Diksha Sundriyal
In Apple TV+’s ‘Pluribus,’ the entire world is taken over by an alien virus, turning them into super nice people. There are only a handful of people in the whole world who have not been affected by it, and Carol is one of them. This sudden change in the world not only makes Carol hate the Others, but she is also determined to find a way to restore the world to its previous state. She is ready to do whatever it takes to do that. So, in the fourth episode, she does an experiment that proves to be much more dangerous than she imagined. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Carol Makes Herself a Test Subject Before Embarking on Her Experiment
In the quest to find a way to beat the virus and get the world back to the way it was, Carol decides to find out more about the Others. One of the things she realises about them is that they cannot lie to her. It doesn’t seem to be in their nature to be deceptive or to hide things, especially when they are being asked point-blank. So, Carol visits Zosia in the hospital, who is injured following the grenade blast at Carol’s house, and asks her if there is a way to reverse the process. While Carol answers her other questions, she skirts around the one about the reversal, which convinces Carol that there is, in fact, a way, but the Others don’t want to give it up because it would mean an end to their world. She concludes that there is a barrier in Zosia’s brain that is keeping her from giving her the answer she needs. If she can break that barrier, even for a little while, she can get Zosia to spill the truth, and that’s where the vial of sodium thiopental comes in.
Known as truth serum in popular culture, sodium thiopental is generally used as an anesthetic. Carol thinks that the effect can make Carol loosen up enough to spill the truth. The drug is supposed to break the barrier in her mind that is keeping her from giving Carol the information she needs. However, Carol only knows about the drug and its effects from what she has read. She has never used the drug or seen it in action before, which is why she decides to inject herself with it to make sure that it has the intended effect. She gets the drugs from the hospital, and when she is almost caught, she deflects by saying she is looking for heroin. This gets her the syringes to inject the drug, and the heroin that the Others give her, because she asked for it, is poured down the drain. Carol steals two vials from the hospital, and she uses the first one on herself and films herself to find out how she reacts to it, because she would most likely not remember it in the morning.
Sure enough, the drug does its job. It leads Carol to loosen up and talk about all sorts of things, including how she finds Zosia physically attractive. Convinced of its effects, she injects it into Zosia the next day. However, she doesn’t stop to consider that, like all drugs, the so-called truth serum could also have side effects. It is not an over-the-counter med that anyone can use. It must be administered by medical professionals in a controlled environment, taking into account the patient’s medical history, among other factors. Carol, however, doesn’t know anything about that, which is why she is shocked when Zosia suffers a cardiac arrest. It is unclear whether the issue was due to the strain caused by Carol’s line of questioning and Zosia’s efforts not to answer her, or whether it was a side effect of sodium thiopental. In any case, it threatens Zosia’s life and forces the Others to flee the city, as they want a break from Carol.
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