season. I recommend it. Am hooked and it's disquieting and relevant to today's world. I only hope that it doesn't turn into J.J.Abrams Lost.

The humor is refreshing. No great one liners, but Carol is pure sarcasm. Some situations are absurdly funny. (Still chuckling at the drone).

Here it is:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=d2cWxqo27zU

Final thought, if everyone was about peace, love and happiness, and nothing else, wouldn't joining them be akin to joining a cult?

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER The following assumes youve watched it. A few thoughts:

I still give the show a 6 to 8 out of 10. What the show does really well is lay down the bare bones and then leave viewers to analyze and discuss it.

I was looking at online discussions and how many people disliked Carol. Spouse said and I agree that had it been a male character he would at most be a curmudgeon. I thought of Will Smith in I am Legend (there's also a golf scene) but when we discussed him back then, there was no criticism of his personality but compassion for the situation he's in.

Somehow people lost empathy in the last decade. I rarely come across any understanding of the incredible loss and trauma the humans have gone through. Carol in particular. People are devasted by the loss of a loved one, she also has to deal with the loss of humanity and potentially her own individuality.

Manounos actually tells them: you took our world from us. You don't belong here.

Another theme is that different cultures deal with it differently. The highly communal Peruvian girl would rather join then lose her community.

The 12 survivors are a cross section of humanity. Including a mother who pretends her child is fine, rather than doing anything to make sure the child is well. The French guy just wants to live his fantasy inspired by movies. Utterly selfish and self absorbed. Like Cypher in the matrix he just wants to eat his juicy steak. The hive doesn't seem happy about acting.

The hive can learn and I suspect it's learning from the humans it inhabits. Otherwise it seems to be a thoughtless species requiring a host. I think they can learn to lie. The frequency (sound?) of anger disrupts their telepathy, maybe more. I think the massage scene was very poorly done.

The hive doesn't care about what it's doing to any other species but probably genuinely believes that it's helping.

Once you've seen it, I'll check back here if you wish to discuss it.

If you watched it, what did you think of it? What are some cultural references you noticed?