Diksha Sundriyal
Apple TV+’s ‘Pluribus’ follows the story of Carol Sturka, who tries to navigate the new order of the world after everyone turns into a perpetually happy person. The change happens due to an extraterrestrial virus that takes over the Earth, leaving only a handful of people immune to its effects. This drives Carol mad, and the more time she spends in the vicinity of these people, who are connected to each other through a hive mind, the more she yearns for things to return to normal. This leads her to attempt something dangerous in the fourth episode of the series, putting the fate of a major character in danger. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Carol’s Quest for an Answer Takes a Heavy Toll on Zosia
In an attempt to connect with Carol, the Others introduce her to Zosia, who is supposed to look like the initial version of Raban, a character from her romantasy novel series, ‘Wycaro.’ Zosia becomes Carol’s point person, and her job is to get Carol whatever she needs, even if she asks for a grenade. At the end of the third episode, the grenade explodes, which is shocking to Carol because she didn’t think they would actually hand her a live grenade. Later, when she asks if they would give her the atom bomb, they say that they would, if that’s what makes her happy. This leads Carol to list some basic things she now knows about the Others. One of those things is that they cannot lie to her. While they try to always be nice and never hurt her feelings, at the end of the day, they have to give her the truth, no matter what it is. She tests this by asking a man what Helen, her late partner, really thought about her novels.
Carol uses this to ask Zosia, who is still recovering in the hospital, about how exactly the hive mind works. More importantly, she wants to know if there is a way to reverse it. When Zosia evades the answer, it becomes clear that there is, in fact, a way to get the world back to normal. She figures that Zosia and the Others will try to keep this information from her because it could work against them. So, she devises a plan to extract the truth from her in a different manner. From the hospital’s medicine stock, she obtains sodium thiopental, also known as truth serum. First, she tests it on herself. She films the whole thing to confirm that it actually works. Then, she uses it on Zosia. As the drug starts to take effect, Carol pushes Zosia to tell her how the situation can be reversed, but not only does Zosia not tell her, she also begins to feel sick.
It is not revealed exactly what breaks Zosia. Most likely, it is a bad reaction to the drug. Perhaps Carol should’ve considered the fact that the drug doesn’t necessarily have the same effect on everyone. More importantly, Zosia is still weak from her injuries and already has a lot of other drugs in her system, which may have caused the bad reaction. Or, it could simply be the pressure to resist answering Carol’s question. Earlier episodes revealed that the Others react badly to Carol’s negative emotions. Perhaps, when she pushed Zosia for answers, the latter was affected by her emotions. She would have also tried not answering because it would not be in her interest, and the pressure of not telling Carol the truth but also not lying to her leads Zosia to collapse from cardiac arrest.
Karolina Wydra May Not Be Done With Pluribus Yet
The fourth episode of ‘Pluribus’ ends with Zosia collapsing on the floor, and the Others trying to revive her. Whether or not she is saved is not shown yet, but there is a good chance that she will survive. Despite her being one of the Others, Carol has bonded with Zosia. She even expresses her romantic interest in the woman while under the influence of the truth serum. Since this is only the fourth episode, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be explored in the context of Carol and Zosia’s relationship. Moreover, after Helen’s death, Zosia is the only one with whom Carol seems to have formed an emotional bond, so it would be interesting to see how she reacts to having almost killed Zosia twice now.
The fact that Karolina Wydra has been tagged as a series regular for ‘Pluribus’ shows that her arc is supposed to extend beyond four episodes. The actress has expressed her excitement about being a part of Vince Gilligan’s show, having been a fan since ‘Breaking Bad.’ She dedicated herself to understanding Zosia, especially in trying to find her individuality while she is part of a global hive mind, and not coming off as “too robotic.” She revealed that she did a lot of “meditation and body work to feel content and at peace so that Zosia wasn’t affected by whatever Carol was throwing at her.”
She also discussed the challenge of maintaining her composure permanently for the role, in contrast to Rhea Seehorn’s Carol, who is always ready to explode. Still, she described Seehorn as a wonderful person, actor, and scene partner with whom she got along really well. Her words hint at a deeper exploration of her character throughout the series, which suggests that four episodes are insufficient to fully reflect the work she has put into the role. There is still much more to see and know about Zosia, which suggests that she is not yet dead, and Wydra will most likely return in the next episode.
Read More: Is Pluribus in the Breaking Bad Universe? Are They Related?
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