Apple TVThe latest episode of Pluribus is a slow-burner which culminates in a major moment that potentially connects to a 1970s sci-fi classic.
Carol Sturka‘s actions at the end of Pluribus Episode 4 so upset the hive mind that they decide to leave her alone. Meaning she spends much of Episode 5 flying solo.
But Carol is still determined to save the world, so shoots a video explaining to the rest of the immune what she has learned about the virus.
Sturka then continues her investigation, which builds towards a revelation that could have far-reaching consequences. SPOILERS ahead…
Carol makes a major discovery
Apple TVWhile messing around in the trash, Carol finds a mountain of discarded milk cartons, much like the ones being drunk in Zosia’s hospital.
But they don’t appear to contain milk – instead the “Others” (as Pluribus writer Graham Smith calls them) are drinking a mysterious orange liquid from the boxes.
Carol tracks down where that’s being produced, and finds rows and rows of produce in the building, as well as piles of stuff that has been shrink-rapped. When she looks under the cellophane, Sturka sees something that first makes her confused, then shocked, then horrified, before Carol finally lets out an almighty gasp.
The episode ends there, suggesting a significant discovery. And leaving us to speculate from here-on-in, as if that’s what we think it is, the hive mind has been pulling a fast one, and Pluribus is doing a Soylent Green…
What is Soylent Green?
Released in 1973, Soylent Green is a dystopian sci-fi thriller directed by Richard Fleischer, and based on the novel ‘Make Room! Make Room!’ by Harry Harrison.
The film is set in the year 2022, at a time when the population has exploded, resources are running out, and the masses survive on a government-issued processed food called ‘Soylent Green.’
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Charlton Heston plays New York detective Frank Thorn, who is tasked with investigating the murder of a well connected businessman. That inquiry uncovers a vast conspiracy that connects the ruling elite with the powerful Soylent Corporation.
While the movie’s big revelation is that the miracle food’s major ingredient is dead human bodies, prompting Heston’s iconic final line: “Soylent Green is people!”
How the movie might connect to Pluribus
Apple TVNow we don’t know exactly what Carol spied under that sheet, but it’s clearly something sickening. While the fact that the Others are hiding the drink inside those milk cartons means they are trying to keep it secret.
If we take the hive mind at its word, they can’t kill, so the liquid isn’t the result of a murderous spree. But millions died when the virus arrived, and millions more lost their lives when Carol lost her temper, meaning there’s plenty of corpses all over the planet.
They might therefore be drinking people for environmental reasons, to dispose of cadavers in an eco-friendly way.
But if they are downing human juice as a means of survival, it begs the chilling question – what happens when the Others run out of dead folk?
Fore more Pluribus action, here’s a sinister hive mind detail, plus details of why there won’t be a big twist, while we’ve also got Vince Gilligan on what sets the show apart from The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.