Spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 of Pluribus below.

Having recently watched the first two episodes of Pluribus, I’ve decided that Carol is right and her anger is justified.

And not just because the alien invasion killed her wife. The collective itself is a huge problem.

First, they carefully manipulate Carol into feeling guilty for—very justifiably—yelling at them. “Oh, when you got mad it…affected us…”

They froze up and, supposedly, this caused millions of people to die all over the world.

Zosia never specifically tells Carol this is her fault. In fact, she carefully sidesteps the question, but of course, Carol absorbs the guilt just the same. And the other unaffected people she later meets are quick to blame her, including one woman who notes that her grandfather died during the “freeze.”

But none of these people place the blame where it really belongs—on the collective. Who designs a mindmeld system that involves everyone on Earth working together so poorly that the whole collective freezes up like a Tuesday morning Windows update because of a little YELLING? If they spent even five minutes observing humanity and didn’t see this as a potential problem, then maybe they shouldn’t be in charge of such an ambitious project?

But there’s a worse problem.

This is a manipulative tactic used by abusers. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, you’re making me hurt people.” Essentially, by attempting to cow Carol into never expressing her rage, they’re setting up a system where they can do whatever the fuck they want and no one is allowed to get mad at them.

I mean, they might as well claim to be God and start another fucking religion (not that Earth needs any more).

Carol’s objections about consent and the loss of individuality are also valid.

Finally, the hivemind itself reminds me of the scary stories my parents used to tell me when I was a kid to convince me “communism bad.” “They do all your thinking for you, you don’t get to make your own decisions, blah blah blah.”

(No, the brainwashing didn’t work. My parents now cry to their friends and relatives that they somehow raised a communist because I didn’t vote for the asshole currently turning the White House into a Pier 1 clearance sale from hell.)

Anyway, I look forward to Carol persisting in her anger on next week’s episode.

What did you think of the #Pluribus premiere?