The Pluribus finale on Apple TV+ doesn’t creep towards the finish line—it blows. Entitled “La Chica or El Mundo,” the season finale of the latest creation from Vince Gilligan, responsible for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, aims to find the answer to the question of what the cost of happiness for all may be when weighed against the price of autonomy. Indeed, the Pluribus finale, according to its writer and actress Rhea Seehorn, was never supposed to end the way it did.
The story begins in South America in Peru, where Kusimayu becomes one of the 13 survivors to voluntarily join the mind collective, “The Others,” who result from “The Joining.” Kusimayu’s story sets the stage for the Pluribus conclusion, which is riddled with the idea of inevitability. Next, the story centers on two remaining “Old-Schoolers” in the struggle against assimilation, Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and Manousos.
The “Pluribus” finale and the rhetoric of legalistic truth
One of the shocking turns in the season finale of Pluribus is that the Others have managed to get hold of Carol’s frozen eggs, making it possible for them to convert her against her will. As Vince Gilligan explained in an interview, there’s been no change in any of the rules. The Others are not deceptive; they simply responded to each question they got. The Others are very lawyerly people.
This is echoed by the executive producer Gordon Smith in a recent interview with Variety: The Others are constantly learning. From the very beginning, they were trying to convert Carol. The Pluribus finale is simply the moment in which they have finally figured out how. Writer Alison Tatlock follows up that consent is required in order to physically invade one’s body. It is not required in the event that one is in a biological substance already exterior to it. It is a chilling implication of the show’s logic.
Betrayal, grief, and going nuclear with Rhea Seehorn
Emotionally, according to Rhea Seehorn, the “Pluribus” finale is centered on Zosia’s “betrayal.” Carol’s frozen eggs are a future Carol had mapped out for herself and her late wife, Helen, which has already been “taken from her” by “The Joining.” Carol’s illusions are shattered when Zosia confesses that the “Others” stole them.
This is devastating in so many ways—it’s the grief, the trauma, and the shame of thinking that happiness was an option. But this sense of emotional truth builds towards the final act of the series finale, in which Carol has a nuclear epiphany and makes a pact with Manousos to do whatever it takes to save the planet. This is why Gilligan attests that there was a previous ending, one that was more low-key and more contained. This one would’ve been satisfying, but not nearly as satisfying as they needed. The Pluribus ending had to burn bridges, not save them, because the very premise of the show is that there is no middle ground anymore.
