There are a couple of eye-opening revelations in Pluribus episode 6 — and while one of them's somewhat disturbing, the other may give Carol (Rhea Seehorn) a cause for hope.
So, what exactly do we learn about the virus and how it can be transmitted? We've recapped everything below.
What do we learn about the virus in episode 6?
Episode 6 sees Carol travelling to Las Vegas to meet with Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte), one of the other few remaining people on Earth that hasn't contracted the virus. Carol travels with the purpose of telling Mr. Diabaté about the milk and what's contained within it, only to find out — via an entertaining John Cena cameo — that he already knows.
It's only as Carol is about to storm off that Mr. Diabaté reveals some new information he's learned about the virus' transmission:
Mr. Diabaté: "They cannot turn us. Not without our consent."
Carol: "What do you mean?"
D: "It seems the only way to make their virus work on us is by tailoring it to our individual stem cells. But to obtain those stem cells, they must first collect them from our bodies."
C: "Um... What? What?"
D: "Apparently that involves sticking a large needle into the bone of the hip. Somewhat painful, and very invasive. Something they cannot do without our permission."
C: "When did you find this out?"
D: "They made this discovery only yesterday."
Carol confirms this with the Joined, who, as we learned in episode 4, are unable to lie. Then she contacts them to explicitly refuse consent.
What does it mean for Carol?
As we can see from Carol's reaction, the news clearly comes as a massive relief. Carol's main fear so far has been that the Joined would turn her into one of them, which they'd given her every indication they planned to do. But now that they can't, Carol is off the hook, right?
Well, maybe. But it's worth noting that Mr. Diabaté also tells Carol that the Joined aren't happy with what they've discovered. We also know that one of their main drivers, alongside survival, is to spread their virus to everyone who doesn't yet have it. The Joined have all of the top minds in the world under their control, so it seems inevitable that while they don't yet have a way to transmit the virus without requiring consent, they'll probably continue looking for one.
Carol may have a short reprieve, but we'd be surprised if she's out of the woods just yet.
Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV, with a new episode every Friday.
