# Pluribus (New Vince Gilligan show on AppleTV) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, apple\ **Created:** [November 7, 2025, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659 "2025-11-07T12:10:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 42
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/821 "2025-12-20T23:37:02Z")
I wonder if they’re going to experiment with the possibility that the frequency Manuosos found scanning ham radio channels will turn out to be the frequency that the Plurbs use to share data through the body’s EM waves. If so, I don’t necessarily see them needing a Faraday cage as much as a jamming device. Because it’s not like they’re going to be able to encase the whole world in a Faraday cage. Also, as far as how a jammed or caged infected would act… I’d expect them to return to stage 0: a raving made lunatic whose sole ambition is to spread the virus as we saw with the idiot who just _had_ to make sure a mouse was really dead in episode 1 (as if it really mattered???). That or they are left a distinct individual: neither Pluribus nor the person they were before, but rather a product of whatever impressions they had at the time of separation. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/822 "2025-12-21T00:20:39Z")
The thing about this virus is that initially it was spread covertly at first, then all out once the military caught on, by close contact and spraying it to make sure. Yet the pulsing **P** in the credits and Manuosos frequency discovery mean something. Satellites or radio towers that at least facilitate communication. Reinforcing the control is intact and taking action if it’s at all possible that boosters are needed. I reckon the cliffhanger questions are: who really survived immune, and what these two heavily monitored people can do? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/823 "2025-12-21T01:09:08Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > who really survived immune I don’t see that being a lingering mystery at all. I don’t see any reason, thematically or practically, why there should be further immunes. Manuosos being a surprise addition makes some thematic sense because it emphasizes just how isolated and independent of a man he was and is. He’s such a loaner that literally bo one else in the world even knew that he was still alive at first. Presumably, what little contact he had with people going back several years was as just some random, probably uptight and quiet guy who ran a storage facility. Presumably, no one even knew his name. In short, the circumstances in which he is first mentioned tells us more about the character than an entire episode’s worth of exposition could. Practically, if there are only 13 _known_ immunes out of billions, I suppose there could be (I’d wager none to one) single digits more _unknown_ immunes in the most isolated parts of the world. But then again (and this is where the math comes in), the percentage of individuals who live wholly in isolation from the rest of humanity has to be vanishingly small compared to the population of the Earth. Multiply that by the slightly (but not much) better than one in a billion odds of being immune, and, well… Think last surviving member of an isolated tribe in the Amazon rain forest who also happens to have this very rare immunity. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/824 "2025-12-21T01:11:41Z")
I’m surprised we’ve heard nothing about any of the other survivors joining. Several of them were eager to do so, though maybe they’ve reconsidered when they heard about the starvation. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/825 "2025-12-21T01:19:59Z")
Didn’t they say they were still working on the stem cell procedur?. It’s been less than two months. It could take a while without using animals for testing. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/826 "2025-12-21T01:33:16Z")
Karolina Wydra is doing an impressive job with the character of Zosia. She has to portray something that isn’t human, but sort of knows how to pretend to be human, and deep down is sort of slightly human. It has to be an uncanny portrayal of a person, sort of stumbling to emulate humanity. But at the same time it has to be warm and inviting enough to be plausible that a survivor/immune might choose to befriend or embrace them – you have to understand the other survivors and even be tempted to wonder if it would be so bad to stop resisting. And she’s doing a good job with it. She let the warm/charming/human side out a little more clearly this ep, even though there are still elements of her struggling to interact as an individual and remind us that she isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/827 "2025-12-21T01:44:31Z")
I just don’t get why they’d want to join. The Mother with the kid who could practice Gynecology today, maybe. Yeah, live like refugees from a Hurricane on a hockey arena floor. Sorry, I’ll need a bit more bliss that that. Can I stay in the luxury boxes? Yet still, the Plurbs made it clear they’ll convert everyone. The only reason I can see for that is to modify the signal, so in each iteration it gets better. That is, if 13 / 9,00,000,000 is disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/828 "2025-12-21T01:48:12Z")
As it is, it’s a wonder that the virus or the signal worked as well as it did, given that the sender had no idea about Earth species. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/829 "2025-12-21T06:27:56Z")
I’m wondering if there is more to Bear Jordan than just being a metaphor for Carol’s and the Others’ relationship. In an arena full of Others, he made a pretty curious beeline straight to Carol. Of course, he could have been there just to explain what happened to pets. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/830 "2025-12-21T13:02:11Z")
You think that in addition to being a very good boy, he might also have a deep, dark secret? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/831 "2025-12-21T14:47:55Z")
Maybe dogs can instinctively sende the difference between Others and Immune? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/832 "2025-12-21T15:03:58Z")
Or just recognize the new and different person in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/833 "2025-12-21T15:07:03Z")
Also, she greeted the dog in a normal, enthusiastic human response. I don’t think the Joined are capable of that. They’re almost robotic. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/834 "2025-12-21T15:16:09Z")
Even if they aren’t all robotic they are all greeting the dog with sameness. Probably the exact ways the person who was its owner whose physical form it is still attached to greeted it. She is the only other individual in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/835 "2025-12-21T15:57:39Z")
She said the dog has extra “fondness” for some guy (didn’t he even wave?). I assume there are plenty of treats on hand and the dog knows who loves him very much / where to get treats. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/836 "2025-12-21T16:02:18Z")
That “some guy” was the dog’s former owner. And if everyone is greeting him as the former owner did, the dog may pick up on that while being confused by the different scents. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/837 "2025-12-21T22:49:33Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Maybe dogs can instinctively sende the difference between Others and Immune? Like in the _Terminator_ films? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/838 "2025-12-21T22:57:44Z")
This last episode mostly seems like checking off a bunch questions first readers of the pitch had. Is the Others’ relationship with their former pets really going to be important to the story. I suspect 90% of the answers have no importance, but are just camouflage for a tiny hint we’re all probably missing. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/839 "2025-12-22T00:23:03Z")
What I want to know is what was really going on with the mouse in episode 1. It was clearly infected, and clearly feigning death to get a chance to bite. Did the virus enhance the mouse’s intelligence as part of giving it a drive to spread? Was the mouse somehow linked to the alien source? Is the mouse also part of the hive mind now? I get that they just said it can’t be transmitted to other animals, but it clearly affected the mouse _somehow_. And for that matter, why _can’t_ it be transmitted to other animals. Bonobos, for example. You’re telling me that this same virus works as well on humans as it does on alien species that are, at best, separated by billions of years of evolution (if we’re going to assume panspermia in this fictional universe), but it can’t spread to other species on Earth? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659/840 "2025-12-22T01:23:18Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Maybe dogs can instinctively sende the difference between Others and Immune? If that were established, we’re gonna need more whiteboard! As **Dewey\_Finn** wrote the guy who waved was once the dog’s owner, yet if everyone is petting him/good dog and giving him treats, the dog will incorporate them all in his pack and where’s my treat?. The mouse is interesting, yet all other animals seem to be behaving as you might expect if everyone is bedding down in arenas. It’s a lot short of bliss to me. I reckon the trains are bringing HDP and supplies to build lots of radio dishes to “carry forward the gift”. Obviously planes work too. We’re left with the conundrum of why the 13 (+?) are left alive. Some of whom have declared they want these people, I dunno, “brought back”. It’'s almost like a Bond villain to allow them to conspire against the Plurbs, especially after one has done exactly that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluribus-new-vince-gilligan-show-on-appletv/1024659.md?page=43)