I really like this series & find it unique & interesting, though I do not have Apple + streaming service & It is not yet downloading in order & all the episodes to my ‘PLEX’ service, so all I have watched are FIRST-2-EPISODES, SO PLEASE NO SPOILERS/NOTHING ABOUT EPISODES PAST 2ND.

I tried to post a thread with what people thought of the show & this thread’s topic, but it was dominated by with exchanging replies on what the repliers thought of the show.

Even though one those repliers, MotoAsh, & I debated a long time about the alien microscopic Beings effect on The Living Planet’s & thus All Living Beings ability to survive, I love that MotoAsh expressed (even if his effect was wrong) so strong of concern for things that matter most to me- The Living Planet’s & thus All Living Beings.

See if you think this would have been a better story line to the series-

Our stupid need to explore space & need for Rich-Super Rich Economic Classes/Owners to make profits/wealths over everything else, while on Earth there are huge, sick & evil problems that gets push aside. SPOILER, IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN FIRST-2-EPISODES, From ‘The Pluribus’ series- Microscopic Beings stowaway on spaceship back to Earth & they escape within a scientist, because she accidentally injects herself with some of them.

The microscopic Beings are of two-make-ups, one is like ‘The Pluribus’ series where they are all of one-minds & no room for individuality & the other make-up is all are individuals & no room for shared existence, no matter how many bodies they both take over. Both are the problems, but the members of our species that cannot yet be turned into either one of these microscopic Beings, or better to say under their control, are at a better make-up of SEPARATE minds, individuals that though when called for can & do become individuals that work together as group, for the species survival. Sure I like how the members of our species that cannot yet be turned are far from healthy members of our species. Like the main character is a alcoholic.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/television/p/1656707/pluribuss-rhea-seehorn-im-too-thin-skinned-to-read-online-theories-season-2-will-be-bac

Been rocking to this in the weeks since S1 wrapped

What year is the Spit card game?

In Season One, card games at the West Gate Vegas Hotel with the Elvis Suite. Then a home game "Spit" is introduced with a hive mind Wikipedia hive mind trivia "FUN FACT".

"Spit appears to have originated in the UK in the 1980s."

1. RED FLAG: Carol is an American, she does not live in London. She played it as a child and she is a USA person.

2. RED FLAG: In the years of the 1980's. Wrong!

Research, the Pluribus in-show hive mind with the Wikipedia hive mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spit_(card_game)

"1973 book Deal Me In! The Use of Playing Cards in Learning and Teaching by Margie Golick, who was based at McGill University, Montreal."

• "the university bears the name of James McGill"

  • Author of book (Margie Golick) being tied to that university seems legit. https://www.mcgill.ca/continuingstudies/channels/event/life-and-rhymes-margie-golick-238920

    • "Margie Golick has helped learning happen for more than 40 years as a psychologist, television consultant" - https://www.pembrokepublishers.com/bio.cgi?id=35

    • For me, this is one fucking wild Ride surfing the WWW! https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/montreal-gazette-mcluhans-legacy-alive-and-tweeting-175987 "Montreal Gazette - McLuhan's legacy: Alive and tweeting"

Minute 22 of Pluribus Episode One, Helen's Graduate School work is on James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. "::: “He seemed a kind of embarrassing holdover from 1960s hyped-up utopian thinking. In the 1980s, the cutting-edge of media studies for grad students involved thinking about identity (gender, race, etc.) and not much about media,” said Straw, a communication studies professor and director of McGill University’s Institute for the Study of Canada :::." - Published: 17 July 2011

       * "Finnegans Wake is the greatest guidebook to media study ever fashioned by man." - Marshall McLuhan, Newsweek Magazine, p.56, February 28, 1966 .. (Again, asserting Minute 22 of Episode One of Pluribus)

       *  Vince Gilligan called social media (Twitter obviously inclusive) a "cesspool" at the writers guild speech February 15, 2025

• "Saul Goodman (Jimmy McGill) has one brother, Charles "Chuck" McGill, a highly respected but deeply resentful corporate lawyer whose toxic relationship and sabotage of Jimmy's career in Better Call Saul are a major catalyst for Jimmy's transformation into the infamous Saul Goodman, ultimately leading to Chuck's suicide and Jimmy's full embrace of his criminal persona. " - Google Search summary 2026-01-02 evening USA

This Wikipedia section was added December 21 2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spit_%28card_game%29&diff=prev&oldid=1328738988

"Even the day dreamers seem to pick up speed when they play Spit."

• This quote does indeed seem legit, page 60, from the year 1973 book. https://books.google.com/books?id=wxUPAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Even+the+day+dreamers+seem+to+pick+up+speed+when+they+play+Spit.%22&dq=%22Even+the+day+dreamers+seem+to+pick+up+speed+when+they+play+Spit.%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover

"many signal interpositions"

"The Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause" - Charles Thomson, Irish-born Founding Father of the United States of America and secretary of the Continental Congress

8.613 MHz
4-level FSK at 400 baud

Minute 37 of Episode Two

Carol stands in front of the POTUS Seal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_the_president_of_the_United_States

1. Stars missing. 4 of 13 are missing next to the head of the eagle. Only 9 of the 13 stars are present.

2. There are 13 free people that the meeting is discussing.

3. The eagle is facing the wrong way for the POTUS Seal. The claws of the olive branch and the arrows are swapped so the eagle still points to the peaceful olive branch.

The eagle being the wrong direction is intended to catch the audience eye. It takes a little more effort to count the 13 stars and find 4 are missing on closer examination.

REMINDER: This is a show that opens with smart scientists (at VLA New Mexico) in a media room trying to decode the symbols and meanings of a 78 second message. Over-thinking and analyzing media symbols is part of the very start of the show. Manousos Oviedo is also frequently shown to be analyzing messages / signal intelligence.

Season 1 Episode 9: La Chica o El Mundo

Air Date: December 24th, 2025

Synopsis: Season finale. Manousos arrives in Albuquerque and complications ensue. Carol visits the last best place on Earth.

Directed by: Gordon Smith

Written by: Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock

Actually, they may just be extensions. If so, does the hive just act as her always-available glam squad every time she's around? Or can you wear extensions continuously for however many months has elapsed in the show?

Season 1 Episode 8: Charm Offensive

Air Date: December 19th, 2025

Synopsis: Carol takes a different tack with The Others and discovers more than she anticipated. Manousos awakens in unfamiliar surroundings.

Directed by: Melissa Bernstein

Written by: Jonny Gomez

Season 1 Episode 7: The Gap

Air Date: December 12, 2025

Synopsis: Manousos begins a dangerous trek to meet Carol. Returning home from Las Vegas, Carol gets creative with her rebellion.

Directed by: Adam Bernstein

Written by: Jenn Carroll

With the matter of starvation and the dubious aim of the virus (its target may be to cancel mankind according to some theories), how do you think the hive manages procreation? I think at least for now they would avoid it to keep the load on food resources as low as possible. What’s your take?

When Carol calls the operator to speak to "them" and gets the recording, is that Patrick Fabian's voice? (Howard Hamlin from "Better Call Saul")

I can't find anyone credited for that, but it sounds a lot like him. Just curious if it's a stealth cameo.

After all these episodes, I can’t help but wonder: what would Carol be like if Helen had survived? Would she have become complacent, like the other immune? Would she still be with Helen, or would she have sent her away and still tried to find the cure?

It seems like Carol’s fight to end the Hive is at least partially driven by Helen’s death. I’m curious about your thoughts: how does someone who was once so miserable—someone who saw others as stupid idiots (clearly, she despised those women who loved her books)—suddenly become determined to save the world? What do you think motivates Carol now?

Season 1 Episode 6: HDP

Air Date: December 5, 2025

Synopsis: Carol shares a horrific discovery and learns new truths in the process. Mr. Diabaté lives life to the fullest in Sin City.

Directed by: Gandja Monteiro

Written by: Vera Blasi

Everyone know what everyone is thinking it to be: what could it be, if not dead bodies? Would that be too obvious? Is making it obvious paving the path for a real surprise?

(I don’t read/watch any commentary outside of this community, so I’m for sure out of the loop if there’s some mainstream theory going on :) )

Seaon 1 Episode 5: Got Milk

Air Date: November 26, 2025

Synopsis: Carol doubles down on her investigation—loneliness be damned. Meanwhile, howls in the night reveal a new source of danger.

Directed by: Gordon Smith

Written by: Ariel Levine

Happy early Pluribus day! Yes, you read that right — this week's episode of Vince Gilligan's Apple TV sci-fi show has dropped a whole two days ahead of schedule, likely in part due to the impending Thanksgiving holiday for those of us celebrating, and likely also to get ahead of the return of another sci-fi streaming show that people will be binging this weekend. Whatever the reason, "Got Milk," written by Ariel Levine and directed by Gordon Smith, doesn't waste any time before launching into the immediate ripple effects of last week's cliffhanger.

When romance author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) concocts a reckless plan to drug a member of the hivemind — in this case, Zosia (Karolina Wydra) — and demands an answer about how to reverse the alien phenomenon that linked almost every survivor on Earth, the Others... don't take it very well, to say the least. Their collective decision to ice Carol out for what's treated like a pretty personal violation of boundaries is the first time we've seen them really push back against any behavior from the immune, and it could have lingering consequences heading into the back half of the season — especially since the Others' absence ultimately allows Carol to make what seems like a pretty harrowing discovery about them. But "Got Milk" is also an episode that forces Seehorn to carry Pluribus on her shoulders for the bulk of the hour, and she does so in stunning fashion.

Spoilers for episode 1, but anything up to episode 4 is fair game.

First off, she died.

However, what exactly killed Helen?

My interpretation is that Helen joined the hive mind, but her body/mind ultimately rejected it causing her death.

Helen's joining process was slightly different than most people we saw. When people were first infected they largely seized in place and did not fall over. As Carol is exploring the bar everyone (that I can remember) is standing or maybe squatting, but maintaining their balance. The same is also true when Carol arrives at the hospital. The doctor she tries to talk to us standing and maintaining their balance.

Helen however, fell over. Did the fall onto the pavement kill her? Is the reason she fell/couldn't maintain her balance the same reason she couldn't join? Was/is Helen's inability to join a hint of how to unjoin? (Although I don't know what that hint is yet.)

The hive mind didn't make any distinction about those who died the day of the joining. If their death was caused directly by the joining or if it was an accident as a result of everyone being unable to move.

To add to this, when we first see people joining the hive it is the result of direct contact, specifically saliva. However we later see airplanes spraying cities, implying that it is airborne. The hive also talks about working on making the virus compatible with Carol. While they may have started after hive day, did they perhaps also start before?

If no one died during the initial joinings, but people died during the mass joining, how can they be sure they won't kill Carol when they force her to join?