I’m pretty sure they would say no. I think the other’s hierarchy of rules is:
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Don’t directly hurt the unjoined (without their consent).
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Convert the unjoined.
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Make the unjoined happy.
It very well could be a small kiloton(s) sized nuke that is small enough for Carol to pop into her trunk. Something that would wipe an area the size of her cul-de-sac off the map. Perhaps even with a pair of medic-alert style bracelets (the trigger being a a bit more complex than a simple button). Maybe even a seizure detector she could wear that could also ignite it.
Manuosos seems very Catholic, and he’d not likely be in imminent danger if they came after Carol with Plurbosol spray. Yet I’m sure he could buy into the idea that a strong deterrent not to try and Plurb Carol means suicide would not be likely. Also, a mini-MAD policy means an attack on Carol is an attack on him, and that violates the Plurbs windfall policy.
My first thought when Carol said “Atom Bomb” was that she knows she has 1-3 months for the Plurbs to figure out how to make a jar or bottle of Plurbosol just for her. Thus, the crate could also contain lots of HAM gear and general electronics like solder irons, wires, breadboards, oscillators, and other electronic gear that could certainly assist Manuosos with figuring out how to jam or manipulate this signal in a practical way that would scale up to “save the world.”
I think it was nothing more than a way for Carol to tell Manousos she was all in. Ultimately a nuke is fairly useless for anything they might want to accomplish. If they were even able to use it, I doubt the plurbs would be as accommodating in providing instructions as they were the actual bomb.
Perhaps, after the grenade incident. Yet they didn’t seem totally unwilling to give her an atom-bomb if she really meant it. I agree it may be a metaphoric “Atom Bomb” in the case of lots of HAM gear, yet I don’t see the Plurbs saying, “Nah, we don’t think we’ll be doing that” - even if she asked for the remote triggers and remote control bracelets. They are extremely accommodating, though it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out this is insurance for her continued existence and maybe 7 billion minds have a limit to what they’ll give.
I think it was a real atom bomb, but for Carol it’s much more symbolic – it’s a big “fuck you” to the plurbs. She feels totally betrayed by Zosia about the eggs thing. And Zosia’s justification at the ski chalet – “we’re doing this because we love you” sounds like probably the exact same justification her parents gave her when they sent her to a “pray away the gay” nightmare camp. So this is the biggest FU message she can think of as she’s separating herself from Zosia.
I think it’s a metaphorical a-bomb. I don’t see a way an actual atomic bomb gets used in the story. It’s more complicated than just lighting a fuse.
Radio equipment, a faraday cage, or some other way to convert or “cure” the plurbs makes more sense.
I’m not sure that a faraday cage or blocking the signal will have a significant effect. When the first woman got infected, she had her spasm and then began her mission of infecting others. At that moment, there was no others on the hive mind frequency. She was essentially in a virtual faraday cage since she wasn’t in communication with anyone else. I would guess the same thing would happen if an other was put in a faraday cage. They might not be able to hear the others, but they’d still have their base programming running from the virus.
That’s a pretty good point. Even if conversion therapy worked (it doesn’t, but We’s joining process presumably does), it would still be abusive and immoral to subject someone to it against their will.
I don’t think it will be used. I think it was a throwaway “gag” to show her commitment.
I’m guessing the signal is a dead end; just an odd source like a transmitter hooked up to a windmill. There’s no way, in the first season, Gilligan is going to lean this hard into the actual thing that saves the world. The conflict is going to be between Manousos seeking a scientific solution and Carol seeking a psychological one (like the logic paradoxes used to defeat evil robots in classic sci-fi).
I would guess they wouldn’t be able to access the full capabilities of the hive mind, which might be a reason to try the experiment. Would they keep some of the capabilities - for example, might Zosia now be unable to pilot an aircraft, as she abandoned that once she no longer needed it? (Of course, she’s piloting the helicopter right at the end…)
But what if being cut off from the rest of the mind means she also doesn’t get the full feeling of contentment from the mind? Which leads me to…
I’m putting both of these together because I think it would be interesting for Carol to isolate Zosia in an effort to get her to de-unify, only to find that Zosia as an isolated individual might still want to go back to becoming an Other.
Would Carol go all “Freedom Falls” on Zosia to get her to become immune again? And how would she feel about herself if, in a rage or not thinking things through, she did?
This was my thought on where the show is going. It’s not a “saving the world” kinda show. They are going to cure someone, and that someone is going to hate them for it.
Just finished the final episode.
Shame it is in no rush to come back. I’d love to have more for next year.
I mean, she has an atomic bomb. Any way to detonate it?
Just a thought, if one of the Others can be isolated from the Hive just by blocking the signal, like with a Faraday cage or jammer, wouldn’t they just reconnect to the Hive once they leave the cage or the jammer is turned off? After all the “virus” is still in their system.
Maybe? But if they “wake up” and say “please don’t let them have me again”, then they could stay in the cage or whatever. And further, they may have special insight into how to fix them.
The first person to be infected was alone and they went about their plurb business immediately. I still think if they manage to cure someone their reaction is going to be “fuck you, put me back”.
Me too. Because they never show it. Just the box. If she wanted a Porsche they would show the Porsche, not just the box.
I don’t doubt what is in there, but a big metal box with an insulated lining is a literal faraday cage.
But I’m overthinking it. It’s probably just to show that Carol means business.
It’s a bomb. Apple requested a stronger finish than what Vince and the writers had planned apparently.
I predict that the Hive will design a virus for Carol and succeed in infecting her. But the bespoke virus will have a flaw - an unexpected side effect: Carol will join but retain her identity and will. The Hive will become Hive Carol.
So will she be more like the Borg Queen or The Master in that episode of Doctor Who?