That was an intentional choice from the marketing side, not really spoiling what the show is about. I want to try and honor that, and the pilot is up for free on Apple.com if you want to take a...
That was an intentional choice from the marketing side, not really spoiling what the show is about. I want to try and honor that, and the pilot is up for free on Apple.com if you want to take a look.
But it is a spoiler thread, so keep an eye out for chatter.
Basically humans receive an extraterrestrial transmission, and it turns out to be the recipe for a virus, which inevitably gets synthesised and escapes. The virus turns the entirety of humanity...
Basically humans receive an extraterrestrial transmission, and it turns out to be the recipe for a virus, which inevitably gets synthesised and escapes. The virus turns the entirety of humanity into a single hivemind, and the main character is one of twelve people who is immune to the virus, and the show, I believe, follows her as she tries to figure out what's going on.
Right now on Wikipedia, there's only synopses for the first two episodes, which is probably enough to get a mostly spoiler-free idea of what's going on. I watched maybe half of the first episode before my baby woke up (this seems to be how I watch most of my TV right now...), and it seems good, although I keep on thinking the main character looks like Faye Marsay, and it makes me want to watch more stuff with Faye Marsay in it.
Sounds inspired by the plot to the Ender’s Game sequel, Speaker for the Dead. Edit: Also a healthy dose of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, based on Ep 1.
Sounds inspired by the plot to the Ender’s Game sequel, Speaker for the Dead. Edit: Also a healthy dose of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, based on Ep 1.
That synopsis reminds me of one episode of what I think was The Outer Limits where we receive an alien transmission that when listened to turns anyone under a certain age into something resembling...
That synopsis reminds me of one episode of what I think was The Outer Limits where we receive an alien transmission that when listened to turns anyone under a certain age into something resembling aliens/lizards.
I've not seen that, but I'm getting more of a Mrs Davis kind of vibe, where the main character isn't directly in danger from the hivemind, but both sides are trying to convince the other to give...
I've not seen that, but I'm getting more of a Mrs Davis kind of vibe, where the main character isn't directly in danger from the hivemind, but both sides are trying to convince the other to give in and join them.
Except without sexy Jesus, the Holy Grail, that whole shoe plot, and AI making stage magicians obsolete. That was a weird show.
The exact comparison we talked about with my wife. Similar setup-ish but very different style and tone. This show is very funny but in a completely different way than Mrs. Davis. I’m so on board...
The exact comparison we talked about with my wife. Similar setup-ish but very different style and tone. This show is very funny but in a completely different way than Mrs. Davis. I’m so on board after two episodes..
..and I want to rewatch Mrs. Davis. What a show hah
What an exciting, thrilling and suspenseful start. I got scared when she got kissed by Dr. I don't have much to say yet. Excited that I can not guess anything about where is it going. 9/10 start.
What an exciting, thrilling and suspenseful start. I got scared when she got kissed by Dr. I don't have much to say yet.
Excited that I can not guess anything about where is it going.
The show does a really good job convincing the main character and the audience the hive are at least trustworthy. I don’t believe this is the case, but it would be interesting if the other...
The show does a really good job convincing the main character and the audience the hive are at least trustworthy. I don’t believe this is the case, but it would be interesting if the other unaffected characters are either not actually unaffected, or a small sample of all the unaffected who are ok with everything.
I'm not sure it's just about being trustworthy, but also about values and what one is looking for out of life as well as how one might react to a situation in which they have close to no control over.
I'm not sure it's just about being trustworthy, but also about values and what one is looking for out of life as well as how one might react to a situation in which they have close to no control over.
I just watched that episode and I've seen opinions similar to yours on reddit as well, but it seems way too charitable to me. I don't think the others are meant to be realistic, I think they are...
I just watched that episode and I've seen opinions similar to yours on reddit as well, but it seems way too charitable to me. I don't think the others are meant to be realistic, I think they are meant to be clearly irrational and deep in denial (and by that I mean more than you would expect the average stupid person to be) with regards to some obvious truths about the hive, in order to make the main character even more lonely and in a way betrayed. And this is supported by the fact that the one hedonist with mildly psychopatic traits suddenly looks like the only companion with at least some humanity and some ability to see things as they are.
I don’t think they’re necessarily stupid, or at least no more stupid than Carol is. Her lack of people skills are actually astounding. And her inability to emotionally self-regulate has literally...
I don’t think they’re necessarily stupid, or at least no more stupid than Carol is. Her lack of people skills are actually astounding. And her inability to emotionally self-regulate has literally killed hundreds of millions of people, first by accident and the second time because she doesn’t have control over herself.
I'm not sure her people skills are as bad as you make them out to be. She clearly has a rapport with her readers and the signing is a very positive affair. Her relationship with her wife is also...
I'm not sure her people skills are as bad as you make them out to be. She clearly has a rapport with her readers and the signing is a very positive affair. Her relationship with her wife is also very strong and they have a mutual understanding of their love language. Carol's cynicism isn't actually an indicator whether or not she likes things such as the ice hotel, she explicitly mentions that as an important memory in episode 3.
These emotional outbursts happen within days of her wife's death while the perceived perpetrator is helping Carol bury her. During this she's in the middle of an apocalypse and extinction event, desperate for a real human connection.
If anything, the other Old Schoolers have an incredible lack of insight or willfully put their heads in the sand. The latter not so subtly implied by the existence of their family members that will happily play the part, while Carol has no one. At that point it's been about 3 or 4 days that society stopped existing as it did. How it seems to not affect the others whatsoever is beyond me. Carol seems to be the only one understanding the gravity of the situation.
While I would probably find myself more inclined to make use of the excessive generosity of the Others, I do sympathize with Carol's stance. That doesn't mean I think any of them are dealing with it well, but who would?
Carol's psychology is realistic. She doesn't satisfy the expectations created by fiction where characters are unrealistically competent, heroic, and impervious to trauma. To be clear, I like...
Carol's psychology is realistic. She doesn't satisfy the expectations created by fiction where characters are unrealistically competent, heroic, and impervious to trauma.
To be clear, I like unrealistic main characters. So I am not judging, but I do believe that is what is going on here.
A Hivemind assimilated the entire world and killed 850 million people they couldn't assimilate. Including her wife. A lack of emotional regulation is to be expected. She's probably more in control...
And her inability to emotionally self-regulate has literally killed hundreds of millions of people,
A Hivemind assimilated the entire world and killed 850 million people they couldn't assimilate. Including her wife. A lack of emotional regulation is to be expected. She's probably more in control than most people in that situation.
Whatever the moral status of the people who died, she certainly reacted and felt as if she was killing people and then couldn’t keep it together well enough to avoid doing it again.
Whatever the moral status of the people who died, she certainly reacted and felt as if she was killing people and then couldn’t keep it together well enough to avoid doing it again.
I don't dispute that. I am not saying that she is okay and perfectly rational. I am merely saying that, given the extraordinary circumstances, it is unreasonable to expect her to be in control of...
I don't dispute that. I am not saying that she is okay and perfectly rational. I am merely saying that, given the extraordinary circumstances, it is unreasonable to expect her to be in control of her emotions.
I only mentioned the "average stupid person" because I think there's a lot of delusion and denial present in people in general. But I don't think the other unassimilated are necessariy stupid...
I only mentioned the "average stupid person" because I think there's a lot of delusion and denial present in people in general. But I don't think the other unassimilated are necessariy stupid either, they're not really presented as such. They are clearly presented as delusional and in deep denial though.
I don't think Carol's lack of people skills is astounding at all. I think it's a result of being in shock from being thrown into such an absurdly overwhelming and hopeless situation. So far for me, until episode 3, she seemed like she was a normally functional if a bit cranky human before the apocalypse. She's obviously blameless for the first disabling of the hive, the second one not so much, but again, I do think going through a crisis like that would be realistically expected for many completely normal people if they were suddenly thrown into a situation like this one. It seems much more grounded and realistic than whatever the others are going through.
Yeah it’s certainly believable, but I think the rest of the “survivors” are basically going through their own way of coping. I’m not sure I’d say any approach is healthier than any other. Like is...
Yeah it’s certainly believable, but I think the rest of the “survivors” are basically going through their own way of coping. I’m not sure I’d say any approach is healthier than any other. Like is the Mauritanian guy just being a wastrel sybarite any worse than Carol drinking herself stupid and casually mass murdering scores of people with uncontrolled emotional outbursts?
From a strictly utilitarian standpoint he’s actually behaving more ethically. He’s functionally a utility monster.
I haven't watched the show yet. But one issue with pretty much every assimilation plot is that, logically, it makes no sense for us to even have a chance. Spoiler for 1978's Invasion of the Body...
I haven't watched the show yet. But one issue with pretty much every assimilation plot is that, logically, it makes no sense for us to even have a chance.
Spoiler for 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers
It should be evident from the start that we will lose. That is something Invasion of the Body Snatchers got right. Sure, they try to escape assimilation. But there's never any hope.
After watching the first episode, the premise is interesting enough to give a chance. That said, the initial setup relies on what is probably my most hated trope: Early minor spoilers in a rant...
After watching the first episode, the premise is interesting enough to give a chance.
That said, the initial setup relies on what is probably my most hated trope:
Early minor spoilers in a rant
The professional who acts emotionally and abandons all safe practices and procedures. Its used SO often for sciency types and biosecurity breaches. No way anyone who's good enough at their job to be working at that biosafety level would pull their infected colleague out! It wasnt even relevant to character development; the show writers could have come up with something far more clever, surely.
That scene Is the issue that the shower interlock wouldn't be used in a confirmed infection scenario? What would be the realistic/appropriate reaction of her fellow BSL-trained colleague?
That scene
Is the issue that the shower interlock wouldn't be used in a confirmed infection scenario? What would be the realistic/appropriate reaction of her fellow BSL-trained colleague?
Honestly, I dont really know, but you made me actually think for a minute and it does seem a lot less implausible than my first reaction. ... I initially was bothered by him dragging her out of...
Honestly, I dont really know, but you made me actually think for a minute and it does seem a lot less implausible than my first reaction.
...
I initially was bothered by him dragging her out of containment when she's very clearly infected with something alien, because the scenario mirrored really obvious 'emotion over protocol' containment breach-type premises in other films.
But, maybe in this fictional setup preliminary studies already confirmed it wouldn't spread by air, so she could be safely transported to a medical/quarantine area nearby.
Oh, you're in for a treat... So far two of the other plot-advancing tools have been recycling and a bar code! Still good show, but as all media it requires to not think too hard about it :) (I get...
Oh, you're in for a treat...
So far two of the other plot-advancing tools have been recycling and a bar code!
Still good show, but as all media it requires to not think too hard about it :)
(I get that there needs to be a story to present thought provocing scenarios and that's totally fine!)
Ahaha, yea, I'm watching each week, and realizing there's some suspension of belief needed (beyond, you know, the main scifi-y plot). I definitely had to swallow a 'sure, OK' response to the...
Ahaha, yea, I'm watching each week, and realizing there's some suspension of belief needed (beyond, you know, the main scifi-y plot). I definitely had to swallow a 'sure, OK' response to the barcode thing, and just go along for the entertainment ride.
It may also be me getting used to this director's style, as I never got into breaking bad, or watched better call saul.
Rare for me to watch a show and have it impact my dreams that night. I am hooked on this premise and really excited to see where it goes. Would love to see more black mirror types of scenarios get...
Rare for me to watch a show and have it impact my dreams that night. I am hooked on this premise and really excited to see where it goes. Would love to see more black mirror types of scenarios get full shows.
It's off to a good start. Its premise is certainly interesting. I feel like it's missing something though, but can't quite put my finger on it. The next episode should be interesting, given that...
It's off to a good start. Its premise is certainly interesting. I feel like it's missing something though, but can't quite put my finger on it. The next episode should be interesting, given that it's the first one where Vince Gilligan is neither the director nor the writer.
I saw the first episode and I think it is absolutely brilliant. Everyone talked at length about the plot and such. On another note, I think the color grading is stupendous and interesting. The...
I saw the first episode and I think it is absolutely brilliant. Everyone talked at length about the plot and such. On another note, I think the color grading is stupendous and interesting. The staging and camera work are classic and film-like in a way I haven't seen in a long time. It feels like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock and Philip Kaufman, and I'm loving every minute of it.
A great example is when she drives to her home in a sequence shot. That conveys a great sense of realism and immersion, to just see all the things that are happening on the way in continuity, seemingly without CGI or with expertly used CGI. Not only is the framing beautiful and efficient, but that kind of large-scale staging is very difficult, reminding me of the opening of Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil".
It doesn't seem like this was shot on film, but I still believe it is possible that some shots were. It's beautiful.
If anyone wants my theory on why the colors are all funky, here's my real-world explanation: it is a good way to tell regular viewers, "this is speculative fiction. Leave your assumptions about the conventional world behind". A way to prevent anyone from expecting realism from the guy who made Breaking Bad.
In-universe explanation: perhaps that is not our world. It is a very similar world that will eventually send the virus to us.
I'm not into simbolism and fan theories in general but the Pluribus subreddit has become an interesting place to just browse around these days. Lots of crazy theories, a few plausible ones, and a...
I'm not into simbolism and fan theories in general but the Pluribus subreddit has become an interesting place to just browse around these days. Lots of crazy theories, a few plausible ones, and a lot of people seemingly speculating about sci-fi for the first time in their lives. It's kinda wholesome.
Not really a spoiler but a theory that may turn out to be true The hivemind is temporary The Hivemind is a biological pattern that jumps from planet to planet to fix their fundamental issues. One...
Not really a spoiler but a theory that may turn out to be true
The hivemind is temporary
The Hivemind is a biological pattern that jumps from planet to planet to fix their fundamental issues. One day the Hivemind will jump to another fucked up planet and we will wake up to a planet with perfect, fully green infrastructure and technologies, perfectly allocated resources (preventing future conflict), a future proof political system and climate change reversed. Among other things.
Edit: also worldwide empathy and solidarity since you'll still remember being in the same mind with everyone else and in perfect harmony.
So I think the pluribus virus is a metaphor for fascism, the other survivors represent people's complacency with fascism as long as it protects their sense of normalcy or benefits them. Fascism...
So I think the pluribus virus is a metaphor for fascism, the other survivors represent people's complacency with fascism as long as it protects their sense of normalcy or benefits them.
Fascism requires conformity and the death of individuality. Fascism promises peace, safety, and happiness in exchange for your free will and individual rights. Fascism commits atrocities and justifies it as for the greater good it only after it's completely taken over, just like the virus killed 800 million people during the assimilationm
Carol's demonization is a parallel to anti-fascist and resistance movements who are seen as a threat to the peace and normalcy of those that benefit from fascism.
To watch so many people justify fascism by completely misreading the parallels of this show is disgusting. All because fascism is tied up in a nice, pretty, and polite bow.
It is ridiculous to say that this is a critique on American individualism/cultural collectivism.
Even in collectivist cultures people are allowed to be individuals, to have their own likes and dislikes. They still have free will, their culture just generally dictates to look out for their communities and their families as well as themselves.
And guess what the other 5 immune people are not doing? They're not looking out for anyone other than themselves. They aren't looking out for Carol, they're not looking out for all the people who had their free will robbed of them without consent. They don't even care about their families or their consent.
They ONLY care about how the hivemind benefits them, whether that's through a harem of beautiful women or the hivemind husks that were once their family. They don't respect their family's individuality or the fact their families were robbed of their free will. They aren't concerned about the 800 million people who died during the assimilation, some that were probably in their communities. They don't even care about their families or their consent.
They ONLY care about how the hivemind benefits them, whether that's through a harem of beautiful women or the hivemind husks that were once their family. They don't respect their family's individuality or the fact their families were robbed of their free will.
And guess what, I bet the survivors don't have arguments or disagree with their "families" anymore. Their children won't argue, their spouses will never say "no" ever again. As they said in the show, they can't say no or make anyone unhappy. These survivors have complete and total obediency and control over their families now. Just how fascists like it.
That fact alone proves that those hivemind husks aren't their families. They won't argue, or talk back, or bicker. They won't have disagreements. They are obedient husks, not their family. But they don't care about that and prefer it this way.
Just how fascists and those that benefit from fascism like it.
Assimilation plots are often thought to be about fascism because fascism is essentially a non fiction assimilation plot. On the show podcast Vince Gilligan affirms that he wrote the pilot years...
Assimilation plots are often thought to be about fascism because fascism is essentially a non fiction assimilation plot. On the show podcast Vince Gilligan affirms that he wrote the pilot years ago while making Better Call Saul. I don't believe the show was created with the intention of being an allegory of fascism.
Fascism is openly aggressive. It is simple, lacking subtlety. Again according to Vince Gilligan the root of the idea was forcing a character to deal with an overly wholesome occupation. Which, again, is very unlike fascism.
Also, the hivemind has no face. You cannot have fascism without a strong central figure. That is literally in the word.
Finally, fascism must either dehumanize their opponents or invent one to do the same. The hivemind, while murderous and imposing, does not need to dehumanize humans in order to conquest them.
Assimilation plots will always look somewhat like fascism whether you want it or not.
If anything, a hivemind that shares every resource and simultaneously control the means of production while being the entirety of the workforce sounds way more like utopian socialism than fascism to me. Not that I would make the parallel myself. I don't think the hivemind easily conforms to any political philosophy.
Quick point of pedantry! The term fascism actually comes from the fasces, a Roman symbol of absolute authority made up of an axe bundled up in reeds (to symbolize the authority to deal out...
Also, the hivemind has no face. You cannot have fascism without a strong central figure. That is literally in the word.
Quick point of pedantry! The term fascism actually comes from the fasces, a Roman symbol of absolute authority made up of an axe bundled up in reeds (to symbolize the authority to deal out corporal punishment as well as capital punishment.)
(You aren't wrong that fascism as an ideology is always built around the idea of a strongman leader, just wanted to point out that the etymology is unrelated to the word 'face.')
The bundle of sticks is important, because the actual symbol is supposed to be that an individual stick is weak and easily broken, but binding the sticks together into a bundle makes them strong....
The bundle of sticks is important, because the actual symbol is supposed to be that an individual stick is weak and easily broken, but binding the sticks together into a bundle makes them strong.
It used to be an important element of early American symbolism around republicanism as well. But you’re right that a strongman isn’t necessary for fascism, it just so happens that getting wrapped up following insane demagogues is a common failure mode for democratic political systems that happens to dovetail with fascism which is a failure mode for a free market economy that can happen at the same time. The other failure mode for free market economies is some flavor of communism and those also tend to become personality cults.
I wouldn’t say this is about fascism. More like authoritarianism, which is an element of fascism but fascism is mainly defined by “blood and earth” ethno-nationalism which doesn’t seem...
I wouldn’t say this is about fascism. More like authoritarianism, which is an element of fascism but fascism is mainly defined by “blood and earth” ethno-nationalism which doesn’t seem particularly represented. If anything, the show takes great care to show how a variety of people of different cultures and ethnicities are OK with the hive mind.
I don't know... are ant colonies authoritarian? I think it's fine to just call this a hivemind. It's fiction and it doesn't need a forced metaphor. I've only watched the first episode though, so...
I don't know... are ant colonies authoritarian? I think it's fine to just call this a hivemind. It's fiction and it doesn't need a forced metaphor.
I've only watched the first episode though, so perhaps I'll think differently after a few more.
edit I'm suddenly reminded of a great Garth Marenghi quote: "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards"
I hope this isn't too much info, but I wouldn't describe an ant colony as authoritarian. The workers in an ant colony are more like pure communists that are highly cooperative due to being close...
I hope this isn't too much info, but I wouldn't describe an ant colony as authoritarian. The workers in an ant colony are more like pure communists that are highly cooperative due to being close to genetically identical. They all follow the same set of genetic instructions (assuming no health problems that mess them up). They don't have a leader, and they don't exhibit behavior that we would describe as laws and punishment in a human society.
Honeybee hives are much closer to what we might describe as an authoritarian human society. Unlike ants, the bees in a hive are more genetically diverse despite being sisters (in the wild, a queen bee typically mates with 20+ drones to ensure genetic diversity in her daughters), so they are less naturally cooperative than ants and must enforce rules to maintain the relative uniformity that a hive requires to survive. If a honeybee diverges too far from expected behavior (e.g., if a worker bee lays eggs or gets drunk on fermented nectar), her sisters will typically kill her in order to protect and maintain the hive. On the other hand, this individual diversity in behavior makes a bee colony more adaptable than an ant colony; the most clever and observant honeybees in a colony will solve puzzles and teach them to their sisters, for example.
All that being said, there are some ant species (like some members of the Myrmicinae subfamily) that do exhibit high intelligence and more complex individual behavior, similar to bees. For example, members of the Myrmecia genus are solitary hunters and foragers that can make complex observations and decisions, and some members of the Myrmica genus appear to pass the mirror test. But as far as I'm aware, they still don't enforce rules rules on each other; if one ant exhibits highly divergent behavior, the others will tolerate her for as long as they recognize that individual as a one of their own (e.g., as long as she still 'smells' like a member of the colony).
In Pluribus (mind you, I've only seen the first two episodes so far), the infected humans strike me as more ant-like than bee-like. Although they're still genetically diverse, their shared mind means they're all following the same set of behavioral instructions, so they don't require any kind of authority and don't enforce cooperation. And like ants, they appear to tolerate divergent behavior (e.g., the 11 immune people exhibiting violence or refusing a vegetarian diet). Even when millions of people are killed by misbehavior, the ant-like-colony takes no action to correct it like a beehive would or a human society would; they're essentially the extreme opposite of authoritarian.
First of all, thanks for the overview of different hive structures in nature, that was neat. Also, thank you for expressing this sentiment! I agree that this seems to be how the hivemind in...
First of all, thanks for the overview of different hive structures in nature, that was neat.
Also, thank you for expressing this sentiment! I agree that this seems to be how the hivemind in Pluribus is represented (so far, at least), and it's been kind of a trip seeing people liken it to something authoritarian.
I think one of the most fascinating things about Pluribus so far is that it hasn't really leaned into very many existing tropes, but I've seen a lot of viewers seem to bring their favorite tropes with them. There have been assumptions that They must be behaving insidiously or nefariously, or that this virus must be some sort of pre-strike infection from an alien force. And, maybe! But I think it's pretty interesting that, so far, the biggest tension in the show is between two fairly reasonable philosophies of socialization — this brand new psychological assimilation, and bog standard human individualism. "Who is right?" is not a trivial question to answer with the information we have so far.
There's an aspect of The Vampire Problem here, too. Carol seems, by and large, miserable — even before her only loved one died in front of her and the entire human species was forever transformed. An entity (who she seems to have proven to herself cannot lie to her), with seemingly iedetic memory of nearly every moment of her life that was shared with another person, tells her that she, personally, would be infinitely happier if she "became a vampire," and she can't actually imagine the other end of such a transformative experience.
I heard someone say this show is kind of actually about how people interpret science fiction premises - is this fascism? Is it joy? Is it the way the guy who's not a part of it but just vibing...
I heard someone say this show is kind of actually about how people interpret science fiction premises - is this fascism? Is it joy? Is it the way the guy who's not a part of it but just vibing sees it? The person deeply opposed to the horrifying reality of it? Etc.
I haven't watched, just listened to a recap via podcast but I don't think it's fascism because it sounds like xenocide. Maybe accidental xenocide (With the use of a hivemind even more referential to an author who doesn't deserve naming) Maybe very intentional.
I didn't read it as fascism because I associate fascism with intentional cruelty, systematic weaponized violence, and demonization of the "others" (the few humans left immune). The hivemind seems...
I didn't read it as fascism because I associate fascism with intentional cruelty, systematic weaponized violence, and demonization of the "others" (the few humans left immune). The hivemind seems extremely pacifist and averse to inflicting violence and harm, to the point of not even attempting self-defense. They even seem to be trying to make the "others" as comfortable as possible.
Just based on what I've watched up to episode two-- I'm leaning towards them being actually benevolent or even naive, but I could be proven wrong later on if it turns out that they're actually just putting on an act.
To me though it would be more interesting if they're sincere. My interpretation of the show is that it's an exploration of what a non-human benevolent sentient non-individualistic life form might be like. The concept of individuality is essential to human morality, but can we conceive of non-human benevolent intelligent life form having other forms of morality sans individuality? (Side note- An interesting fan theory I read on Reddit is that the hivemind virus is a weapon by an alien race. They use it to make a planet's dominant life form nonviolent and helpless so when they arrive to take over it'll be super easy.)
I see Carol's character as very egocentric and even a little bit messianic. She cannot conceive of morality as anything other than human-centered or perhaps even human-exclusive. She assumed she would kind of "take charge" of the group and started talking to them assuming that they would just agree with her. She immediately wrote off the hivemind as evil and didn't bother to learn Zosha's name. Almost immediately after learning that she accidentally killed 11 million with her angry outburst, she let her temper get the best of her again, probably killing millions more. I get that she has good intentions though. I think she is a lot like people in real life who may loudly and aggressively talk about progressive advocacies, but may be doing so from a very Western-centric and top-down perspective rather than taking time to listen, learn, and check what would actually help.
Hooked. She’s an amazing actress and he’s an amazing writer (breaking bad, better call Saul, el Camino). My favourite part of the first episode is when the USDA is waiting for her to call on TV...
Hooked. She’s an amazing actress and he’s an amazing writer (breaking bad, better call Saul, el Camino).
My favourite part of the first episode is
when the USDA is waiting for her to call on TV and then how cool and charismatic he is answering her questions. The scrolling headlines updating as he talks to her are just icing on the cake.
I’m reading “the passage” at the same time and I’m sure I’ll end up remembering a mishmash of the two stories as a single one because I’ll mix them up in my memory haha.
Fun fact! That was recorded as a real time conversation and not prerecorded. They're actually speaking to eachother while he's being broadcast on TV. It helps sell the bit.
Fun fact! That was recorded as a real time conversation and not prerecorded. They're actually speaking to eachother while he's being broadcast on TV. It helps sell the bit.
It’s perfect, especially how quickly he responds as soon as she’s done speaking, a little too quick, which cranks up the creep factor even more and contrasts with his friendly demeanour. I also...
It’s perfect, especially how quickly he responds as soon as she’s done speaking, a little too quick, which cranks up the creep factor even more and contrasts with his friendly demeanour.
I also appreciated the shot when
loading her girlfriend’s body into the pickup which is perfectly framed with the porch and portrait behind.
I think it plays so well because we're used to tv anchors speaking with a delay. The overly friendly rapid fire responses are squarely in the uncanny valley. Considering both of your posts are...
I think it plays so well because we're used to tv anchors speaking with a delay. The overly friendly rapid fire responses are squarely in the uncanny valley.
Considering both of your posts are about topics they discuss, you may be interested in the companion podcast. Like many big ticket shows nowadays you get a companion podcast that will talk a bit about the behind the scenes. I was particularly entertained by the Chernobyl podcast back in the day, and the Last of Us podcast is also a strong entry. They aren't all strong entries, I disliked most of the Severance podcast because they just meander a bit through repeating the plot points until it ends.
But.. I've listened to the first three episodes of the Pluribus podcast and it's been an interesting run so far. They have talked at length about set design and creation like Carol's cul-de-sac and the ice hotel, anecdotes about the travelbags and escalators, thought processes behind certain behaviour, shot composition, and other interesting things like how they set up the scenes in Air Force One or inside the Sprouts supermarket.
For example, the scene you're talking about in your spoiler tag had the actress' clothes filled with heating pads and hand warmers because it was so cold.
Thanks. Does the podcast spoil anything? Is there one podcast episode per tv show episode so you can only listen to the podcast after watching that episode?
Thanks. Does the podcast spoil anything? Is there one podcast episode per tv show episode so you can only listen to the podcast after watching that episode?
Yes exactly, one per episode with a bonus episode. They talk only about what's already been on TV up until that point. The idea of the "companion" podcast is that they accompany the weekly episode.
Yes exactly, one per episode with a bonus episode. They talk only about what's already been on TV up until that point.
The idea of the "companion" podcast is that they accompany the weekly episode.
I've been seeing non stop ads for this show and I still have no idea what it's about.
That was an intentional choice from the marketing side, not really spoiling what the show is about. I want to try and honor that, and the pilot is up for free on Apple.com if you want to take a look.
But it is a spoiler thread, so keep an eye out for chatter.
The guy who wrote some of the best episodes of The X-Files is making sci-fi again.
Oh. He also created Breaking Bad.
Basically humans receive an extraterrestrial transmission, and it turns out to be the recipe for a virus, which inevitably gets synthesised and escapes. The virus turns the entirety of humanity into a single hivemind, and the main character is one of twelve people who is immune to the virus, and the show, I believe, follows her as she tries to figure out what's going on.
Right now on Wikipedia, there's only synopses for the first two episodes, which is probably enough to get a mostly spoiler-free idea of what's going on. I watched maybe half of the first episode before my baby woke up (this seems to be how I watch most of my TV right now...), and it seems good, although I keep on thinking the main character looks like Faye Marsay, and it makes me want to watch more stuff with Faye Marsay in it.
Sounds inspired by the plot to the Ender’s Game sequel, Speaker for the Dead. Edit: Also a healthy dose of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, based on Ep 1.
That synopsis reminds me of one episode of what I think was The Outer Limits where we receive an alien transmission that when listened to turns anyone under a certain age into something resembling aliens/lizards.
I've not seen that, but I'm getting more of a Mrs Davis kind of vibe, where the main character isn't directly in danger from the hivemind, but both sides are trying to convince the other to give in and join them.
Except without sexy Jesus, the Holy Grail, that whole shoe plot, and AI making stage magicians obsolete. That was a weird show.
The exact comparison we talked about with my wife. Similar setup-ish but very different style and tone. This show is very funny but in a completely different way than Mrs. Davis. I’m so on board after two episodes..
..and I want to rewatch Mrs. Davis. What a show hah
What an exciting, thrilling and suspenseful start. I got scared when she got kissed by Dr. I don't have much to say yet.
Excited that I can not guess anything about where is it going.
9/10 start.
I've finished the first two episodes and I'm really enjoying it! Seems like a fun premise to me. I would probably just... immediately surrender :))
Traitor to humanity :)
Oh man, that episode was so good with how it showed an entirely different perspective informed by human nature, cultural upbringing, and personality.
The show does a really good job convincing the main character and the audience the hive are at least trustworthy. I don’t believe this is the case, but it would be interesting if the other unaffected characters are either not actually unaffected, or a small sample of all the unaffected who are ok with everything.
I'm not sure it's just about being trustworthy, but also about values and what one is looking for out of life as well as how one might react to a situation in which they have close to no control over.
I just watched that episode and I've seen opinions similar to yours on reddit as well, but it seems way too charitable to me. I don't think the others are meant to be realistic, I think they are meant to be clearly irrational and deep in denial (and by that I mean more than you would expect the average stupid person to be) with regards to some obvious truths about the hive, in order to make the main character even more lonely and in a way betrayed. And this is supported by the fact that the one hedonist with mildly psychopatic traits suddenly looks like the only companion with at least some humanity and some ability to see things as they are.
I don’t think they’re necessarily stupid, or at least no more stupid than Carol is. Her lack of people skills are actually astounding. And her inability to emotionally self-regulate has literally killed hundreds of millions of people, first by accident and the second time because she doesn’t have control over herself.
I'm not sure her people skills are as bad as you make them out to be. She clearly has a rapport with her readers and the signing is a very positive affair. Her relationship with her wife is also very strong and they have a mutual understanding of their love language. Carol's cynicism isn't actually an indicator whether or not she likes things such as the ice hotel, she explicitly mentions that as an important memory in episode 3.
These emotional outbursts happen within days of her wife's death while the perceived perpetrator is helping Carol bury her. During this she's in the middle of an apocalypse and extinction event, desperate for a real human connection.
If anything, the other Old Schoolers have an incredible lack of insight or willfully put their heads in the sand. The latter not so subtly implied by the existence of their family members that will happily play the part, while Carol has no one. At that point it's been about 3 or 4 days that society stopped existing as it did. How it seems to not affect the others whatsoever is beyond me. Carol seems to be the only one understanding the gravity of the situation.
While I would probably find myself more inclined to make use of the excessive generosity of the Others, I do sympathize with Carol's stance. That doesn't mean I think any of them are dealing with it well, but who would?
Carol's psychology is realistic. She doesn't satisfy the expectations created by fiction where characters are unrealistically competent, heroic, and impervious to trauma.
To be clear, I like unrealistic main characters. So I am not judging, but I do believe that is what is going on here.
A Hivemind assimilated the entire world and killed 850 million people they couldn't assimilate. Including her wife. A lack of emotional regulation is to be expected. She's probably more in control than most people in that situation.
I'm not even sure she actually killed anyone.
Whatever the moral status of the people who died, she certainly reacted and felt as if she was killing people and then couldn’t keep it together well enough to avoid doing it again.
I don't dispute that. I am not saying that she is okay and perfectly rational. I am merely saying that, given the extraordinary circumstances, it is unreasonable to expect her to be in control of her emotions.
More here.
She "disabled" bodies of assimilated people that are likely dispersed in the Hivemind's "cloud". It is unclear if she killed any sentient being.
I only mentioned the "average stupid person" because I think there's a lot of delusion and denial present in people in general. But I don't think the other unassimilated are necessariy stupid either, they're not really presented as such. They are clearly presented as delusional and in deep denial though.
I don't think Carol's lack of people skills is astounding at all. I think it's a result of being in shock from being thrown into such an absurdly overwhelming and hopeless situation. So far for me, until episode 3, she seemed like she was a normally functional if a bit cranky human before the apocalypse. She's obviously blameless for the first disabling of the hive, the second one not so much, but again, I do think going through a crisis like that would be realistically expected for many completely normal people if they were suddenly thrown into a situation like this one. It seems much more grounded and realistic than whatever the others are going through.
Yeah it’s certainly believable, but I think the rest of the “survivors” are basically going through their own way of coping. I’m not sure I’d say any approach is healthier than any other. Like is the Mauritanian guy just being a wastrel sybarite any worse than Carol drinking herself stupid and casually mass murdering scores of people with uncontrolled emotional outbursts?
From a strictly utilitarian standpoint he’s actually behaving more ethically. He’s functionally a utility monster.
I haven't watched the show yet. But one issue with pretty much every assimilation plot is that, logically, it makes no sense for us to even have a chance.
Spoiler for 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers
It should be evident from the start that we will lose. That is something Invasion of the Body Snatchers got right. Sure, they try to escape assimilation. But there's never any hope.
After watching the first episode, the premise is interesting enough to give a chance.
That said, the initial setup relies on what is probably my most hated trope:
Early minor spoilers in a rant
The professional who acts emotionally and abandons all safe practices and procedures. Its used SO often for sciency types and biosecurity breaches. No way anyone who's good enough at their job to be working at that biosafety level would pull their infected colleague out! It wasnt even relevant to character development; the show writers could have come up with something far more clever, surely.That scene
Is the issue that the shower interlock wouldn't be used in a confirmed infection scenario? What would be the realistic/appropriate reaction of her fellow BSL-trained colleague?
Honestly, I dont really know, but you made me actually think for a minute and it does seem a lot less implausible than my first reaction.
...
I initially was bothered by him dragging her out of containment when she's very clearly infected with something alien, because the scenario mirrored really obvious 'emotion over protocol' containment breach-type premises in other films.But, maybe in this fictional setup preliminary studies already confirmed it wouldn't spread by air, so she could be safely transported to a medical/quarantine area nearby.
Anyway, ultimately I'm speculating :D
Oh, you're in for a treat...
So far two of the other plot-advancing tools have been recycling and a bar code!
Still good show, but as all media it requires to not think too hard about it :)
(I get that there needs to be a story to present thought provocing scenarios and that's totally fine!)
Ahaha, yea, I'm watching each week, and realizing there's some suspension of belief needed (beyond, you know, the main scifi-y plot). I definitely had to swallow a 'sure, OK' response to the barcode thing, and just go along for the entertainment ride.
It may also be me getting used to this director's style, as I never got into breaking bad, or watched better call saul.
Rare for me to watch a show and have it impact my dreams that night. I am hooked on this premise and really excited to see where it goes. Would love to see more black mirror types of scenarios get full shows.
It's off to a good start. Its premise is certainly interesting. I feel like it's missing something though, but can't quite put my finger on it. The next episode should be interesting, given that it's the first one where Vince Gilligan is neither the director nor the writer.
I saw the first episode and I think it is absolutely brilliant. Everyone talked at length about the plot and such. On another note, I think the color grading is stupendous and interesting. The staging and camera work are classic and film-like in a way I haven't seen in a long time. It feels like a mix of Alfred Hitchcock and Philip Kaufman, and I'm loving every minute of it.
A great example is when she drives to her home in a sequence shot. That conveys a great sense of realism and immersion, to just see all the things that are happening on the way in continuity, seemingly without CGI or with expertly used CGI. Not only is the framing beautiful and efficient, but that kind of large-scale staging is very difficult, reminding me of the opening of Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil".
It doesn't seem like this was shot on film, but I still believe it is possible that some shots were. It's beautiful.
If anyone wants my theory on why the colors are all funky, here's my real-world explanation: it is a good way to tell regular viewers, "this is speculative fiction. Leave your assumptions about the conventional world behind". A way to prevent anyone from expecting realism from the guy who made Breaking Bad.
In-universe explanation: perhaps that is not our world. It is a very similar world that will eventually send the virus to us.
I'm not into simbolism and fan theories in general but the Pluribus subreddit has become an interesting place to just browse around these days. Lots of crazy theories, a few plausible ones, and a lot of people seemingly speculating about sci-fi for the first time in their lives. It's kinda wholesome.
Lots of Hivemind lovers lol.
Not really a spoiler but a theory that may turn out to be true
The hivemind is temporary
The Hivemind is a biological pattern that jumps from planet to planet to fix their fundamental issues. One day the Hivemind will jump to another fucked up planet and we will wake up to a planet with perfect, fully green infrastructure and technologies, perfectly allocated resources (preventing future conflict), a future proof political system and climate change reversed. Among other things.
Edit: also worldwide empathy and solidarity since you'll still remember being in the same mind with everyone else and in perfect harmony.
So I think the pluribus virus is a metaphor for fascism, the other survivors represent people's complacency with fascism as long as it protects their sense of normalcy or benefits them.
Fascism requires conformity and the death of individuality. Fascism promises peace, safety, and happiness in exchange for your free will and individual rights. Fascism commits atrocities and justifies it as for the greater good it only after it's completely taken over, just like the virus killed 800 million people during the assimilationm
Carol's demonization is a parallel to anti-fascist and resistance movements who are seen as a threat to the peace and normalcy of those that benefit from fascism.
To watch so many people justify fascism by completely misreading the parallels of this show is disgusting. All because fascism is tied up in a nice, pretty, and polite bow.
It is ridiculous to say that this is a critique on American individualism/cultural collectivism.
Even in collectivist cultures people are allowed to be individuals, to have their own likes and dislikes. They still have free will, their culture just generally dictates to look out for their communities and their families as well as themselves.
And guess what the other 5 immune people are not doing? They're not looking out for anyone other than themselves. They aren't looking out for Carol, they're not looking out for all the people who had their free will robbed of them without consent. They don't even care about their families or their consent.
They ONLY care about how the hivemind benefits them, whether that's through a harem of beautiful women or the hivemind husks that were once their family. They don't respect their family's individuality or the fact their families were robbed of their free will. They aren't concerned about the 800 million people who died during the assimilation, some that were probably in their communities. They don't even care about their families or their consent.
They ONLY care about how the hivemind benefits them, whether that's through a harem of beautiful women or the hivemind husks that were once their family. They don't respect their family's individuality or the fact their families were robbed of their free will.
And guess what, I bet the survivors don't have arguments or disagree with their "families" anymore. Their children won't argue, their spouses will never say "no" ever again. As they said in the show, they can't say no or make anyone unhappy. These survivors have complete and total obediency and control over their families now. Just how fascists like it.
That fact alone proves that those hivemind husks aren't their families. They won't argue, or talk back, or bicker. They won't have disagreements. They are obedient husks, not their family. But they don't care about that and prefer it this way.
Just how fascists and those that benefit from fascism like it.
Assimilation plots are often thought to be about fascism because fascism is essentially a non fiction assimilation plot. On the show podcast Vince Gilligan affirms that he wrote the pilot years ago while making Better Call Saul. I don't believe the show was created with the intention of being an allegory of fascism.
Fascism is openly aggressive. It is simple, lacking subtlety. Again according to Vince Gilligan the root of the idea was forcing a character to deal with an overly wholesome occupation. Which, again, is very unlike fascism.
Also, the hivemind has no face. You cannot have fascism without a strong central figure. That is literally in the word.
Finally, fascism must either dehumanize their opponents or invent one to do the same. The hivemind, while murderous and imposing, does not need to dehumanize humans in order to conquest them.
Assimilation plots will always look somewhat like fascism whether you want it or not.
If anything, a hivemind that shares every resource and simultaneously control the means of production while being the entirety of the workforce sounds way more like utopian socialism than fascism to me. Not that I would make the parallel myself. I don't think the hivemind easily conforms to any political philosophy.
Quick point of pedantry! The term fascism actually comes from the fasces, a Roman symbol of absolute authority made up of an axe bundled up in reeds (to symbolize the authority to deal out corporal punishment as well as capital punishment.)
https://www.britannica.com/question/Where-does-the-word-fascism-come-from
(You aren't wrong that fascism as an ideology is always built around the idea of a strongman leader, just wanted to point out that the etymology is unrelated to the word 'face.')
The bundle of sticks is important, because the actual symbol is supposed to be that an individual stick is weak and easily broken, but binding the sticks together into a bundle makes them strong.
It used to be an important element of early American symbolism around republicanism as well. But you’re right that a strongman isn’t necessary for fascism, it just so happens that getting wrapped up following insane demagogues is a common failure mode for democratic political systems that happens to dovetail with fascism which is a failure mode for a free market economy that can happen at the same time. The other failure mode for free market economies is some flavor of communism and those also tend to become personality cults.
I wouldn’t say this is about fascism. More like authoritarianism, which is an element of fascism but fascism is mainly defined by “blood and earth” ethno-nationalism which doesn’t seem particularly represented. If anything, the show takes great care to show how a variety of people of different cultures and ethnicities are OK with the hive mind.
I don't know... are ant colonies authoritarian? I think it's fine to just call this a hivemind. It's fiction and it doesn't need a forced metaphor.
I've only watched the first episode though, so perhaps I'll think differently after a few more.
edit I'm suddenly reminded of a great Garth Marenghi quote: "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards"
I hope this isn't too much info, but I wouldn't describe an ant colony as authoritarian. The workers in an ant colony are more like pure communists that are highly cooperative due to being close to genetically identical. They all follow the same set of genetic instructions (assuming no health problems that mess them up). They don't have a leader, and they don't exhibit behavior that we would describe as laws and punishment in a human society.
Honeybee hives are much closer to what we might describe as an authoritarian human society. Unlike ants, the bees in a hive are more genetically diverse despite being sisters (in the wild, a queen bee typically mates with 20+ drones to ensure genetic diversity in her daughters), so they are less naturally cooperative than ants and must enforce rules to maintain the relative uniformity that a hive requires to survive. If a honeybee diverges too far from expected behavior (e.g., if a worker bee lays eggs or gets drunk on fermented nectar), her sisters will typically kill her in order to protect and maintain the hive. On the other hand, this individual diversity in behavior makes a bee colony more adaptable than an ant colony; the most clever and observant honeybees in a colony will solve puzzles and teach them to their sisters, for example.
All that being said, there are some ant species (like some members of the Myrmicinae subfamily) that do exhibit high intelligence and more complex individual behavior, similar to bees. For example, members of the Myrmecia genus are solitary hunters and foragers that can make complex observations and decisions, and some members of the Myrmica genus appear to pass the mirror test. But as far as I'm aware, they still don't enforce rules rules on each other; if one ant exhibits highly divergent behavior, the others will tolerate her for as long as they recognize that individual as a one of their own (e.g., as long as she still 'smells' like a member of the colony).
In Pluribus (mind you, I've only seen the first two episodes so far), the infected humans strike me as more ant-like than bee-like. Although they're still genetically diverse, their shared mind means they're all following the same set of behavioral instructions, so they don't require any kind of authority and don't enforce cooperation. And like ants, they appear to tolerate divergent behavior (e.g., the 11 immune people exhibiting violence or refusing a vegetarian diet). Even when millions of people are killed by misbehavior, the ant-like-colony takes no action to correct it like a beehive would or a human society would; they're essentially the extreme opposite of authoritarian.
First of all, thanks for the overview of different hive structures in nature, that was neat.
Also, thank you for expressing this sentiment! I agree that this seems to be how the hivemind in Pluribus is represented (so far, at least), and it's been kind of a trip seeing people liken it to something authoritarian.
I think one of the most fascinating things about Pluribus so far is that it hasn't really leaned into very many existing tropes, but I've seen a lot of viewers seem to bring their favorite tropes with them. There have been assumptions that They must be behaving insidiously or nefariously, or that this virus must be some sort of pre-strike infection from an alien force. And, maybe! But I think it's pretty interesting that, so far, the biggest tension in the show is between two fairly reasonable philosophies of socialization — this brand new psychological assimilation, and bog standard human individualism. "Who is right?" is not a trivial question to answer with the information we have so far.
There's an aspect of The Vampire Problem here, too. Carol seems, by and large, miserable — even before her only loved one died in front of her and the entire human species was forever transformed. An entity (who she seems to have proven to herself cannot lie to her), with seemingly iedetic memory of nearly every moment of her life that was shared with another person, tells her that she, personally, would be infinitely happier if she "became a vampire," and she can't actually imagine the other end of such a transformative experience.
I heard someone say this show is kind of actually about how people interpret science fiction premises - is this fascism? Is it joy? Is it the way the guy who's not a part of it but just vibing sees it? The person deeply opposed to the horrifying reality of it? Etc.
I haven't watched, just listened to a recap via podcast but I don't think it's fascism because it sounds like xenocide. Maybe accidental xenocide (With the use of a hivemind even more referential to an author who doesn't deserve naming) Maybe very intentional.
I didn't read it as fascism because I associate fascism with intentional cruelty, systematic weaponized violence, and demonization of the "others" (the few humans left immune). The hivemind seems extremely pacifist and averse to inflicting violence and harm, to the point of not even attempting self-defense. They even seem to be trying to make the "others" as comfortable as possible.
Just based on what I've watched up to episode two-- I'm leaning towards them being actually benevolent or even naive, but I could be proven wrong later on if it turns out that they're actually just putting on an act.
To me though it would be more interesting if they're sincere. My interpretation of the show is that it's an exploration of what a non-human benevolent sentient non-individualistic life form might be like. The concept of individuality is essential to human morality, but can we conceive of non-human benevolent intelligent life form having other forms of morality sans individuality? (Side note- An interesting fan theory I read on Reddit is that the hivemind virus is a weapon by an alien race. They use it to make a planet's dominant life form nonviolent and helpless so when they arrive to take over it'll be super easy.)
I see Carol's character as very egocentric and even a little bit messianic. She cannot conceive of morality as anything other than human-centered or perhaps even human-exclusive. She assumed she would kind of "take charge" of the group and started talking to them assuming that they would just agree with her. She immediately wrote off the hivemind as evil and didn't bother to learn Zosha's name. Almost immediately after learning that she accidentally killed 11 million with her angry outburst, she let her temper get the best of her again, probably killing millions more. I get that she has good intentions though. I think she is a lot like people in real life who may loudly and aggressively talk about progressive advocacies, but may be doing so from a very Western-centric and top-down perspective rather than taking time to listen, learn, and check what would actually help.
Hooked. She’s an amazing actress and he’s an amazing writer (breaking bad, better call Saul, el Camino).
My favourite part of the first episode is
I’m reading “the passage” at the same time and I’m sure I’ll end up remembering a mishmash of the two stories as a single one because I’ll mix them up in my memory haha.
Fun fact! That was recorded as a real time conversation and not prerecorded. They're actually speaking to eachother while he's being broadcast on TV. It helps sell the bit.
It’s perfect, especially how quickly he responds as soon as she’s done speaking, a little too quick, which cranks up the creep factor even more and contrasts with his friendly demeanour.
I also appreciated the shot when
I think it plays so well because we're used to tv anchors speaking with a delay. The overly friendly rapid fire responses are squarely in the uncanny valley.
Considering both of your posts are about topics they discuss, you may be interested in the companion podcast. Like many big ticket shows nowadays you get a companion podcast that will talk a bit about the behind the scenes. I was particularly entertained by the Chernobyl podcast back in the day, and the Last of Us podcast is also a strong entry. They aren't all strong entries, I disliked most of the Severance podcast because they just meander a bit through repeating the plot points until it ends.
But.. I've listened to the first three episodes of the Pluribus podcast and it's been an interesting run so far. They have talked at length about set design and creation like Carol's cul-de-sac and the ice hotel, anecdotes about the travelbags and escalators, thought processes behind certain behaviour, shot composition, and other interesting things like how they set up the scenes in Air Force One or inside the Sprouts supermarket.
For example, the scene you're talking about in your spoiler tag had the actress' clothes filled with heating pads and hand warmers because it was so cold.
Thanks. Does the podcast spoil anything? Is there one podcast episode per tv show episode so you can only listen to the podcast after watching that episode?
Yes exactly, one per episode with a bonus episode. They talk only about what's already been on TV up until that point.
The idea of the "companion" podcast is that they accompany the weekly episode.