10% seems like a reasonable number to me. There would’ve been a whole range of reasons people died. One of the most common would’ve simply been falling and cracking their head open on a hard surface like Carol’s wife. Most of them stood in place when they were having the seizure but some that were off balance falling onto the concrete and receiving a lethal head wound seems like it would be pretty common. Anyone who was swimming or in water for whatever reason could’ve drowned. Car crashes would be a huge one of course. Airplane crashes would actually be quite uncommon – most aircraft will be safe to fly alone unattended for a minute or two during pretty much every part of the flight except a few critical moments in takeoff and landing. A few million people worldwide are probably riding a bicycle at any time. Perhaps the seizure/conversion process itself is somewhat taxing and old people and people in frail health died simply because of it. There are probably thousands of weird ways to die you wouldn’t immediately think of in the event that you lost control of your body for a minute or two.
Is that what happened to her, though? That could have been communicated a bit better if that was the cause of death. A pool of blood or a louder thwack when she fell.
Everything you posted is correct, but I still think another aggravating factor will be revealed. How did the bulk of the presidential cabinet get wiped out? Seems unlikely, statistically, and it’s also doubtful that they were all in the same place at the same time.
This is correct. Here’s what he said
That individual passed away this evening, unfortunately. Along with quite a few senior members of the United States government. Davis Taffler happened to be nearby and intact. And he was wearing a suit.
Although I imagine even with autopilot, having both pilots suddenly start seizing could lead to planes suddenly nosediving.
I had no idea what happened to Carol’s wife. In fact, I kept expecting her to pop back up in the truck bed during the many scenes of Carol driving through town.
I suspect some number of bodies just could have just not supported the changes and died. That was my impression of what happen with Carol’s wife - she died while … coming back on line.
That’s my assumpton too, and that they all had something in common.
There’s enough science (certainly for a non-documentary fictional show) here to make it plausible for an RNA-based “virus” to cause a vast, prompt-thinking and acting hive to exist. Yet wow, it encodes with it a lot of knowledge and behavior:
- Try and work around the military as long as possible. Probably infecting many who can act “normal” to reach Nuclear Subs and infiltrate levels / food & drink sources when it’s time
- Then make it wide-spread with the planes (thanks DSeid)
- Knowledge there will be some resistant to it and (so there’s a show - no particular knowledge of why and what to do with them besides be nice)
- We may not see it, yet there must be some machinations to get Scientists to work out the above problem - that info is not included.
- We’re vegetarians!
And of course the mass seizures (and deaths - perhaps “natural”) when someone gets really angry gives something to go on, should any of these 12 (we’ve only seen 7 right - the rest don’t speak English so dunno what the show will do with them). Right now the theme seems to be hedonism for some and resentment for at least Carol, yet of course nobody with a laboratory to do anything about them.
The mystery yet to be revealed is if individuality still exists among the affected. Just because they share skill sets, knowledge, and an ethical system doesn’t necessarily mean the individual capacity for imagination and innovation has been erased; just shared. I know our first instinct is to compare the collective to an organic, wireless LLM, but it could be more than that.
It seems clear to me that the “scientific” minutiae of the collective is much less interesting to the show creator than how the normal humans respond. So I don’t expect that many more details about that stuff - I think the story will be about what Carol and the other “survivors” try to do about it.
Well, more like 7 billion now.
Which makes me question that whole “We can’t kill” thing. They admitted that they’d accelerated the infection process when the military realized thst something was going on. There’s no way they didn’t know that simultaneously infecting the whole planet would lead to a lot of deaths. That’s been a feature in several TV shows and movies.
I actually liked that. If they are all linked, there’s no reason for them to talk, except when they’re talking to one of the 12. I was thinking, would they still even have language in a generation or two? How long can they store knowledge if they’re not using it?
The “science” is already there. Presumably, “The Others” can at least now procreate in regular human ways (recalling Carol’s horrific look at the baby in the carrier); else they may still “need” the 12.
Otherwise, maybe “The others” don’t see it a burden to host and watch the 12 for the rest of their lives and don’t really care why they’re resistant.
I reckon Elmer is onto something: Will any of “The Others” exhibit their individuality is still existent and perhaps can be assertive and overwhelm the RNA virus.
That kind of resolution is actually a good classic Trek episode, “This Side of Paradise”, with the title borrowed from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel which even with 2 episodes into 9 (season 1)and 9 (season 2) episodes, makes it somewhat unlikely we’re going that-a-ways.
Yes, but we’ve already seen The Guy In The Suit tell Carol that they want to figure out why the 12 are different, so that they can be brought into the fold.
And speaking of Carol, is anyone else flashing back to the animated series Carol vs The End of the World? Kind of the same WTF? vibes.
Probably the same casualty level you would have gotten in the series “Flashforward”, where the entire world population was projected into the future for a brief time.
In the first episode, it annoyed me that Carol and Helen got back to Albuquerque after a few grueling months on the road and stopped at a bar on the way home. Yeah, I get it was needed to advance the plot but I think Gilligan could have come up with something more believable. It took me out of the moment because I was wondering who would do that.
I’ve seen and read a fair bit of science fiction, and despite some of the obvious tropes in play I really enjoyed the first two episodes. Plus, I like Gilligan’s distinctive style and Rhea Seehorn very much.
When they said a special plane was coming, I was really hoping for a Concorde. In that situation, I might have asked them to get the closest to airworthy one flying again for me.
I think it might be able to just put in the motivation, and let the cluster mind sort it out. “Make everyone in the world part of the cluster.”
As they say, it is a “try not to kill” thing. So far, they seem to be a very long way from the ends justify means of Peacemaker’s “actively murder to achieve peace,” but do recognize the sometimes there are unintended and unavoidable consequences.
An alcoholic and her enabling partner?
I thought that maybe they didn’t keep alcohol at home until Carol got home and started drinking. 
Kind of like how where everyone that disappeared on The Leftovers wasn’t really addressed until the final episode.
Yes, thought the count of 12 13 came from Zosia, but that was only her answering Carol how many could speak English:
So yeah, undersecretary Taffler, the only guy available with a suit and perhaps affable looking, tells her through the television,
“Rest assured, Carol, we will figure out what makes you different … so you can join us.”
Sounds a bit ominous. I hope she doesn’t remain in Vegas just to see Elvis’ ghost in concert. It’s not that nice of a place. And then of course, Zosia can stay with Carol somehow.
Besides those that are hostile to her (who may also not stay in Vegas), she has no allies. BTW, the number of unaffected is 13, I’ve been writing 12, maybe only counting the other non-others.
Yeah, not too much. Get the right guy who knows how to try and work around the military as long as possible, then send in the vapor or dust. And be vegetarian with Buddhist monk leanings not to kill anything.
If they do build a terawatt-super antenna to advertise their RNA to potential other cultures, we’ll know there was more info piggybacked on.