lesbian menace

[therosielord]

Just started watching Pluribus and this show has reached levels of toxic yuri I would have previously thought impossible. What if we kissed but you're a female version of my hot OC and also you're the reanimated corpse of a woman I don't know and also you're an eldritch abomination from beyond the stars and also you're my dead wife and also you're every human being on Earth and every time I get upset around you, you kill millions of people. And we're both girls.

[therosielord]

FUCK YEAH EVERYBODY GET PLURBED

[feeltheoceanholdmeunder]

In appreciation of the cinematography in Pluribus (2025)

[ethereal-ocean-eyes]

i need at least 20 thinkpieces about this specific shot.

[everyurlithinkofistoolong]

I see that jab at Carol for not inviting the non-english speaking survivors and while I understand the dismissive self centered American (tm) aspect of it, I raise you this: it's also explicitly clear that Carol just did not want the hive to be translating for them. And you know what! She was right. The hive lies in creative ways to get around lying directly. Who knows what sort of translation fuckery they would have pulled just to screw with them making any progress on "saving the world".

She should have given the non English speakers a chance, of course, and it's pretty self centered that she didn't. But Carol's paranoia is not wrong- I'm sure the other survivors in their group chat have the hive translating for them as well and they are giving themselves over to that.

[warningsine]

The thing is, the more I see this discussion (Carol being white/American/affluent/privileged), the more I'm like, "Yes, you are right. Of course you are. But do you want to talk about literally anything else on the show now that we're past the most obvious commentary about white saviorism?"

Like, dunno, still surface level stuff like:

What is happiness? How does one define it?

Is the hivemind’s offer of comfort and happiness benevolent? Because it also feels coercive. And is said comfort worth sacrificing our free will and autonomy? An anon told me "Pluribus" is proving many people are ok with gentle authoritarianism and they're so right.

Is the hivemind a utopia since there's world peace and no suffering? Or is it a dystopia since it's sterilized, emotionally flattened, devoid of art, struggle and growth? By presenting contentment as oppressive rather than liberating, the series challenges typical sci-fi tropes. It reframes utopia as possibly the greatest horror.

Are our memories, trauma and individuality what give our lives texture, meaning and identity? If you lose them, do you lose your humanity or not? What does it mean to be oneself when your thoughts and all of those ^ are subsumed into a larger whole?

Grief. "Its own form of insanity," as Rhea put it. Carol's pain and (negative) emotions become a form of resistance.

I know people are sick and tired of the AI comparisons, but it doesn't matter if it had crossed Vince's mind or not. Death of the author and all that. The hivemind could be easily seen as metaphorical: algorithmic homogenization and technocratic "utopias," socmed echochambers, populism and nationalism, paternalistic states and the modern face of control, the covid era and (duh) societal pressure to conform. How do we govern ourselves? When various systems claim to optimize for peace and efficiency and "the greater good," do they actually erode dissent, creativity and all the other essential parts of humanity?

[birdplushie]

i know that what comes immediately after is worse but this was devastating to me

[whenfatecollides]

Rhea Seehorn (x) and Karolina Wydra (x) and their interpretations for the final scene for their respective characters

[nekopys-deactivated20260226]

This season, it's all about family.

[alicent-florent]

Oh, great, so all the fucking lawyers in the world survived.

[dioti]

the narrative foil of helen (representing humanity) vs zosia (representing the hive) drives me so crazy!!!!

like helen. who doesn't really like carol's books, who takes carol on holiday to places she doesn't really want to be, who confronts carol about her mindset, who secretly installs a motion sensor in carol's house... helen saw carol's flaws and yet loved her so much and that's so human and genuine. she did all that shit because she cared about carol. and carol cared about her just as much. she stayed in that stupid ice hotel because helen was so excited about it

and then there's zosia, who loves all of carol's books, who takes carol to the cozy wintery cabin instead of a freezing ice hotel, who would do anything for carol to make her happy, who has never lied to carol... zosia is the "perfect" partner but isn't it weird to have a partner who will never find fault with you, even something small? who will never disagree with you? who will always do whatever you want? it's too perfect, it feels fake and artificial and alien

carol's imperfect relationship with helen was filled with disagreements and deception but ultimately contained a deep sense of love and care. compared to carol's perfect relationship with zosia, which is built on the hive's deep sense of love and care but is ultimately a facade - a lie between two incompatible species who disagree with each other on a fundamental level

it's so ooauughhhghgh 🫠

(also the irony of zosia being such a good foil to helen despite helen being part of her)

[alicent-florent]

ZosiaGPT first and last seen in a helicopter

[unbloodiedmartyr]

anyway Kusimayu’s joining was absolutely gut-wrenching. I know we’ve all talked a lot about the hive as a metaphor for colonisation and the cultural annihilation that comes with it but we really haven’t seen that in action until now and just- ouch. The singing and the animals and the staying in the village all to keep up this facsimile of comfort and familiarity for Kusimayu, convincing her that her family is still here, her people and way of life are still here and she’s going to remain like that (just happier and closer and more connected!) in the Hive contrasted with the dead silence the moment she goes under. They don’t even bother to end the song in a natural place, just cut it off once its purpose has run its course and begin packing up the stage, content that they’ve finally eradicated her people and can be done with the act. She’s joined now, so what does it matter? Leave the homes behind, abandon the animals, you’re one of us now and we do things better. Will that song ever be sung again now that theres nobody on Earth the hive can sway with it? Now that there’s no one left alive who it matters to more than the life of an ant?

[whenfatecollides]

Pluribus + 🟡🔵🟢

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

The Joining of Kusimayu…

The disturbing quietness as the Hive abruptly cuts off the cultural singing once she had Joined. As they quietly remove themselves from what was once a village and to them is now nothing more than dirt. They don’t need to pretend anymore.

The Hive isn’t the connection between humans, it’s the abandonment of humanity itself.

Kusimayu had a home, she had a culture. So did her family. But now they’re all gone. And not just them as people, them as individuals, but everything around them too - their lives, their beliefs, their practices, anything that was once them, that was once theirs, that was once human is just. gone.

[cryptidjeepers]

I knew the minute the people in the village started singing to Kusimaya in her joining ceremony that it would end abruptly after she joined. I was not prepared for how chilling it was. A whole culture, a village of people with a history cut short and sanitized for the sake of a hivemind. And they all leave their livelihoods behind for a 'better' purpose. Fuck man

[nerdgirlriot]

o you know just casually thinking about how unusually excited the Hivemind was to discover that Carol was writing again and how creativity is an individual's attempt to express their own individuality through art

and because art is shared, it becomes a catalyst for emotional connections between people

the Hivemind already knows what everyone is thinking at any given moment. There's no mystery. There's no need to make art, no need for self-expression. Heck, there is no *self* for the majority of humanity.

That's why the Hivemind was so interested in Carol's writing. No one else is creating *anything* anymore. No new books being written. No new songs. No movies. No TV. Carol is resigned to watch old Golden Girls episodes. Koumba is entertaining himself by pretending to be James Bond. There's no need to seek out entertainment when everyone is already content and happy.

And Carol is a novelty, surprising the Hivemind when nothing else is a surprise. Maybe the Hivemind needs Carol more than it realizes.

[yepthatsacowalright]

"She's terrified to actually think that she's of value." "It's not all at once, but there's these little bits where she's starting to realize, like, 'Wow, I did not take advantage of the happiness I could've found in my life before this thing happened.'" 😭💔 [x]

[birdplushie]

rhea on the podcast saying carol has "fallen in love with holding onto a raft" and that she's "hearing helen in her mind and heart saying can't you ever just let go and be happy?" about why she chooses to go with zosia i'm gonna cryyy