Pluribus Season 1 just dropped its first two episodes, and everyone is already discussing theories online as to how the show uses sci-fi tropes as old as time to its advantage. I am convinced that the creator of the show, Vince Gilligan, took a page out of Dan Harmon’s book from the classic Rick and Morty Season 2 Episode 3, titled Auto Erotic Assimilation.
The similarities between the two are uncanny, and I am going to break down the story and themes that have been explored to prove that Gilligan is answering Harmon’s concept.
1 Pluribus: An Intergalactic Virus Passed Mouth-to-Mouth
The extremely obvious connection that I find between the two is the manner in which the virus/parasite is spread among beings. In the Rick and Morty episode, Unity throws up in the mouth of another being to share its consciousness with the affected individual.
This is no different from Pluribus, where the first form of spreading the virus is through a kiss, symbolic of “unity” between the hosts. Later, the virus is distributed through chemtrails from planes.
The virus in Pluribus was a result of creation from a lab that received intergalactic transmissions on how to create it, while Unity from Rick and Morty is a symbiotic being that travels the cosmos and takes over planets.
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2 Rick and Morty Gave Us a Love Story Between One and Everyone
Rick is heavily smitten by Unity and has a fiesta with it throughout the episode. He s*xually engages with multiple individuals, man or woman, but in truth, it’s all the same mind: Unity. It completely bends to Rick’s needs, giving itself over physically, emotionally, and even spoiling him with unlimited materials.
Carol from Pluribus is traumatised by the death of her lover, but in a twist, it is revealed that she still exists in the mind of the hive before her passing. Does this mean that Carol can still be with her even if the body belongs to someone else? Gilligan takes it a step further by making the virus psychos*xually analyse Carol’s smut novel that has a man as the lead, and presents her with a female version of it.
I believe that Pluribus is a love story waiting to happen that will be in a similar vein as the Rick and Morty one. If Carol does engage with it, she will be involved with the entire planet.
3 Vince Gilligan Challenges the Moral Implications of a Hive Mind
Throughout the second episode of Pluribus Season 1, Carol is seen challenging the ramifications of a hive mind. She gathers with the other anomalies that haven’t been affected by it, but it appears that everyone else is fine with the course of events.
A distraught Carol tries to convince everyone that individuality and choice were taken away, and essentially, the hive mind is robbed of free will. The suave Koumba Diabaté is enjoying the spoils of having everyone do his bidding, whether through materialistic needs or physical needs (sound familiar?). This sentiment is echoed by the rest of the anomalies as well, who think life is now peaceful and there’s no need to undo this.
Rick and Morty’s episode similarly saw Summer start a protest against Unity, challenging the concept of a hive mind and vying for free will and individualism.
It’s interesting to note that the two creators, Gilligan and Harmon, have expressed a mutual admiration for each other’s craft. Vince Gilligan’s experience with sci-fi and stellar storytelling will give us a solid run for this show, taking us in directions we’ve likely never seen before.
What did you think of the connection between the two shows? Let us know your theories in the comments.
Pluribus is currently streaming on Apple TV+ in the U.S. Rick and Morty is currently streaming on Hulu and Adult Swim in the U.S.
