just a few more random thoughts on pluribus 1x04:
the hive cheerfully offering to remove Carol's breathalyzer from her car??? is so bizarre but also fitting with their willingness to give her a grenade or heroin or an atom bomb (but with those they were at least reluctant... why were they so cheery when suggesting to remove the breathalyzer?). anyway just the contrast between their "love" and helen's love. sometimes love isn't giving you what you want.
carol immediately using asking about her books as the way to crack the hive's patterns and ability to lie... love her. love.
but also the fact that she specifically asked it for helen's opinions to push the limits implies that she KNEW already that helen didn't like her books... particularly her 'serious' novel. which figures, because if helen didn't even READ the full thing carol would've picked up on the vibe. but oof ouch owie. knowing for certain that your late wife didn't like your actual passion project and found it to be bad but not career-destroyingly bad, and using THAT as the litmus test to figure out that the hive that ate her cannot lie to you... delicious
insane but also brilliant plan to decide to use roofies and first test them by roofieing herself
I love how fucking unnecessary the handcuffs were in the end. i was excited for a minute that she might go on the run and end up handcuffed to zosia for all of next episode but it's kinda funny as well that they were only on for 5 seconds
very intrigued to see the fallout from the drugs, clearly they did SOMETHING that was more than just having an adverse effect on zosia due to her physical weakness. technically we don't know, it could be anything from the lowered coordination/inhibitions similar to drunkenness that carol experienced, to genuinely cutting her off from the rest of the hive. the fact that she lost the ability to pull info from others seems to imply the latter and I really wonder if part of why she clammed up wasn't just her becoming incapacitated, but if she became "disconnected" and the "real" zosia came out for a minute, who undoubtedly would be confused and scared as fuck and possibly doesn't speak english.
i'm unsure if that was meant to imply that individuals will die if they are separated, but I think and hope not, because: 1) that would be boring. 2) i think if individuals were basically guaranteed to die upon separation then the hive would've just told that to carol as it's essentially equivalent to "no, it's not reversible". i'm leaning towards the cardiac arrest being a side effect from zosia's weak state that is conveniently timed for the narrative to interrupt this attempt but to set up that there IS a way to disrupt the mental connection and free individuals... but now introducing the question of, even if it worked, would it permanently free someone or only last until the drug wore off? as well as: how the hell is carol gonna get another chance to test it, because the hive sure isn't gonna let their guard down to let her pull a stunt like that again?
also i like the slow introduction of the man in paraguay, and how it's so clear already that he and carol will be the most vitriolic best buds in the world once they connect for real. i thought to myself during ep3 that when carol called him back to say "chinga tu madre" that would probably instill trust from him because her being rude proves that she isn't one of the hive. and i'm delighted to see he gets that!!! but oh man as much as I understand why he doesn't trust the food brought to him i was like. begging him to just eat it man don't starve, don't starve!!
also: love more and more everything we learn about carol. her casually mentioning her past heroin usage. her having been through conversion camp, concisely explaining why she has no family she's in contact with while also serving as a fitting but not overly-beating-you-over-the-head metaphor for the current situation...
and i love love love love love the more obvious it becomes that carol sees Zosia as separate from the rest despite her best efforts to be logical about it. her choosing to have certain conversations with whichever non-Zosia body is nearby versus other conversations with Zosia specifically when she'd get the same answers either way... mwah. man what a trip it'll be if she DOES somehow "wake" Zosia and then she's like this completely different and absoutely terrified woman
