Pluribus episode 9 is out now on Apple TV – and, with it, the hit sci-fi mystery drama’s first season has come to a close.
There’s a fair amount to unpack from its season 1 finale, too. From that bombshell moment that confirms a recent fan theory about Carol, to whether there’ll be a second season and more besides, I’ll aim to answer your biggest questions about the Apple TV Original’s latest chapter. I’ll run through them in the order that they emerge chronologically in episode 9, too, because discussing this entry’s earlier questions are necessary to help explain ones that come after.
Who is Kusimayu? And why does she join The Others?
If, when this individual appeared in episode 9’s first scene, your first question was “…who?”, you’re not alone. I too didn’t immediately recognize who Kusimayu was.
We’ve met her before, though – indeed, she was one of the five other immune humans that Carol (and, by proxy, us) was introduced to in Pluribus‘ two-episode premiere. You may also remember that the Pervuian national was steadfast in her desire to join The Others in episode 2, titled ‘Pirate Lady’, because she wanted to join her loved ones, who’d already been assimilated into the hive mind.
She doesn’t have to wait an inordinate amount of time to become part of The Joined, either. When episode 9 begins, it’s revealed that over 71 days have passed since The Joining occurred in Pluribus episode 1 – and, finally, The Others have created a specific strain of the alien virus, which caused The Joining, that’ll only affect Kusimayu.
Remember, Pluribus episode 6 saw Carol make two big discoveries about The Others, with one of those being that they couldn’t convert the immune without developing a strain that was genetically coded to said person. The only way to do that was to collect stem cells from the immune, which The Others would need to give consent for. In short: if you don’t agree, The Others can’t obtain the stem cells necessary to make the strain, ergo you’ll maintain your autonomy. FYI, bear this in mind for later, because it’s important.
Anyway, Kusimayu clearly permitted The Others to do the above, so she could join them, which is what happens in episode 9’s opening sequence. Where once there were 13 immune individuals, now there are 12…
Do Carol and Manousos finally meet in Pluribus episode 9?
Yep – and, predictably, things don’t get off to a good start. At all.
Carol and Manousos’ meeting has been teased since Pluribus‘ sixth episode and, following this season’s penultimate installment, confirmed to finally happen in its finale. However, while there were initially singing from the same “we need to save the world” hymn sheet, by the time they cross paths, that isn’t the case.
Indeed, thanks in no small part to her burgeoning romantic relationship with her hive mind chaperone Zosia, Carol’s perspective on The Others has shifted. Not to the point where she wants to join them, admittedly, but enough that her new outlook on them doesn’t align with Manousos’. Inevitably, that creates friction and, long story short, leads to Carol largely severing ties with Manousos and, for the time being, the chance of finding a solution to reverse The Joining with her Colombian ally.
What does Manousos discover about The Others?
Speaking of said solution, it seems Manousos learns some incredibly important about The Joined in one of the best Apple TV shows‘ latest episode.
After he meets with Zosia – much to Carol’s chagrin – and learns everything about The Others, he conducts an experiment. Requesting the services of another member of The Joined, he evokes his inner ‘early season’ Carol by getting angry at said individual.
As we learned in Pluribus episode 2, anger not only disrupts the link between the hive mind, but causes its human hosts to have a fit that, if the fury displayed by an immune human is strong enough, can cause millions of The Others to die. So, when Zosia lies down and suddenly starts convulsing in Carol’s home, we know what’s about to happen.
As a panicked Carol enters Manousos’ temporary abode and berates him for intentionally causing another potentially lethal event, Manousos heads to his ambulance to grab his portable radio and notepad full of radio signals. Locating the only frequency – 8613.0 – that picked up a signal in episode 4, Manousos soon realizes that the static he heard in that chapter is now registering an identifiable yet audible sound.
Re-entering the house, he causes the now-unseized Other, who Carol had calmed down, to endure another fit by shouting at him. As an alarmed Carol races back to her home, Manousos places the portable radio on the Other and starts telling the person locked inside their own mind to free themselves. It’s unclear if Manousos’ experiment would’ve worked, though, because a shotgun-toting Carol soon returns and, after firing a warning shot above his head, forces Manousos to stop what he’s doing.
Following Manousos’ introduction in episode 4, I proposed a theory – one that, at the very least, episode 9 proves is partly right – that Pluribus‘ at-the-time mystery individual was key to solving its big riddle. That being, that radio waves/signals/frequencies are seemingly crucial to reversing The Joining. After all, this cataclysmic event was caused by an extraterrestrial RNA-based radio wave that, as we learn in episode 8, traveled from a real-life exoplanet called Kepler-22b to Earth.
It stands to reason, then, that The Joining could be undone by using some form of reverse-engineered radio wave. Manousos and Carol could use the 8613.0 frequency to help affected people snap out of the stranglehold that the hive mind has on their, well, minds, too.
The only other way to potentially free infected individuals seems to be making them recall a core or favorite memory. In episode 8, Zosia seemed to break free for a nanosecond after she recounted a story about mango ice cream to Carol. Could Manousos and Carol use this in conjunction with the 8613.0 frequency to fully free people from the hive mind? I wouldn’t rule it out.
Wait, is Carol going to be forced to become part of The Joined?
By the sounds of it, yes. Even worse, she doesn’t have long before her freedom is taken away from her.
After Manousos’ failed experiment, The Others leave Albuquerque just like they did in episode 5. This time around, Carol joins them because she still doesn’t trust Manousos, especially after the stunt he pulled, and due to her romantic entanglement with Zosia.
Unfortunately for Carol, it isn’t long before reality hits, because she soon learns that The Others have not only located some of her stem cells, but are concocting a DNA-specific strain of the alien virus to use on her.
Since the Apple TV show’s sixth episode, fans have theorized that The Others would use Carol’s frozen eggs – we first learned about these in episode 3 – to their advantage at some point. That’s proven to be the case, with Zosia confirming The Joined have collected stem cells from Carol’s eggs to manufacture the aforementioned strain. Zosia tells Carol it’ll take one to three months for The Others to craft the perfect strain to infect Carol, too. In short: enjoy your freedom while you can.
Unsurprisingly, Carol is not happy about this, which is why we see her return to Albuquerque and reunite with a puzzled Manousos. Why is he confused? Well…
What’s in the giant, steel crate that Carol brings home?
Rocking up at her home, Carol brings a giant, steel crate – one carried by the helicopter she’s flown home in – with her. Locking eyes with Manousos once her mode of transport has left, she tells him “You win. Let’s save the world”, before heading up her drive. As she does, Manousos asks what the giant package is, to which Carol replies “Atom bomb”.
Now, as part of a big question raised about The Joined in Pluribus episode 3’s final scene – that being, they can’t lie – we learned that The Others would give Carol whatever she requested to keep her happy. Despite their clear uncomfortableness, that would include gifting her a nuclear weapon if she asked for one.
So, has Carol actually brough back a nuclear weapon with her as a deterrent to prevent The Others from trying to convert her, or is it just a metaphorical atom bomb? Knowing Carol, I suspect it’s the former, but we’ll have to wait for season 2 to know for sure. Speaking of which…
Will there be a second season of Pluribus?
Yes! When Apple won the fierce bidding war for the exclusive rights to Pluribus in September 2022, it greenlit two seasons of Vince Gilligan’s latest TV creation. So, we’ll get at least one more installment on one of the world’s best streaming services.
Right now, though, there’s no word on when it’ll be released. In mid-November, Gilligan told RadioTimes.com that its writing team would re-assemble shortly to start working on next season’s scripts. Considering that means season 2 is still in its pre-production phase, it’ll be a long time before it airs on Apple’s streaming platform. My best guess? We won’t see it until mid-2027 – and that’s being incredibly optimistic.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
