Welcome to Autostraddle’s Pluribus episode 7 recap! It contains spoilers for episode 7! You’ve been warned! Go watch the episode and then return to discuss with me in the comments.
Even before I knew this week’s episode of Pluribus was titled “The Gap”, my reaction to Manousos Oviedo hopping in his tiny car and driving away from home was “but girl, THE GAP!”
I’m talking, of course, about the Darién Gap, a notoriously dangerous roadless stretch of jungle between Panama and Colombia. It seemed a given Manousos intended to drive to Carol, but there is no drivable route from where he lives in Paraguay and Albuquerque, or anywhere north of Colombia for that matter. It is one of the most perilous migration routes in the world. More than 500,000 people trekked through those perils — summed up partially in this episode of Pluribus by a member of the hive for Manousos, including extreme heat, lack of marked trails, venomous creatures, spiked chunga palm trees — in 2024. As with many migration paths, perfect data is nearly impossible, but one report found that 253 migrants died or went missing in the gap from 2014 to 2021, according to Human Rights Watch. The real number is likely much higher than that. Drowning is the most significant cause of death, though illnesses and exposure were also common causes.
What I love about Pluribus is how the show lends itself to many interlocking readings. I know some folks have read my recaps and concluded I must think this show is expressly and exclusively about AI, but that is not the case at all. Unpacking the series through the lens of AI is just one of the many ways I’ve responded to and engaged with Pluribus. During “The Gap”, I naturally found myself thinking of the parallels between the hive and settler colonialism and the concept of assimilation, especially as its thrusted upon immigrant populations.
The hive can be seen as representing a very extreme form of assimilation, one in which all cultural differences are replaced with a homogenous monoculture. You know, that melting pot bullshit we were fed as kids in American schools, a metaphor that doesn’t celebrate difference but instead attempts to boil it down into sameness. Manousos’s journey is different from that of displaced and desperate people crossing the Darién Gap in search of asylum, opportunity, and survival in our harsh reality, but there are also parallels. He is attempting to escape circumstances beyond his control. He is attempting to survive. All the while, he’s being told he should do it a certain way, the “right” way. This is what asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants are told all the time in real life — to do it the “right” way, as if that is something that is easy and accessible for everyone. The hive presents a supposedly “easier” path for Manousos to get where he wants to go, but it comes with all sorts of strings attached. The hive functions a lot like bureaucracy; there are strict codes for how they operate. Yes, the Darién Gap is a nightmare to navigate, but let’s not pretend our immigration system is any easier.
I am struck by the stark contrast between Manousos’ and Carol’s behaviors in this episode. It is no coincidence that we see Carol behaving at her most self-indulgent while we also watch Manousos suffer the horrors of navigating this world alone. Manousos has accomplished what Carol failed to do; he is actually self-sufficient without any help from the hive to survive. Carol has been living in a sci-fi version of the end of the world, still able to call up anything she wants any time. Manousos is living in an extremely realist version of the end of the world. He has to use real survival skills. When faced with needing to feed herself, Carol went to Sprouts, saw it empty, and requested it be filled. Manousos ate dog food. The hive keeps trying to help him in his journey, and he keeps turning them away, relying on maps, stolen gasoline, and cassette tapes teaching him English to aid him in his journey to find Carol Sturka. As he travels the Darién Gap alone, he repeats a mantra to himself: My name is Manousos Oviedo. I am not one of them. I wish to save the world.
Carol, meanwhile, calls up the hive to deliver her an ice cold fruit punch Gatorade. When it’s delivered room temp, she leaves a message to complain. She might as well change her name to Karen Sturka in this Gatorade moment. I know, I know. She has every reason to feel defeated. The hive has cut off all her contact with the beings who resemble humans; the actual humans that ARE left want nothing to do with her. And she isn’t actually yelling at real customer service people but rather alien virus-infected humans who have destroyed the world as she knows it. But still, there’s something off-putting about Carol’s behaviors in the episode. Her Gatorade request evokes the sort of instant gratification and emphasis on convenience that capitalism and mass consumerism indoctrinates us with. The type of “convenience” offered by Amazon, by fast fashion companies, by Google, AI, and big tech — it almost always comes at a cost, whether it be environmental, humanitarian, or, usually, both. Amazon made it so people could push a button and get pretty much whatever they want, in two days or less. This way of moving through life has caused irreparable damage to society and to the ways we move through the world.
Carol sees herself as inherently different than Diabaté, and yes, she isn’t using the hive for sex. But while she might not be enacting elaborate fantasies (is she not though? putting a Georgia O’Keefe original in her home and setting off fireworks in her cul-de-sac doesn’t exactly have James Bond glitz to it, but she is doing her own version of Living Large), she is undeniably relying on the convenience of the hive in a way that mimics hyper-consumerism in her previous life. Carol lived a very comfortable life in the beforetimes. Look at her house, look at the meals she was used to for special occasions, look at her golf drive. She has said she wants to save the world, too, but when Manousos says it on repeat, I really really believe it. Carol hasn’t been so willing to give up certain comforts, and she’s having a hard time untethering her previous life from her new reality.
Watching the episode, you get the impression Manousos knows a bit more about what it means to fight to survive than Carol does. How Manousos and Carol each talk about the hive diverges in ways that reflect different worldviews and lived experiences, too. When Carol speaks of the hive, she is focused more on their lack of originality, their lack of individualism. This is reflected in the types of questions she asked Jeff Hiller about her own art. She wants to be able to think for herself. And while that is all indeed a good position to have in the face of intense pressures to assimilate, as commenter Olivia pointed out in last week’s comment section, it’s interesting to consider how this show might also offer a critique of how the Western world glorifies and emphasizes individualism. I do think Carol is right to question the hive’s homogeneity; I also still think it was ironic then that she pompously dismissed the other immune survivors for not immediately adopting her worldview during their first meeting. Carol sees the hive as a threat to her individuality. Manousos, on the other hand, articulates explicitly in this episode that his issue with the hive is that they are, essentially, violent settlers.
“Nada en este planeta es ustedes,” he says. “Nada. No pueden darme nada, porque todo que ustedes tienen es robado. Ustedes no pertenecen aca.”
Nothing on this planet is yours. Nothing. You can’t give me anything because everything you have is stolen. You do not belong here.
Manousos isn’t worried so much about individuality as he is about the threat of invasion. He is steadfast in his resistance. At so many points, he could cave and allow the hive to help him, but he does not, risking his life in the process. When he finally does collapse in the gap, it’s implied the hive finally does swoop in to help, but they do so without his permission. I’m so convinced Manousos would have readily died in his quest to save the world, willing to risk his life for it. I do not see that same conviction in Carol, who yes, tried to collect what she knows about the hive and also to find a scientist to help her, but still does rely on the hive to not only allow her to live comfortably but also in somewhat of a state of luxury, swapping her cruiser for a Rolls Royce and golfing her way through the apocalypse.
Whether looking at the hive as big tech, AI, capitalism, the ruling class, the far right, settler colonialism, one thing is for certain — it is an overwhelming force meant to make anyone else feel powerless and inconsequential in the face of it. It is something to be resisted. It is something to be fought. Manousos understands this well. Carol does, too, in her own way.
Saving the world will require discomfort, will require risk. I’m not even talking about Pluribus anymore. I’m talking about our reality. Resistance is not an easy road. And the journey Manousos is on is not the stuff of science-fiction but rather a real route many must take in the name of survival. The end of the world rattles Carol, but there are people who experience apocalyptic stakes all the time, who are in many ways more ready for the end of the world. Manousos and Carol are wildly different, and I cannot wait to see what happens when they eventually, hopefully, are able to team up. Because neither of them can do this alone.
More things to discuss in the comments:
- Transcribed the Spanish by ear but my Spanish is a tad rusty these days, so please correct me if I got it wrong. On that note, off topic, but what language learning tools are we using that do not rely on AI at all because fuck Duolingo? I am open to recs!
- I haven’t had a chance to make it the focus of one of these recaps yet, but I AM very interested in the ways the natural world is responding to this new reality. It’s like an even more extreme version of the whole “nature is healing” meme from Covid lockdown, because in this case, the virus has also made it so that animals and plants cannot be harmed by the “human” population.
- I love that Manousos leaves cash on every car he takes gasoline from. Both he and Carol gesture toward the way things used to be, grasping at it for comfort, in their own ways.
- Yes, Rhea Seehorn for all the awards, but also? Carlos-Manuel Vesga for all the awards! Both give tremendous performances throughout this episode, especially considering they mostly don’t have anyone to play off of!
- I love Carol singing to herself throughout the episode.
- I know I’m quite critical of Carol, but I do understand and often empathize with her, too. Her overwhelming relief from seeing Zosia at episode’s end almost made me cry thinking of the isolation of lockdown and the first time I was able to hug my friends.
- ZOSIA BACK!!!!!!!!
- Much like Carol, I have a perfect memory for every special meal I’ve ever eaten.
- I forgot to write about my FAVORITE moment last episode, which was Diabaté mimicking and then enjoying Carol’s approach to a breakfast sandwich. Thank you to the person who brought it up in the comments anyway! And if anyone else would like to discuss it here, we def can! Always feel free to comment on previous episodes if you have something new you’ve thought of!
Carol is acting the way she is because of two things:
1) they literally took her survival methods away from her. She’d gladly shop, trade, and do her own handiwork but they took all those social resources away. Just because she’s not a manual labor type of person doesn’t mean she’s a dependent because…
2) Carol is a *creative* person. She’s the type to add originality and creativity and critical thinking to problem-solving. Manousos is a *manual* person. He’s the type to pitch in and physically do work that needs doing. They *need* each other equally. Manousos seems the more heroic because of the particular thing he’s doing right now but before he realized Carol existed, he wasn’t doing anything remotely heroic; he was being a fool. You could easily argue he was a fool to brave The Gap the way he did (no first aid kit? no extra boots? No protection for his body?) He was willing to starve to death rather than question anyone. In that time, Carol learned a lot of valuable information.
The hive could represent real world big tech, AI, capitalism, the ruling class, the far right and/or settler colonialism… but certainly not socialism/communism.
Amazing.
I would argue that Carol is doing plenty of manual labor (digging Helen’s grave, loading, unloading, and placing the cement tiles atop the grave, etc) and similarly, Manousos is doing a ton of creative work! I wouldn’t consider scanning the radio stations and learning a new language via cassette tape to be “manual” labor. I also don’t think Manousos was being a fool! He was working with the information he had… he didn’t know he had anything close to an ally in his desire to save the world until he learned of Carol Sturka. Carol may have learned valuable information in that time but it didn’t even advance her efforts in any way (e.g. learning about the cannibilsm and fixating on it for almost 2 episodes did not move the needle anywhere).
I have to appreciate Manousos work ethic and holding on to his values. I rewound the scene he tells the Hive off multiple times because hell yeah! That’s the kind of fight humanity needs.
Can’t wait to see how Manousos will interact with a Carol who has welcomed back the Hive to her life. Incredible final scene.
When Zosia was initially shown after her heart attack I held out a bit of hope she was free from the Hive since she had a tube down her throat. Mark that one off the theory list.
A fact only I care about: Tarzan Boy is the song Carol hears playing in the gas station. It is also the entrance music for All Elite Wrestler “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry (Luke Perry’s son, RIP). I swear I went from never hearing the song to having it pop up in the most random places.
oh interesting Zosia theory!
Mostly I can’t wait to see what happens when the two, Carol and Manousos, link up. I started dozing off during portions of his journey so I’ll have to rewatch but I enjoyed and agree with your insight, Kayla. As for Carol, I kinda got the feeling she was having a “f*ck it” moment and decided to enjoy a few moments of euphoria before relapsing back into dread before Zosia arrived. I’m hoping Zosia flipped and will pretend. I’m sure she knows a backdoor to deceive the rest of the hive.
You know what, when I watched this episode I thought “this is going to give the straight male viewers who already refuse to empathise with Carol even more ammo to label her a ‘Karen’”. Yet this is the first time I’ve actually seen someone call her that, and it’s on Autostraddle. Like I see what you’re trying to say and think American individualism vs collectivism is a hugely important theme of the show, but I would also expect someone writing for this website to have more sympathy for our lead and overall have more to say about her internal struggle and isolation this episode.
hey, so, just because a lot of straight dudes are being sexist in their criticisms of Carol does not mean that all critique of Carol amounts to sexism. I do have empathy for Carol but also see a lot of her actions and worldview as intrinsically connected to her whiteness, her Americanness, her wealth. those things don’t negate her pain and suffering, and likewise, her pain and suffering do not negate those things. I think the contrast between her journey in this episode and Manousos is meant to make us uncomfortable and perhaps question or complicate what we previously felt about Carol as the show’s protagonist. the Gatorade scene both delighted me (it’s funny!) and made me cringe (it’s very entitled white woman behavior!). many, many things can be true at once and I do think this is a show studying the shitshow that is human behavior, which is not always logical, straightforward, or easy to categorize. I feel deeply for Carol in moments and am deeply critical of her in others, especially when we look at a character like Manousos whose circumstances and worldview diverge from hers. I think it is very intentional that Carol was not written as a struggling artist (in the sense of her material conditions, obviously she struggled on a creative level and was at odds with her brand) but rather a pretty wealthy, successful, even literary-famous one.
I like how you describe it “ American individualism vs collectivism”. A couple of thoughts,
It seems individualism is strongly associated with being American.
I feel like it is assumed the hive mentality is bad, and I’m not certain it’s 100% a problem, it’s as Diabate has mentioned there is no crime, social injustice, etc. But what is a problem is you have no choice, you are forced assimilated or die from the process.
Note: the immune 13, will be short lived if up to the hive, who are still working diligently to resolve.
Duolingo uses AI now?? Man fuck that bird
Manousos’s mantra while walking through the jungle reminded me of “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die”.
Same weight.
“Man fuck that bird” made me LOLLLLL
Going to echo the above commenter- saddened to see the lack of empathy for Carol in this recap. Sure, she’s a privileged white woman, but it was revealed in this episode that she had been with Helen for almost three decades. To me, this was an episode about grief as well.
The hive took away Carol’s access to resources. It’s shown she’s willing to shop, build, explore, etc. just like Manousos in previous episodes. Manousos was willing to starve to death rather than interact with the hive, and almost died. Was he heroic or foolhardy? I don’t see why accepting help from them while processing the takeover and death of her wife needs to be interpreted in such a critical way.
it is not “critical” to call out white privilege. yes, Carol is acting from grief & this takeover, AND within all of that, she is acting from a mentality derived from her white privilege.
Grief doesn’t cancel out her whiteness, and it’s not “critical” to name her whiteness. in fact, it’s thinking like this(your comment) that defends white privilege.
White supremacy operates by erasing nuanced humanity, people calling that whiteness out does NOT erase nuanced humanity.
thank you lol
Yeah this episode was more about her using her privilege than her grief.
Manousos gave permission for the hive to help, he raised his arm to the sky like they asked when he collapsed.
i read that as an involuntary gesture like how someone raises a hand to block out the sun when on the ground passed out like that but think the hive would take it as tacit permission since they (likely) wouldn’t have helped without feeling like they could justify it by saying he consented
Maybe… but he’s not actually blocking the sun, at least not successfully. The light still shines on his face. Apart from this, I think he signals the Hive on purpose, because before raising his hand he says “Carol Sturka,” as if reaching her is the priority, and as if he understands that at this moment he has to give in. I don’t think he would prefer to die rather than be helped by the Hive; otherwise, he wouldn’t have said Carol’s name. This is not about him. He told us: he wants to save the world.
Yes! And I loved this detail, because even in his heroic stubbornness he couldn’t make it alone. The episode parallels the reaction of someone facing invasion, but at the same time it seems to comment on the need for others—even if those others are your apparent enemies…
The use of The Gap as the episode title was really interesting to me – there’s the literal Darien gap, but also so many metaphorical ones! The language gap Manousos is working to overcome during his journey, the gap between the plurbs and all of the immune, the gaps between the moral compasses of each survivor we’ve spent some time with (Laxmi episode when??)…. I could go on!
I also went to the show’s Wikipedia during the episode and thought it was really interesting to see that Carol, Manousos, and Zosia are listed as main characters and not Koumba. Curious!
I think you miss an important distinction that Manousos is illustrating when he leaves money for the gas, and your misreading is further illustrated when you refer to his acquired gasoline as “stolen.” Manousos is guided by the principle that he will not utilize stolen resources in his quest, and also that there is a future in which the world will be saved. The cash is not a gesture toward the list normalcy of the past — if he runs out of cash he will stop acquiring new goods. This is a profound difference between Manousos and Carol.
yeah this was actually my takeaway! the word siphoned would have worked better, I agree. definitely didn’t mean he was actually stealing, since that’s the opposite of the point. and yes, he’s enacting his code of morals of the past. agree it’s meant to draw a huge contrast between him and Carol, sorry if my wording gave a different impression
with regards to the points about ‘convenience’ culture destroying society etc, i would just hasten to point out that there are many people who are reliant on such ‘conveniences’ to live, because the world is ableist and inaccessible. for example, for all the people who continue to ignore covid and stopped wearing masks because the government (lol) told them it’s ok, you’re directly making it so that immunocompromised ppl and other disabled ppl and the ppl who love them, can’t safely go into the wider world and might have to order things home. or all the people who got me/cfs from long covid who can’t just ‘pop to the shops’ and need to rely on uber etc to get food delivered. more thoughts on such things here – https://substack.com/home/post/p-181519529
small political rant aside, this was my fave episode of the season so far!!! it was utterly breathtaking and just so…human. i loved it.
Appreciate this recap and in particular the point about how Carol is focused on the hive’s threat to her individualism, whereas Manousos likens the hive to violent colonizers. I could be wrong but I think he’s the only survivor so far to actually call them out as an alien entity? Carol seems to see them as this collective of all of humanity melted down into one mind – but Manousos is right, the hive mind may have access to humanity’s consciousnesses (having stolen it), but it is not actually human and it does not belong here.
Hard agree also on the critique of Carol’s white privilege and wealth this episode – and love your point about Carol living in a sci-fi version of the end of the world, vs. Manousos living in a realist version!
I will say though, I actually saw the Gatorade scene differently! The hive holds so much power over Carol, which it is now exercising in full force by isolating her, and I saw this as a small way of needling them. She can’t antagonize them in person, but she can make ridiculous requests like asking for ice cold Gatorade and elaborate meals. Obviously Manousos is doing a better job of truly fighting back – which I think is really clear even just in the parallel between the two of them getting gas – Carol calling the hive to turn on a pump, vs. Manousos siphoning gas from other cars manually. I think Carol feels trapped by the hive and it doesn’t occur to her to cut herself off completely and truly fend for herself – an attitude that should be critiqued! But at the same time I don’t think the requests she makes are gratification for gratification’s sake, but more of a little “fuck you” to the hive in her own way.
I really like this reading/interpretation of the Gatorade scene! Thank you for sharing
After years (a lot of years) of reading Autostraddle, I decided to comment because I feel like this type of coverage is shrinking, or maybe it is more difficult to find for me.
I write this comment while I hear the beautiful song “Esperanza” by los Hermanos Gutiérrez, which made Manousos’ voyage even more human. I think that—maybe it sounds obvious and silly to say it, and sorry if you guys have already said it enough—but this series is about that: what makes us human. Pain, stupidity, the capacity to be vulnerable… How many of those things are animal traits, though? Is it diversity? Our human differences? Difference. Maybe the capacity to say it: I’m vulnerable. I need you. Come back.
I think that the saddest thing we’re experiencing as societies is the increasing loneliness. We had an extreme experience during the pandemic, but it is a silent reality that does not need COVID to lurk over us. For a lot of us, COVID was a perfect excuse. We could explain our loneliness. We could point to something and say it’s not us! It’s not our fault. But then COVID was mostly gone, and we had to explain our inability to build communities, to sustain friendships, to keep relationships. Carol is alone, but there are other people like her, different from her but still human. And they don’t like her. I think that she starts to feel like something’s wrong with her. She starts to doubt herself—a little maybe, but she does. Loneliness does that. It corrodes your thoughts and values. The absence of thought. The lack of understanding. The void. That’s what cults are made of: corroded people.
That’s what most moves me about Pluribus: Carol and Manousos’ loneliness. So different, and so stubbornly alike.
I loved this episode. The contrasts, the colonialism parallels, the ambience, the questions that spring to my mind: is Manousos going to be disappointed? Is Carol as we know her gone? Maybe Zosia has changed a little? (One can hope).
PD: I do not love that they didn’t hire a Paraguayan actor. He does NOT sound Paraguayan. It was really disappointing for a series that I thought was making a critique of the very thing you pointed out: a homogeneous monoculture. I’m not Paraguayan, I’m Argentinian, so at first I wondered, maybe I got it wrong? Maybe he did change his accent? But he did not, or at least not successfully. It’s not a B series; you wouldn’t have an English actor speaking like an Englishman and portraying a Texan. The same way you shouldn’t have a Colombian actor speaking like a Colombian and portraying a Paraguayan. Sorry, but it pissed me off. I thought we were over that in “prestige series,” but here we are. And after all, isn’t Gilligan the creator of the Mexican yellow atmosphere? We’re in the USA—we can normally see! We’re in Mexico—everything is yellow!
I don’t want to end on a bad note. I like this series; it’s just a little frustrating that they always deal carelessly with Latin American topics, characters, and whatnot.
PD 2: I missed Zosia.
Not here to critique your criticism of a Columbian actor playing a Paraguayan. I don’t listen to the podcast for the show, but I read that apparently in episode 4 Vince Gilligan says Manousos is a Columbian living in Paraguay. Hopefully we get more of his backstory soon for clarification.
Yes, I’ve read something about that. But we’re in episode 7, and he has always been referred to as Paraguayan, so… to me, for now, this feels like PR people trying to avoid criticism. I think they just didn’t care about appropriate casting, but we’ll see, hopefully I’m wrong.
I’m continuing to love this show, love discussing it here, and love how many different ways you can think about it.
I had a lot of similar thoughts about how this episode started with Carol at her most selfish, how her asking for a precisely chilled Gatorade is really no different from Diabaté wanting fancy drinks and Airforce One. The parallel between his row of cars and Carol getting a new car at the country club, especially.
However, it occurred to me that while this episode is clearly set up mostly to contrast Carol and Manousos, and during the episode I did think about how Manousos is fending for himself the way Carol thinks she is, this episode is also really contrasting their environments – just think of the cinematography (which was especially gorgeous this episode). Who is to say that Carol is not able to fend for herself, just is a very different environment than Manousos? Does knowing where to find keys at a valet stand rather than how to siphon gas make you worse at post-apocalyptic transportation problem solving?
I still want to know so much about all the individuals’ backstories. I have so many theories for each of them, and each theory really changes the way I feel about their actions post-event. Like, if Carol left home and had no parental support as a teenage after say a bad time at a conversion camp, then maybe she is as scrappy as she says she is, and her feeling that she has to do everything herself is because for a time she did.
I’m not saying Carol is not privileged. Clearly she is; that’s what her environment is showing us. I love how strongly that’s portrayed, and how even if she did scrape together her previous life from very little, she’s clearly been well-off for a long time as well, and that impacts her expectations for how the world should work in relation to her.
Manousos, with his more obviously principled stand (which I did love – his speech at the gap was excellent), is easier to point to as “a good guy,” but he definitely falls into the category of “independent to the point of foolhardiness” characters (shout out to Bjartur of Summerhouses). Is it principled to not accept stolen aid from a group, or is it fatally dangerous to refuse to even listen to their information? At times it felt almost like stubbornly doing something his own way was more important to him than succeeding, more important than surviving; it felt like he was trying to martyr himself.
The went right up to the end of both their episode arcs when I realized that actually, this episode was about two very different people failing to be alone. Carol is grieving, potentially depressed, potentially alcoholic; Manousos is monomaniacal and stubbornly independent. They both made reckless decisions that led to near death; the context and nature of those decisions is wildly different, but ultimately neither can survive totally isolated. I love both these characters and want to see them together so badly.
On a much, much lighter note: I loved that Carol went to a museum and stole art! One of my most common movie plot questions is why people in “The Purge” franchise go around murdering their neighbors rather than stealing their favorite pieces from nearby museums. In Carol’s place I would 100% steal my favorite art and hang it in my home.
A lot of the stuff the hive is doing is psychological torture, and making communication impossible is typical of warfare.
We haven’t seen the hive sleeping, and they all seem to converge somewhere, there is probably something/someone we haven’t seen yet.
I think the big reveal will be the backstory of the other immune.
And Carol is clearly an alcoholic and she has prescribed antidepressants, the antidepressant Carol is taking tends to have tight medical supervision, that Carol can’t have because all docs are part of the hive, Carol is drinking heavily while taking antidepressants, this is all knowledge the hive has since whoever Carol doc was is part of the hive.
I really appreciate these nuanced and thoughtful analyses, and have something less profound but still very much on my mind: Where are all the pets?? Why didn’t Carol try an animal companion before asking for the hive to come back?
Ugh finally watched this weekend so was able to read and YESSSSS to everything. I agree 100% that not everything to take away from this show is about AI, but of course there is A LOT about it to inspect. I was talking to Britt, who’s vehemently against AI, while watching the episode, and she found herself getting frustrated with Manousos, at one point even literally saying “Just accept their help! He’s moving so slow and he doesn’t have to be. There’s a quicker way!” And I kind of just side eyed her until it clicked and she was annoyed with herself for falling into that trap. I added, “She *literally* stole art this episode,” which I think lends itself to the whole AI theme, too.
But the episode did such a good job of getting all of us to try to root for Manousos to rely on the Hive!!! It was so hard to watch him struggle. The whole time I just kept saying “He’s going to die. He’s going to die!!” The juxtaposition between her increasing dependence on the Hive and him navigating The Gap on his own was soooo effective. I didn’t realize just how mirrored their near-death experiences were in their relationship to loneliness until reading the recap and others’ comments here.
A fantastic recap, as always!
One more thing – an earlier commenter pointed out that they do not see Carol as someone who does manual labor, but rather someone who uses social resources/services (grocery stores, etc.) to get what she needs done, making her more of a “creative” person in juxtaposition with Manousos’ very manual labor. But I feel like that undervalues the amount of manual labor we’ve seen Carol do? From digging Helen’s grave (mostly) by hand to loading and unloading and placing the cement tiles on said grave, I feel like we’ve watched Carol do a fair share of manual/physical labor. This leads me to a super random and silly observation, but I loved the close up shots of Carol’s hands while she was “playing” golf! In the first close-up shot, Britt and I thought they were man’s hands, until it panned out to Carol. My first thought upon realizing that was “omg I love that they have her dyke hands!” (I know lesbian hands can look like anything but you know what I mean).
‘Thrusted’?