Pluribus 1x07 Reaction

I know I'm late to the party here. But I don't think I've ever seen reactors to this show with less of a nuanced view of the situation lol.

Pretty funny and no critique: this episode (and the show in general) is so great because it focusses on the world, nature, the loneliness, the slience and two stoic persons fighting through it, but you are talking every second of it. While they are calm, you are on a couch having heart attacks. :D

This was so good..... I can't wait to watch the last two episodes!!!!

I wonder if they recognize Howard Hamlin on the recordings.

I LOVE that there are 2 better call saul cameo's in this show😭

Lola please we must know if Manousos has reached "my boy" status.

The show presents an interesting moral comparison. We have three characters: Diabate who is willing to use the Hivemind for anything including sex. Carol, who is willing to use the Hivemind for anything (minus sex), and Manusos who isn’t willing to use the Hivemind for anything. It will be entertaining to watch Carol interact with a character even more determined and abrasive than herself.

Random question, but what are the chances they watch Obsession?

i love the interpretation of manousos' line as symbolizing zosia as the mouse. i have never thought of it that way and i honestly like that more than manousos himself being the mouse. especially considering the first animal that got infected by the virus was a mouse, i don't really see that as a coincidence.

Fun fact Manousos is a super rare Greek name coming from the island of Crete. I wonder where Vince got the idea...

Carol Sturka should be as well liked as Walter White and Saul Goodman, but unfortunately she’s a woman 😢

"My name is Manousos Oviedo. I want to save the world."

After this episode I saw somebody come up with the PERFECT two-sentence encapsulation of Carol and Manousos' different perspective on the Hivemind and why they hate it (it's so good I wish I'd come up with it myself): Carol views them as a conversion camp. Coming to erase her in every way that matters, dismissing her own autonomy and smothering her while always claiming to want to do what's best for her. Manousos views them as colonizers. Taking what isn't theirs without any consent or recompense, and then 'generously' offering it back to the very people that it was stolen from. From their different lives and histories and backgrounds, both are facing the very worst thing that they have ever faced in their lives. God I wish I had been smart enough to put that together myself. Something I said after this episode is that if Manousos was a superhero, he would without a doubt be a Green Lantern. The sheer WILL he has is flabbergasting. I believe that he will save the world. No matter how long it takes, he will not give up. Him and Carol together are going to figure this out. Because he has to will to make it happen.

I love Manousos, and I was just as hyped by his fanatical dedication to his beliefs. But as I reflected on the episode, I thought "Is sacrificing your world-saving mission by having such rigid beliefs really admirable?" I mean, on principle you have to respect that sort of dedication, but really, it was all so counter-productive. I like when a show makes you do a double-take analysis on a character, because I wasn't really thinking this *while* watching him. I was crashing out when Carol broke down in the end, because I was feeling awful for her, but also because I knew Manousos would be walking into something that I assumed would make his alliance with Carol impossible (for a while) lol.

I can't believe this is the lowest rated episode in the series when it's literally the best smh

Manousos is a very good representation of isolated resistance. I like how it portrays Manousos as someone who is in a way, "self-sufficient". With his own convictions about survival, he is ready to face the world alone and stands firm in his beliefs, even if it might cost him his life. Carol, on the other hand, despite opposing the Hive and working to gather scientific data on it she still needs the Hive's help and contact with them. Different ways of rebelling and fighting, we saw a lot of that in Andor

Carlos-Manuel Vesga, the actor who plays Manousos in Pluribus, clarified in an interview that Manousos Oviedo is not really Paraguayan but a Colombian who migrated to Paraguay. I’m sure many Spanish speakers noticed his Colombian accent. That detail adds an important layer to the character and confirms that there is much more to him than the series has fully unpacked yet. Why did he or his family leave Colombia for Paraguay in the first place? Or maybe it is just a random irrelevant detail?

The other aspect I find interesting is that Manousos exclusively uses technology from the analog age and nothing digital. We first see him changing frequences in the radio (transponder?), using cassettes and physical maps (reminds me of my childhood). If the hivemind can be interpreted as AI then it makes sense for Manousos, the most anti-new technology of the individuals, to be their most fanatic enemy. Also fitting that he was even before the Joining the most isolated individual of the 13. I love that this is the same thing Carol experiences having falling out with the other individuals and the hivemind. Loneliness that can’t be filled no matter how nice the places or the food. Sharing those moments with other people is what usually makes them special, magical, substantive.

One of my fav episodes. I love how Manousos' actions show that he has complete faith that one day the world will return to normal, eg paying for gas and writing the note to his customers in 1x04. He and Carol failing to reverse the joining is not even a possibility in his mind

Manousos crossing the Darién Gap on foot hit hard because the Darién is not just some random jungle. It is the dangerous, roadless stretch between Colombia and Panama that breaks up the only land route between South America and Central America. For years, migrants from many different countries have risked their lives trying to cross it on foot, many of them trying to make their way north, often toward the United States, while facing not only the jungle itself but also extortion, violence, abuse, and criminal groups exploiting the route. In recent years, many of those making that dangerous journey have been Venezuelans, as part of the largest migration and displacement crisis in Latin America’s recent history, and that was even before the recent twin earthquakes made an already devastating humanitarian situation worse. Knowing that real history made the scene feel even heavier

manousos oviedo fan account, love him so fucking much

The montage of travelling from Paraguay to the Darién Gap is beautiful. One of my favourite moments from the show. The music, with the imagery and transitions, accented with Manousos learning English phrase-by-phrase, it’s quite bewitching to watch. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul were masters of the montage, and you can see that DNA thread carry into this show.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one :D

I think we need to take back that he’s the only other sane human left no one sane does this lol

That might be my favorite of the 9 episodes I am sounding like a broken record, but man Vince was cooking when he came up with Manousos Oviedo (I am NOT one of them). In this episode we get an intimate portrait to his ascetic fanatical, almost fundamentalist dedication to his values. The most basic of those? Not owing anything to anyone. Paying all his debts immediately, that is why he pays for all the gas he takes from the cars. That’s why he doesn’t take anything from the Joined. In his view, they have stolen everything they give to him, so there cannot be an exchange, because the Joined can’t own anything, only steal that’s why he prefers burning his car rather than letting them have it. Normally such views are lauded in our society, but also the phrase “acting like he doesn’t owe anything to anyone” is used to describe a deeply egotistical and antisocial person. If we must view our society as a sum of debts accumulated, then if every person doesn’t owe there is no society. And results in the truly insane result of almost getting himself killed in the mountains rather than owing to anyone especially to them. P.S This analysis might be biased from having recently read Debt: the first 5000 years by the late David Graeber.

so excited to finish this show and jjk 😋

Jjk?