An Ode to Carol Sturka, the Karen Who (Probably Won't) Save the Planet
The main character of Apple TV's "Pluribus" can teach us everything we know about white women.
This article contains spoilers for “Pluribus” …
And white women.
When I heard about show creator Vince Gilligan’s new Apple TV series, I couldn’t wait to check it out. I didn’t even care what the show was about. As a fan of Gilligan’s previous work, including The X Files, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the veil of mystery that shrouded the show made it more appealing. However, I had no idea that the Pluribus was about …
Well, you tell me.
The show begins with a foreign species that comes to gentrify the planet by spreading a contagion that makes everyone think alike. After a massive genocide against the indigenous people (human beings), the survivors are forced to assimilate and adopt the same way of thinking. The people infected with the contagion are compelled by a “biological imperative” to spread the colonizer virus until everyone in the universe is part of this collective “hive mind.” Like the original Jamestown colonists, the interplanetary gentrifiers on Pluribus are also cannibals.
Only 13 people on the entire planet are immune to the virus. After the Great Replacement, most of the uninfected reluctantly accept their status as minorities living in a world that has been taken over by hive supremacy. Others want their brains to be colonized, believing the migrant virus has made the world a better, happier place. One brave character vows to save the world from the interplanetary imperialists.
Pluribus (Latin for “from many”) revolves around Carol Sturka, a perpetually grumpy fantasy fiction author who might also be the most intentionally mediocre protagonist in the history of prestige television. She’s an obvious alcoholic, but she manages to have a decent career. Even her partner doesn’t think she’s an especially gifted writer, but she’s still almost on the bestseller list. After losing her partner to the cerebral pillagers, Sturka spends most of her time drinking, grieving and, of course, figuring out how the aliens can serve her needs.
