Pluribus Recap: Weirdly Honest

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Nicole Holofcener, known for witty and insightful films like Walking and Talking and Lovely & Amazing, delivered another gem two years ago with You Hurt My Feelings. The movie stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Beth, a writer and teacher struggling to finish her novel. While her husband (Tobias Menzies) is supportive, even suggesting she find a new agent, Beth discovers he secretly dislikes her book but hasn’t told her. This revelation deeply upsets her. The film’s title is somewhat misleading, as Beth’s husband always tried to protect her feelings by avoiding the truth. This accidental hurt allows Holofcener to explore the importance of honesty in relationships and question what genuine support truly means. Is encouragement enough, or is a little bit of truthful feedback also necessary?

There was always no doubt about Carol’s dedication to saving people, but this week proves it definitively. She’s willing to face difficult truths, especially when it comes to the opinion of Helen, the person she admires most. We’ve seen Carol make sacrifices for her principles – like flying coach instead of first class or discarding cherished meals. But truly opening herself up to criticism about her work, as she does in a particularly powerful scene in this episode, is incredibly brave. She begins by trying to understand the enemy, but ultimately uncovers deeply personal and painful revelations.

The episode begins with a clever opening scene, and then continues right after the last one ended. Carol has left Zosia injured at the hospital and is now driving a police car back to her house. She’s avoiding the Others, which confuses them – they think she doesn’t know how to use a CB radio. One of them even references the old TV show Adam-12, remembering how much she used to enjoy it. When Carol arrives home, she finds the Others cleaning up the broken glass and debris on her property. Ignoring them, she immediately goes to a whiteboard covered in ideas for the fifth book in her Wycaro series. She clears the board and starts to organize her thoughts, trying to figure out a weakness in her adversaries. She’s particularly focused on resolving a question she’s written down – whether they might be ‘weirdly honest‘.

When Carol summons Larry, one of the Others (played perfectly by Jeff Hiller, a cheerful man in bike shorts), she starts by asking if they enjoy her books. The conversation isn’t about whether her writing is good, but about what the Others prioritize. Larry tells her, “Your books are an expression of you, and we love you.” They go on to praise the twists and turns in her stories, even reciting a descriptive passage from one of her Wycaro novels. They then compare her work to Shakespeare, which Carol finds ridiculous, but it highlights that the quality of the writing doesn’t matter as much as the enjoyment it provides. Carol is frustrated that her books are considered as valuable as Romeo & Juliet simply because they brought happiness to readers like Moira from Kansas City. She’s also hurt to discover that Helen appreciated the comfortable life Carol’s bestsellers provided, even though she thought the books themselves were superficial and fluffy, like “cotton candy.”

Carol bravely asks Larry to tell her the truth about what Helen thought of her writing. She says she’ll feel better knowing, even if it’s bad. While she’s okay with admitting her popular “Wycaro” books are just commercial fluff, she’s deeply hurt to learn what Helen thought of Bitter Chrysalis, a novel she poured her heart and soul into. Helen thought it was just “meh” and stopped reading it early on, with her agent agreeing it wouldn’t damage Carol’s career to publish it anyway. Now that she has honest feedback, Carol can figure out how to use it to her advantage. However, she’s also left grappling with the realization that the person she admires most didn’t appreciate her work, and that she may never be a truly great writer.

Now with a clearer understanding, Carol returns to the hospital to ask Zosia directly if the Joining can be undone. Zosia’s honest inability to deny it confirms Carol’s suspicions, but Zosia’s claim that Carol will eventually understand everything once she’s part of the group deeply disturbs her. The idea of giving up her individuality to fit into a collective “normal” brings back painful memories of Freedom Falls, a “conversion therapy” camp in Tennessee she was sent to as a teenager after her mother discovered she was queer. “Those people were some of the worst I’ve ever met,” she tells Zosia, “and they always seemed to be smiling, just like you are.” The thought of sacrificing herself for the sake of promised happiness and conformity is deeply upsetting to Carol. While Zosia’s offer of acceptance might be different, Carol can’t bring herself to trust it.

Carol’s plan to use the drug Pentothal – stolen from the hospital while pretending to seek heroin – to get more information from Zosia about the Joining backfires spectacularly. It reveals that the Others are vulnerable when forced to go against their own beliefs and identities. While this coercion isn’t the same as what Carol experienced at Camp Freedom Falls – we don’t know enough about the Others, their motivations, or whether they even should be stopped – Zosia’s collapse and the emotional reaction of everyone watching highlights their fragility, much like E.T. when subjected to scientific examination. Are Carol and the Others truly enemies, or is this simply a case of misunderstanding? Find out next time…

Mizzenmasts

The episode starts with a strong opening scene introducing Manousos (Carlos Manuel Vesga), a new character who is taking the current situation as if it were a real alien invasion. He’s barricaded himself in a storage facility and won’t interact with anyone else. While Carol’s refusal of special treatment is a form of protest, Manousos takes it much further, even to the point of licking a dirty can. It’s a smart move to connect his storyline with Carol’s attempts to reach out to him from the previous episode – her third phone call offers a glimmer of hope. It’s also clear he’s not receiving the same abusive messages as others.

The show deserves credit for portraying the anesthetic Pentothal realistically, as a complex drug, and not as a simple truth serum. It’s ironic that after seeing so much footage of herself speaking nonsensically while under the drug’s effects, Carol finds her own casual comment about Zosia being attractive to be the most compelling proof she’s making progress.

Alison Tatlock wrote this episode, and she’s a talented writer Vince Gilligan often works with – she previously wrote five episodes of Better Call Saul. It’s worth noting she also penned three episodes of Halt and Catch Fire, a fantastic but often overlooked show. If you haven’t seen it, we highly recommend checking it out!

Gilligan was fascinated by obsessive characters, a trait reflected in the detailed nature of his TV shows. Now we see that same attention to detail in Carol’s whiteboard and Manousos’s notes. It’s easy to imagine them happily spending an evening reconstructing shredded documents from a questionable nursing home!

Carol has some exciting ideas for the next Wycaro book, including the potential death of Raban (for good this time!), a massive sand flood, a love potion storyline, and a setting called the Cliffs of Chartreuse.

We’ll explore this further in future episodes, but the difference in how Manousos and Carol interact with the Others is significant. Carol recognizes Zosia is a manipulation – a version of the Others created just for her – yet she occasionally feels sympathy, such as helping Zosia with a simple task like opening milk at the hospital. Carol doesn’t fully perceive Zosia as one of the Others.

Here’s a surprising connection: the officer who was driving? His son’s third-grade teacher’s husband’s sister was one of the original members of the Wycaro fan club! That’s incredible!

The show is consistently hilarious, as demonstrated in a scene where Carol attempts to rob a pharmacy. She brazenly asks the pharmacist for heroin and needles, declaring, “I’m gonna act like Sid Vicious at the Chelsea Hotel!”

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2025-11-21 09:55