A review of the Pluribus season finale, "La Chica o El Mundo" — with spoilers — coming up just as soon as I cock block someone from their booze...
Alan Sepinwall
The conclusion to this remarkable debut season begins back in South America, in the tiny Peruvian village that's home to Kusimayu, one of the Old Schoolers whom Carol met back in Spain. In that episode, Kusimayu told Carol that she really wanted to become an Other, because her "family" made it sound so nice. Here, we see that the Others have completed the conversion process, and are using it to bring her into the hivemind. It's a whole elaborate ceremony, with the entire village gathered to chant and support their loved one as she becomes much closer to them. But the moment the conversion is complete, they all — Kusimayu included — fall silent, and swiftly move to abandon the place. They don't care about the village, don't care about its traditions, and absolutely do not care about the adorable baby goat(*) she was so happily tending to prior to her transformation. The ceremony was as much a piece of playacting as Diabate's harem, or what Zosia is doing with Carol. The Others made Kusimayu believe that joining them would allow her to continue living the life she loved, but in a way that would let her to feel closer to everyone than she had before. But it's not that at all. They're just silent drones. Because the Others can't overtly lie, we know they're happy this way, but it's still not the deal Kusimayu signed up for, and the sight of everyone abruptly shutting up and heading out of town is chilling. Their idea of happiness isn't hers. And now she has no say in the matter, because she doesn't exist as she knew herself.
(*) Between this and Severance, is there an Apple executive whose only creative note is to add more baby goats? And given the money and time at Vince Gilligan's disposal for this — which he discussed with me as part of a feature about the finale I wrote for The Ringer — it's a shame they didn't try to get Christopher Walken to make a cameo as himself, just so we could hear him say the phrase "baby goats" again.