‘Pluribus’ Recap, Episode 6: Leaving Albuquerque

Last week, during a press conference at the Marrakech Film Festival, where he was a member of the jury, the great Korean director Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) asked about AI and gave a colorful two-way answer: “My official answer is: AI is good because at the very beginning the human race finally got serious about something only humans can do. But my personal answer is: I'm going to start a military force and their mission is to destroy AI.” The first part of Bong's answer applies well to For manywhich is not a show specifically about artificial intelligence, but which asks viewers to consider the value of humanity in the face of a more homogeneous, homogenizing threat. And in this incident-filled episode, there is one small moment that brings us back to the topic.

It's morning in the Elvis Suite on the 30th floor of the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas, where Kumba Diabate continues to live the extended fantasy life that the Others provided him. But Kumba, for all his lustful indulgences, has shown a more generous and forgiving spirit than other unresponsive people when it comes to Carol, who is less convinced by her “dramatic” calls for rebellion. When Carol wakes up from her nap, Kumba offers her a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon, avocado and toast. analog breakfast, not a meticulous recreation of what she might have eaten at a luxury bed and breakfast in New England years ago. Carol then piles everything on her plate into a rough slice of avocado toast, mixing them into a makeshift layer. Kumba follows suit.

While this moment passes without comment, Carol's avocado toast is perhaps the most effective argument she has made so far on behalf of humanity. Her other attempts to convince her 12 fellow immune survivors were much more intense and often off-putting, from contentious conversations on Air Force One and in Spain to a series of videos she sent them from her home in Albuquerque. The Others have the ability to create a happy, idealized, frighteningly perfect world, but they won't think on the fly to make a breakfast sandwich like Carol and Kumba do. Humans have the capacity for such crude innovation, and the fact that these two “unrelated” people instinctively pull it off is a tribute to the messy avocado mess that humanity has created. Others will not think of it, despite the chorus of conscience that makes up their collective mind.

After last week's jaw-dropping gasp, it's nice to watch the air slip away from a truly shocking reveal. All the careful investigation that led Carol to a cold storage warehouse in Albuquerque led her to discover that the shrink-wrapped food items so neatly stored on the shelves included human body parts. Soylent Green is peopleand now Carole plays Charlton Heston, warning the survivors about this diabolical alien plot happening under their noses. Soon after returning home to record another video, Carol wisely reconsiders her decision, believing that the news is so terrible and so secret that the Others would not want it to get out. So she heads to Las Vegas—about an eight-hour drive—hoping that Kumba will stay in the Elvis Suite as promised. His appetites prove reliable.

What Carol can't foresee as she breathlessly searches for the HDMI connector for her video camera is that Kumba will be able to guess what she's about to show him: “Is it about them eating people?” It turns out that “John Cena” has already talked to him and other immune survivors about this, and, well, it's “disturbing” but there's a reasonable explanation for it. According to this charismatic knitting needle fighter, the life-sustaining “milk” the Others drink is 8 to 12 percent HDP, a “human-derived protein” derived from dead people like the ones Carol found in the warehouse. Others do not believe in killing any living thing, including plants, for food, so the only edible material that can feed 7,348,292,411 people comes from contingencies and supplies. They are “not interested” in using HDP, but the alternative is overall worse. And even so, Kumba Carol says, they only have about ten years before supplies run out and mass starvation becomes a problem.

There is much to unpack in the ethical understanding of the Others' livelihood that is at least coherent, although Carol remains difficult to forgive. She turns to sarcasm when Kumba reminds her of how the Others say in Spain that they “prefer” vegetarianism (“Oh, great, so all the damn lawyers in the world survived”) and she mocks their refusal to harvest crops to survive. (“I don't know. Maybe tell them to pick the damn apple!”) But the idea of ​​eating people being an alien conspiracy is one we've seen in everything since Peter Jackson's films. Bad taste to Jonathan Glaser Under the skinpoints to the obvious extraterrestrial logic that we should not be treated differently from other animals that we have no problem consuming. For Others, extracting this organic source without killing anyone is a mercy. Bad tastewe are literally being groomed for an intergalactic fast food restaurant chain. It's just a matter of where people (or Others) decide to draw the line.

However, the feeling that Carol is left with, besides humiliation and disgust, is deep loneliness. She asks for the nearest bathroom so she can cry without Kumba, but he is more perceptive than he seems and realizes that she feels isolated. She had hoped to rally able-bodied people on behalf of humanity, but they not only rejected her, but decided not to include her in the twice-weekly Zoom calls they had to keep in touch. She can imagine herself as Charlton Heston in Soylent Greenbut really she feels like Charlton Heston in Omega ManThe last man on Earth. It's infuriating, but at the same time it just hurts.

But behold, a kindred spirit lurks! Manousos, our man in Paraguay, continues to thwart all attempts to contact him by rummaging through non-perishable goods and scanning the radio waves for a radio signal. He, as usual, rejects his latest food delivery from the Others, but takes great interest in the videotape Carol sent out about her belief that the “connection” can be reversed and that perhaps the other survivors can once again reflect on whether they truly value the individuality they seem so optimistically willing to give up. Judging by the speed with which he leaves his post, rushes home and heads out into his decrepit convertible, Carol finally has an audience. And perhaps an ally.

“Do not call me son,” Manousos reproaches the kind Other who now occupies a familiar body. “You're not my mother. My mother is a bitch.” Carol would be glad if she saw this.

• He may be occupying the Elvis suite, but for the first time, Coombe is shown acting out a fantasy akin to the ridiculous poker scene in Daniel Craig's version. Casino Royalewhere Agent 007 fights an enemy, each holding impossible hands. If you play five-card poker, you should feel comfortable betting everything you have (and everyone you know) on a straight flush, but that doesn't match the royal flush that Kumba has. However, the charming gathering of Others that Kumba has assembled to evaluate this little scenario raises the question: will he ever tire of having his every wish fulfilled? Will he eventually become tired of the inauthenticity of such situations?

• However, Kumba is certainly accurate in his role-playing. When the eyepatch-wearing villain at the table joins the crowd cheering his victory, Kumba curses, “Hey man, stay in character.” (There's also a great little postscript here, where the Others quietly clear away the decorations after he's left them.)

• It's funny how even the John Cena video has the disclaimer that the Others still need their space and won't talk to her directly. It is repellent on a truly global scale.

• Another important revelation from this episode: The Others discover that they cannot organize dissenters into a collective without gaining access to their individual stem cells, which requires painful extraction from the body. And they won't do it without consent, which not only gives Carol more leverage, but also allows Coombe to continue her current arrangement indefinitely. (“They didn't like it, let me tell you.”)