TVTVCarol and Manousos can’t live with the Others, but can they live without them?AppleTV/Ringer illustrationBy Daniel ChinDec. 12, 11:20 am UTC • 7 min
Over the first six episodes of Pluribus, Carol Sturka steadily built momentum in her mission to save the world. The fantasy romance author emboldened herself to stand against the Others and their global takeover, and even after every misstep and regrettable act of self-sabotage, she continued searching for a way to unstick the psychic glue that now binds all of humanity. But on the heels of a revelatory trip to Las Vegas in last week’s installment, Episode 7 sees her progress—as slow as it might have been—stall out. Rather than pushing Carol toward a resolution, Pluribus takes a step back to tell a tale of two survivors who are navigating the end of the world as best they can.
“The Gap,” directed by Adam Bernstein and written by Jenn Carroll, centers on Carol and Manousos Oviedo, humanity’s last diehard holdouts against the alien virus—sent from an unknown source 600 light-years away—that has stolen its autonomy. Although Pluribus has largely been limited to Carol’s perspective, the series quickly established that the mysterious man from Paraguay was the only other immune human left in the world who seemed to share her belief that the Joining was a calamitous event that needed to be reversed. For the first time in the season, Episode 7 divides the show’s attention between the two characters more evenly, juxtaposing their dispositions and experiences in their solitary (for now) efforts to survive this new reality.
Through every moment of misery and sarcastic comment, we’ve gotten to know Carol pretty well. She has distrusted the Others’ good intentions from the very beginning, dedicating herself to finding a way to undo the Joining that has reshaped human civilization. But after learning that there’s no longer any foreseeable threat of her being converted into the hive mind against her will, that sense of desperation slips away. Combined with the hurtful discovery that the only other unjoined humans on the planet have decided to ostracize her, Carol finally gives up on her noble quest in Episode 7.
Previously on ‘Pluribus’…
Previously on ‘Pluribus’…
Carol still resents the Others for taking over the world (and for leaving her all alone in New Mexico), but she’s resigned herself to her situation. She spends days—and then weeks—entirely on her own, enjoying her now-promised freedom as much as she can for the first time. She sets off fireworks in her vacant neighborhood. She plays a round of golf, and trades in her police cruiser for a Rolls-Royce. She visits the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, and swaps out a reprint of a painting—Petunia No. 2, 1924—in her home for the real deal. She unwinds in a hot spring, and dresses up for a fancy dinner that features faithful recreations of some of the best dishes she ever shared with Helen. Yet even though Carol finds fleeting moments of joy as she submits to her new life, it’s clear that it’s all a grand effort to cope with her loss and loneliness. And it’s not enough.
Although Carol has accepted her lonely fate, she continues to ask the Others to accommodate her—even if most of her requests come out of spite or a mischievous pettiness. Carol has proved her resourcefulness, yet she still relies on her perceived enemy, regardless of the distance that they’ve maintained. After more than a month of living this carefree lifestyle on her own, she can’t handle it anymore. Carol almost kills herself—or, at least, doesn’t attempt to save her own life—in a near-fatal fireworks accident, and at last she waves the white flag. She paints a giant sign onto the pavement of her cul-de-sac that reads, “Come back.” When Zosia soon returns, Carol wordlessly rushes toward her, sobbing as she collapses into her arms.
The Others’ unwavering efforts to win Carol over have been a battle of attrition. Over time, Carol has relaxed her hard stance against their takeover, little by little. She may have been more wary of Earth’s new rulers than the vast majority of her immune counterparts, yet she still trusted them enough to fly her around the world from the beginning Carol once threw out the meals that the Others provided for her on a silver platter. Now, she’s making specific food requests. And while she initially welcomed the Others’ resolution to take a break from her, Carol is the one who reinitiates contact in the end.
Meanwhile, Manousos never compromises. Although his first appearance in the series didn’t come until the cold open of Episode 4, Carol learns early on that Manousos hid himself from the Others so well that they didn’t discover his existence until 33 hours had passed after the Joining. He locked himself up in his self-storage facility in Paraguay for nine days, surviving partly on dog food, until receiving Carol’s tape that alerted him to the existence of another survivor who was also resisting the Others. In “The Gap,” Pluribus follows Manousos as he embarks on his perilous journey from Paraguay to New Mexico.
Every time the Others offer help to Manousos, he refuses, often ignoring their pesky presence altogether. When his MG Midget inevitably runs out of gas on the road, Manousos walks a great distance to find the nearest vehicle and siphons its gas. He even leaves behind cash for its owner in payment, before walking the entire way back to his car He teaches himself English phrases in preparation for his imminent meeting with Carol. He doesn’t accept any food from the Others—having previously tossed out each silver platter meal he was delivered, as Carol once did—or so much as a drop of water.
At the entrance to the deadly Darién Gap, Manousos ignores the hive mind’s offerings once more. But the Others, who list the many dangers that lie on the roadless path ahead, overstep this time. They (correctly) deduce his intention to meet Carol in New Mexico, presume his attachment to his car, and offer to transport him and the vehicle, which he’ll have to leave behind unless he lets them help him. And so Manousos offers them a rare reply in return.
“Nothing… on this planet is yours,” he says, as prepares to light his car on fire. “Nothing. You cannot give me anything, because all that you have is stolen. You…don’t belong here.”
This is a clear and concise thesis statement to illustrate Manousos’s character and exactly how he feels about the Others and the Joining. With every action and every basic need, Manousos holds firm on remaining wholly self-reliant. Until he can’t anymore.
Just as the Others warned him, crossing the Darién Gap requires a treacherous trek through a tropical rainforest. Manousos stumbles on a rocky path at one point, but he otherwise does pretty well on his own for a while. He keeps his spirits up by repeatedly practicing his prepared introduction to Carol: “My name is Manousos Oviedo. I am not one of them. I wish to save the world.” But he falls silent as he reaches an impossible stretch of chunga palms—which the Others described as having up to 20-centimeter spines, covered in bacteria. Even with his heightened focus, Manousos slips on another rock and falls backward into a chunga palm’s spines, sustaining an injury that would surely lead to his death if left untreated. He uses his trusty machete to cauterize the wounds that night, but the next day he collapses and starts losing consciousness.
Within moments, though, Manousos sees a helicopter hovering above him and a person descending to save him. Although the scene ends before we see what happens next, it seems that—unless Manousos is willing to die for his total independence—he’s finally been forced to give in and allow the Others to help him.
“The Gap” illuminates so much about Carol and, in particular, Manousos, with a very limited use of dialogue. Carol sings some tunes to herself that apply to her current activities or state of mind—including, fittingly, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)—and Manousos practices his English phrases, but the episode draws attention to just how lonely their existences are. There are so many wordless actions that speak volumes about these two characters, whether it’s Manousos leaving behind money for a car owner who will almost certainly never return (or seek compensation), or Carol squeezing Zosia after being without human contact for 36 days. The ways in which they choose to rebel against the Others, as well as their willingness to rely on them, may differ, but Carol and Manousos both end this chapter of Pluribus at a similar disadvantage: accepting that they do need the Others to survive after all—at least until they have each other to rely on.
It’s hard to know where Pluribus will leave its audience at the end of each installment, and that unpredictability is part of what has made this series so refreshing to return to every week. As the penultimate episode of the season approaches, 48 days have passed since the Joining, and Carol and Manousos’s long-awaited meeting appears imminent. We’ll soon find out how prepared they are to take on a formidable opponent they’ve just learned they might not be able to live without.
Daniel Chin
Daniel writes about TV, film, and scattered topics in sports that usually involve the New York Knicks. He often covers the never-ending cycle of superhero content and other areas of nerd culture and fandom. He is based in Brooklyn.
