00:00You are perfectly safe.
00:03Okay.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at details from the first two episodes of Pluribus,
00:09the mind-bending new series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.
00:13Spoilers ahead.
00:14I don't know how we do this.
00:16I don't know where we begin.
00:20Number 10. Airbase on Lockdown.
00:22To put it very simply, Pluribus is a sci-fi show about an alien virus
00:27that traps nearly all of humanity into a collective hive mind,
00:30save for a handful of individuals.
00:33There has got to be others like me.
00:35Your situation is a rare one.
00:37There appear to be 11 other individuals like yourself.
00:40The hive mind claims to be peaceful and non-violent,
00:43but this pre-infection scene suggests otherwise.
00:46As author Carol and Helen, her manager and secret partner, step out to smoke,
00:51the TV at the bar flashes a foreboding newscast.
00:54It seems a nearby airbase has been put on lockdown,
00:58for reasons undoubtedly related to the virus,
01:00which soon changes their lives forever.
01:03Oh my god, Helen!
01:04Helen!
01:06This, coupled with a line from Zosia in the second episode,
01:09strongly suggests that the hive will resort to violence
01:12if it means ensuring its continued survival.
01:15It was all very peaceful.
01:17But then the military discovered us,
01:20and to avoid even more bloodshed, we had to accelerate the process.
01:23Number 9. License Plate
01:25The second episode of Pluribus opens with Zosia and Tangiers,
01:29helping to retrieve a body from a smoldering, overturned car.
01:38The numbers on the car's license plate read 12-07-44.
01:43As Reddit user NomarkNo notes,
01:45this design doesn't correspond with that of actual Moroccan license plates,
01:49but of a crucial date in world history.
01:51December 7th, 1944 was the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation,
01:57otherwise known as the Chicago Convention.
02:00This was an international agreement to ensure mutual cooperation and safety regarding air travel.
02:05Given how much planes have played into the show's mythos so far,
02:10we suspect Vince Gilligan shows those numbers very deliberately.
02:13Look at that.
02:16What?
02:17What do you think they're doing?
02:19What's what doing?
02:21The planes.
02:22Look.
02:25I don't know.
02:27Was that weird?
02:28Yeah, it's weird, isn't it?
02:29All of them kind of parallel like that.
02:32And what they suggest could be truly out of this world.
02:35I guess to start with,
02:37what the f*** is happening?
02:41Number 8.
02:42Plane Registration Numbers
02:44Another eagle-eyed Reddit user,
02:47self-described, quote,
02:48aviation nerd,
02:49quirkypoem2212,
02:51caught this one.
02:59The registration numbers of two different planes featured on this show
03:03correspond with those of two real-life planes
03:05that had crashed within a week of each other in January 2001.
03:08Uh, hang on.
03:11Here we go.
03:12Here we go.
03:13Okay, I'm gonna bring you down.
03:15All right.
03:16Down, down, down.
03:17What's more,
03:18the circumstances of both accidents were remarkably similar.
03:22Pilots made drastic errors during hazardous weather conditions,
03:26resulting in their aircraft crashing into trees.
03:29One distinction is that one had two fatalities,
03:32while the other had none.
03:33You can verify this with the National Transportation Safety Board's
03:36online research tool.
03:38Its name?
03:39Carol.
03:40We cannot be making this up.
03:42Do you know who these guys are?
03:44Hello, Carol.
03:46Number 7.
03:47Hearing Safety
03:48The hive mind, being what it is,
03:50has the advantage of being able to take precautionary measures
03:53much more quickly than the unaffected.
03:55Carol?
03:55We can take it from here, if you like.
04:01When one of the unaffected,
04:03the hedonistic Kumba Diabate,
04:05touches down aboard Air Force One,
04:07those in the hive mind all cover their ears in unison.
04:10The unaffected, however,
04:11need to be prompted by the hive mind and by one another.
04:14It's a brief but substantial moment for a show
04:26that seems to be, in part,
04:28about the division between individual and collective consciousness.
04:31And we can only imagine where that could go.
04:34It is up to us to put the world right.
04:37Number 6.
04:54Show Title Meaning
04:55If you told us to come up with a name for a show with this premise,
04:59Pluribus wouldn't be our first or even 50th idea.
05:02Who are you?
05:04Someone we thought you might like.
05:06Not so much.
05:07No.
05:08But if you do a little research,
05:10you'll see how truly fitting it is.
05:12A Latin word meaning many, of many, or from many,
05:17Pluribus, the word, is perhaps best associated
05:19with the U.S.'s unofficial motto,
05:21E Pluribus Unum, meaning out of many, one.
05:24So how many people did I hurt just now?
05:27Oh please, that is not how you should look at this.
05:29Not at all.
05:29It's a phrase encapsulating how the 13 original colonies were individual,
05:34yet also part of a collective whole.
05:36And how many people are said to be unaffected by the virus?
05:40That's right, 13.
05:42Now, what are we going to do here?
05:46I'm open to suggestions.
05:48Number 5.
05:49Biblical Implications
05:50The outbreak begins when Jen, a researcher, is bitten by an infected lab mouse.
06:13After she hurriedly washes up, her fellow scientist says to Mark 3.36
06:19before realizing something truly horrendous has happened.
06:22It's Mark 3.36.
06:24And, uh...
06:26Jen?
06:28In the Christian Bible, Mark 3.36 doesn't exist.
06:32The third chapter of the Gospel of Mark ends on the 35th verse,
06:36with Jesus saying, quote,
06:37whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.
06:41There's a possibility it's a total coincidence,
06:44but given the nature of the show and its creator,
06:46it feels like much more.
06:48Can you believe this thing?
06:51You got skinny arms.
06:53You look like a maybe, uh...
06:55Hey.
07:07Number 4.
07:08Finding Another
07:09After Carol rages at Xosha,
07:11she triggers a mass convulsion,
07:13one with fatal consequences.
07:15In a subsequent interaction,
07:17it's revealed that there are slightly more unaffected than previously thought.
07:21How many people like me in the world, did you say?
07:24Eleven others?
07:25Actually, now there are twelve.
07:28There's a gentleman in Paraguay whom we became aware of this morning.
07:32Given the timing of the discovery,
07:34it seems plausible that Carol's anger may have also led to at least one person
07:38previously consumed by the hive mind
07:40breaking free and being able to experience life from an untethered perspective again.
07:44But everything about you that's you,
07:47everything that is personal and individual and special,
07:52if we let this happen,
07:54you won't have that anymore.
07:56We're not sure how honest Xosha and the rest of the hive mind are,
08:00but something tells us they're not telling the whole truth.
08:03How are you feeling?
08:04We couldn't be better.
08:07Thank you for asking.
08:09May we get you anything?
08:11Number three, color coding.
08:14Like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul before it,
08:17Pluribus is a show with a rich color design.
08:19The twin moons hung low and full,
08:22two wine-green eyes peering over the horizon
08:24as if to steal a glimpse into Macasia's soul.
08:27The show's marketing leaned heavily on the color yellow,
08:30which is also the color of the jacket worn by Carol.
08:33This contrasts her with other characters and the production design,
08:36particularly the emphasis on purple.
08:39She also mocks her usage of this color in one of her romance novels.
08:42We don't have time to go into all the nitty-gritty details of color theory
08:54and everything these choices could symbolize,
08:56but it is a subtly creative way to show how Carol is out of step with those around her.
09:00We don't mean to scare you, Carol.
09:02You're in no danger.
09:04We really do want to help.
09:06Number two, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul connection.
09:09We're not done with Planes yet.
09:11It may be set in Albuquerque,
09:13but Pluribus takes place in a different universe
09:15than Vince Gilligan's previous series, Breaking Bad,
09:18and prequel series, Better Call Saul.
09:20After all, Ray Seahorn played a completely different character on the latter.
09:24Saul Goodman.
09:26Yeah, it's like, Saul good, man.
09:27That guy has a lot of energy.
09:31Yeah.
09:32It's just a name.
09:33However, that doesn't mean there aren't a couple of Easter eggs
09:36for fans of those shows to pick up on.
09:38The airline of the plane that Carol is flown on in the second episode
09:42is called Wayfarer.
09:43You're more than welcome to sit up front with us if you like.
09:46You could take the controls.
09:48It's fun.
09:49Who's flying this thing?
09:50That gal from TGI Fridays?
09:54Maybe just concentrate on her.
09:55This is the same company that appears in both of the other two Gilligan properties.
10:01So, while it might not be the exact same world,
10:04there are at least some things in common.
10:07It was available to whoever asked.
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10:25Number 1. Made by Humans Disclaimer
10:28Unless you were paying close attention during the closing credits,
10:31you likely missed this very important message regarding the production of Pluribus,
10:35a show about what it means to be human and think for oneself.
10:39What's going to happen when they figure out how to turn us into them?
10:43Towards the end of the credits, at the bottom of the screen,
10:46it reads,
10:46While Gilligan might have had no reason to put that disclaimer at the end of his prior shows,
10:53in the age of artificial intelligence infiltrating the industry,
10:57things have changed.
10:58Gilligan hasn't been shy about expressing his disdain for AI,
11:01calling it a, quote,
11:02Detriment to Creativity.
11:04Carol, after lunch, we were thanking you all my life,
11:09a tour of the Gubbenheim.
11:11It's a beautiful museum.
11:13Frank Gehry designed it.
11:15Yeah, Helen talked about it.
11:17It was on our bucket list.
11:18Based on just these first two episodes,
11:20we cannot imagine any AI coming up with anything this thought-provoking,
11:24original, and engrossing.
11:29Stop!
11:30Open the door!
11:31Have you noticed any hidden pluribus details we missed?
11:35Let us know in the comments.
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