This week’s Pluribus opens with a hell of a twist: the aliens that have taken over Earth have been eating humans to sustain themselves. Yes, you’re reading that right. The previous episode, “Got Milk,” left us in suspense as Carol’s (Rhea Seehorn) gasp when she discovered the alien food source immediately resulted in a cut to black. But within just a couple of minutes into Episode 6, “HDP,” we discover that she was justifiably gasping at human flesh.
Somehow, this isn’t even the wildest thing that happens in Pluribus this week. Let’s get into it.
Carol is left pretty distraught by this revelation. Ever determined to stop the alien takeover of Earth, she’s found herself in a pretty tricky spot, since she’s managed to annoy most of the other 12 people on the planet who haven’t been taken over by the aliens. And those whom she hasn’t pissed off don’t speak English. One person will still talk to her, and that’s Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte), who’s currently living it up in Las Vegas, taking full advantage of the aliens who are more than happy to comply with his every whim.
When Carol arrives, she can’t wait to break the news to him that humans are being consumed by the aliens—except she discovers that Diabaté already knows. He shows Carol an informational video detailing the process, narrated by none other than John Cena (played by the man himself). He explains that the only way to maintain their existence is to consume HDP (Human Derived Protein), which is exactly what it sounds like. Cena notes that 100,000 people pass away each day from natural causes, and that the aliens don’t want to use it, but they have no choice if they want to keep people alive.
I’m not condoning cannibalism, obviously, but the logic here is pretty sound. The aliens are so peaceful that they consider pulling an apple off a tree a step too far. So logically, only consuming the humans that have already died is a non-violent way to not cause wanton destruction on Earth. Plus, even though the aliens are eating people, they’re technically inhabiting the bodies of humans, and aren’t human themselves. So if they’re against cannibalism, there’s a loophole.
It’s a lot to process for Carol. And just when you think that’s the biggest bomb that’s going to be dropped in a single episode (we can only take so much!), Pluribus drops an ever more impactful twist, reminding you why Vince Gilligan’s show has become undeniable appointment television.
At this point, Carol is close to completely unravelling. She’s literally not got a friend in the world, and any day now she could be taken over by the aliens and forced to eat HDP just like them. Except Diabaté tells Carol something that completely undoes everything we’ve come to understand in Pluribus: the aliens cannot turn Carol into one of them unless she expressly consents to it.
Up until this moment, we’ve understood that it was an inevitability for Carol and the other 12 remaining human beings would be turned once the aliens figured out how to change them over. Most speculation circled around why these 13 people were not changed the day the aliens took over Earth, and how the change would eventually happen.
Finally, we have the answer to the how (there are plenty of guesses for the why, but mine would be that these 13 people, for whatever reason, have a sort of immunity to whatever they use to take over human bodies). The only way the virus can work is to tailor it to the 13’s individual stem cells—but to do that, they have to put a large needle in Carol’s hip, which would be painful and invasive. Because the aliens are staunchly against violence of any kind, they’d need Carol’s explicit consent to use the needle. Diabaté tells Carol that the aliens only found out about this limitation yesterday, and they aren’t happy about it. Carol immediately calls them to tell them they do not have her consent.
Things have felt hopeless for Carol ever since the alien takeover happened. And it’s easy to see why—she’s lost her husband, her career, and everything and anything that gave her life purpose. An encounter with the other humans ended disastrously, and Diabaté told her that they all communicated together without her. She’s completely alone in the world and was running out of time before the aliens figured out how to change her.
But now, everything’s different. Finally, Carol might just have the upper hand. She will never let them change her, which means she has all the time in the world to reverse the takeover and bring humanity back. It felt impossible before. Now, after this revelation, she may just have a chance.
