This post contains major spoilers for Pluribus season one, episode six. If you were part of a collective hive mind, you’d already know about these food-related revelations, but if you’re not and haven’t seen all of Pluribus, beware.
Pluribus‘ sixth episode revealed what Carol discovered in that abandoned food packaging plant. And yes, this Pluribus food revelation has to do with… cannibalism, but not the murderous kind. The enjoined have human body parts wrapped like butterball turkeys and are apparently eating human flesh. These cannibalistic tendencies seemed impossible based on everything we know about the sweet, docile, naive hive mind on Pluribus. But not only was Carol right, the “HDP” that gave the episode its title is a necessary evil for mankind’s survival. Because, yet again, the enjoined are impossibly stupid, a fact that feels more and more ominous with every new revelation about humanity’s current state.
Carol’s seemingly shocking discovery was anything but to everyone else. When she went to Vegas to tell fellow survivor Koumba Diabaté about the saran-wrapped human filets she found, he already knew all about it. The hive mind also had an explanation ready for Carol. The one who used to call himself John Cena (the actual John Cena) explained the enjoined’s food problem via a pre-taped video in a fun Pluribus cameo.
The hive mind can’t (not won’t, can’t) hurt any living thing on Pluribus. That includes plants. That means it can’t harvest wheat or even pick an apple off a tree. If an apple naturally falls to the ground, great! They’ll, of course, eat the resulting windfall, just as they will eat any animal who dies of natural causes. The enjoined aren’t wasteful. At all. They’re surviving on all of the pre-existing food, much of which goes into they’re little oil-like drinks. And those drinks just so happen to contain 8-12% human remains. That’s what Pluribus‘ episode six’s title means. HDP stands for “Human Derived Proteins.” Pluribus‘ hive mind is patching up its pacifist food problem, yes, with cannibalism. (Although, like with animals, the hive mind will only eat people who die of natural causes on Pluribus.)
The hive mind would prefer not to use “Human Derived Protein,” a.k.a. rely on cannibalism, to survive on Pluribus, but they simply have no other choice. Mankind is facing calorific deficiency on a mass scale. And it’s worse than they want to admit to Carol. Diabaté told her something John Cena wouldn’t. “Most of the world’s population will starve to death within the next ten years.”
Not wanting to kill an animal is one thing. Refusing to cut down wheat for bread or to even go blueberry picking is impossibly stupid. It’s so stupid it makes no sense. Pluribus‘ hive mind believes it has a biological imperative to save everyone on Earth from mankind’s own doomed future. It believes humanity was drowning and the virus that enjoined nearly everyone on the planet—a virus that ended war, racism, violence, and hatred—was exactly what people needed to guarantee a future. But that same Pluribus virus also created starvation through its food issues. It prevents this docile super genius entity without an ounce of common sense from picking a ****ing apple from a tree to ensure billions won’t die in a decade.
Corn doesn’t have any feelings. You can’t hurt an ear of corn! This inherent foolishness of this whole “refuse to harm any living thing” should be abundantly clear to any being with half a brain, let alone over seven billion brains. It makes no sense! This foraging + cannibalism diet doesn’t make any sense for humanity on Pluribus, especially as it runs out of food. But it might make total sense for the dangerous, powerful, ancient life form that sent this “happy” virus to Earth in the first place.
Outside of 13 people (and really, even then, it’s only two, Carol and Manousos Oviedo from Paraguay), all of humanity loves what has happened to it. They think it’s great! And it inexplicably thinks that even though it has left it totally vulnerable and incapable of protecting itself. And that was true before we learned it has willingly put itself on a course for mass extinction via starvation in just ten years. Despite there being plenty of food for everyone on Pluribus!
Something on Pluribus turned mankind into a singular, docile, subservient idiot that won’t take a coconut from a tree when it’s starving for food, even if it means survival… But will enjoy a touch of cannibalism on the side. It’s absurd. It’s also the latest sign that something or someone out in the cosmos did this to mankind not to save it, but to control it. The question is whether or not it did so to lay the groundwork for an easy invasion or to make sure mankind destroyed itself before they even arrive.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. Carol and Mikey would totally be on the same page. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.