Pluribus: Unanswered Questions About the Hive’s Existence

Viewers have more and more questions and theories about the show Pluribus, especially after the latest episode, “HDP.” Carol is becoming more of an investigator in this world after “joining,” but she remains skeptical of and uninterested in the hive mind, which keeps her from fully understanding how most people are adjusting to their new lives.

Carol recently showed their limits, making it clear they’re not willing to tolerate everything. However, when questioning Zosia about potentially fixing their situation, Carol also seemed to find value in what wasn’t said. While Carol has had a few revealing conversations, they generally keep to themselves, leaving fans with a lot of unanswered questions.

What Is The Hive Doing?

With over seven billion individuals, it’s becoming obvious this group has stopped communicating and pursuing leisure activities. This raises the question of what they’re currently occupied with. They initially claimed to be focused on cleaning, but with the entire world seemingly organized, they’ve likely moved on to other tasks.

This group is so committed to non-violence that they won’t even farm. Instead, they survive by getting protein from the bodies of the deceased. However, based on what Carol discovered in the factory, they’ve become very efficient at processing this source of sustenance.

Because they don’t have complex needs or individual personalities, these creatures seem to simply shut down and rest when they’re not actively working. This highlights just how different their collective existence is compared to human life.

What Will Everyone Be Doing If They Achieve A 100% Joining Rate?

A lot of effort and resources are currently being used to care for the thirteen individuals who are immune to the infection. Tasks like replenishing Carol’s sprouts, handling her waste, socializing with Diabaté, and even pretending to be a family for Laxmi and others are diverting a significant amount of manpower from the collective. It seems they would have much more time available if they could just infect these remaining, resistant individuals.

Their constant friendliness, especially when interacting with the immune system, feels strange when contrasted with their complete lack of emotion around each other. It’s not that the kindness is fake, but it seems to disappear when there’s no one to be kind to, leaving them feeling empty and without purpose.

One of the coolest things in “HDP” is this sequence Diabaté does. It starts with this really long shot of a bustling casino – people laughing, drinking, just having a good time. The camera follows the action to a high-stakes poker game, and then it hits you – it’s all a performance by Diabaté. The moment it’s over, the energy just vanishes, everyone instantly stops acting and starts packing things up. It’s a really striking way to show the artifice of things.

It’s as if the virus stole their spark. This is a powerful illustration of everything we’ve lost – unless someone actively creates a vibrant atmosphere, like Diabaté did, places will never again feel full of life, energy, and chatter.

The group has repeatedly stated that making the immune population happy is their main focus, alongside researching ways to infect them. While achieving this doesn’t involve everyone on Earth, it remains a central aim. It raises the question of what they’ll do once this goal is met – will they simply enter a dormant state, only awakening for essential upkeep?

Where Does The Hive Live?

Before leaving Carol behind in Albuquerque, the group significantly reduced the city’s power usage by shutting down the excess grid. Their smaller footprint indicates they now live in a much more shared and communal way compared to previous residents.

What are their living conditions like, and how resourceful are they? Do they all sleep together in a group? It’s obvious they don’t need much to get by, content with drinking milk from cartons while creating elaborate meals for those with strong immune systems. They prioritize saving resources and live simply, but where do they draw the line between what’s essential and what isn’t?

Can Babies Talk?

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In the first episode, Carol’s shocked reaction to seeing a baby car seat in the hospital suggested a baby had been infected with the virus. This hasn’t been addressed since, leaving us unsure if that baby, or any others, survived becoming part of the hive. The possibility of babies joining the hive raises many new and unsettling questions.

Laxmi’s son, Ravi, who is nine years old and infected, showed that he has all the same knowledge and abilities as the rest of the hive mind. As far as we can tell, this is true for everyone in the hive – there don’t appear to be any exceptions. This means even very young children now instinctively know how to do complex things, like fly a plane – just like Ravi and that woman from TGI Fridays.

The fact that the hive members can fly, and share skills beyond just knowledge, implies they also share physical abilities. This suggests hive babies should be able to physically develop normally – walk, talk, and do everything their bodies are capable of. Carol really needs to investigate this, particularly after witnessing an infected baby firsthand.

Is Human Nature Generally Positive?

The group, known as the hive, keeps explaining that what they’re going through is a connection uniting all people on Earth. It’s a total sharing of thoughts, abilities, feelings, and individual identities from everyone involved in this connection. Based on how they seem, it sounds like they believe that combining all of humanity’s inner world results in overwhelming compassion.

If proven, this idea would say a lot about what it means to be human. It suggests that most of the world’s problems come from misunderstandings, and that at heart, people are fundamentally good.

It’s still up for discussion until we get confirmation from the group, but it doesn’t seem very probable. Carol briefly explored this topic when she asked one of them about their writing.

She urged them to share their thoughts, and they claimed to love her books as much as Shakespeare’s, even mentioning a dedicated fan who believed the Wycaro series had changed their life.

However, not everyone felt this way. They even acknowledged that Helen simply thought the books were “okay.” This raises a puzzling question: why does the most positive viewpoint seem to dominate? This difference suggests something else is at play, beyond just how people naturally behave. It makes you wonder how much the virus itself is influencing their overall attitude. Carol didn’t push the conversation this far.

In Pluribus, are people acting this way because they’ve all independently decided to, or have they been changed – and unified – by an alien virus?

Is The Hive Also Connected To Entities On Other Planets?

Okay, so the first episode pretty much confirmed the virus didn’t come from Earth – it’s alien! Now I’m wondering, does this mean humanity is somehow part of something bigger happening out there in space? And is this whole ‘hive’ thing connected not just to people on Earth, but to these aliens too? It’s a lot to take in!

If the Hive’s network reaches beyond Earth, they likely hold the answers to fundamental questions – like whether aliens exist, how developed they are, what they want, and, in this setting, how the process of merging with the Hive actually happened for them.

Following the recent discovery in “HDP” that the hive’s peaceful ways will cause them to starve, many fans now believe the virus wasn’t meant to help them, but to wipe out humanity. It’s unclear if this is the case, or what their motives might be, but Carol potentially has the ability to find out if she were to ask.

Are Animals Infected?

The show’s first human infection happened after someone was bitten by a mouse. However, the series hasn’t revisited this detail, leaving it uncertain whether animals play a role in the hive mind. If they do, Carol would likely have a lot to ask.

If animals are part of the hive mind, it means their emotions influence what they do. It also suggests that animals infected by the hive now have access to the vast knowledge humans have contributed. However, there are signs that these infected animals aren’t behaving as expected.

The infected people, or ‘human hive,’ don’t appear to be trying to spread the infection to animals. In fact, they’ve freed all animals they were keeping – even dangerous ones – which put themselves at risk. There’s been no evidence they’ve tried to infect animals, and one person with immunity even has a dog, suggesting her infected family hasn’t attempted to spread the infection to it.

However, the opposite doesn’t appear to be the case. The infected mouse showed the virus was still able to copy itself, even when jumping from a mouse to a human. But this way of spreading is quite different from how the virus spreads between people.

How Does The Mouse Bite Differ From The Stem Cell Collection?

Carol discovered that the hive can’t infect her unless she allows it. The infection requires taking her stem cells, which would be a very painful and invasive process. While the hive doesn’t need her okay to give her the virus, they do need her permission to cause her pain. However, the initial bite from the mouse clearly hurt her.

What really struck me is the idea that the infected animals operate on a completely different level than the humans. It seems they aren’t held back by the same strict moral rules, which suggests their connection to the hive mind isn’t as strong or complex. Honestly, though, the movie doesn’t quite explain how that works, or what exactly this stripped-down, animalistic version of the virus even is. It’s a fascinating concept, but leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions.

Carol hasn’t noticed the mouse bite and with everything else going on, it’s unlikely she’s thought about it. However, if she were to ask more questions about the virus, she’d probably learn about it.

Will Individual Experiences Splinter The Hive?

Zosia assured everyone she could handle drinking with Carol without getting the entire group intoxicated. Also, only Zosia was strongly affected by Carol’s truth serum; the others were able to react and assist. While briefly under the serum’s influence, she seemed different, struggling to speak as the rest of the group pleaded with Carol, saying, “Carol, please!”

The hive’s response suggests Carol had discovered something important – possibly that one of them was acting against the group’s desires. As expected, Zosia quickly shared all her thoughts and feelings about this with the others.

She’s definitely gone through some unusual and impactful experiences that would change anyone. This leads to a larger question: Do our experiences actually change who we become as people?

Why Did Diabaté Eat His Breakfast Like That?

Diabaté carefully watched and copied how Carol ate, and Carol didn’t seem to notice or mind. This highlights Carol’s general disinterest in her surroundings and explains why so many questions about her remain unanswered. It shows this isn’t just a random occurrence, but a key part of who she is.

Diabaté’s behavior suggests he feels isolated and longs to be unique, something he struggles to find despite being constantly surrounded by others and participating in many events.

They’re incredibly willing to do whatever he requests, but his own imagination is the only limit. Even something simple, like trying a new way to eat, feels fresh and inventive to him.

Carol wasn’t interested in Diabaté at all, and didn’t notice he was interested in her. This shows the audience that Carol won’t be someone who fully investigates this new world. As long as the story stays focused on Carol, certain mysteries will likely remain unsolved.

2025-12-09 22:53