Pluribus Season 1: Sci-Fi Horror With a Chilling Twist

Trying to sum up Pluribus in a couple of lines, you’d probably mention old-school sci-fi horror like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The first episode certainly nods to those familiar alien invasion frights, but it’s clear Vince Gilligan, the show’s creator, is after something stranger and more unsettling. The most recent episode, with its surprise cameo, proves Pluribus is anything but your standard genre fare.

The opening episode leans into body horror, with people convulsing violently as the infection takes hold. Not everyone makes it through. Over 800 million people die, including Carol’s partner Helen, whom she desperately tries to save. That’s grim enough, but the alien virus at the centre of it all is disturbing on a deeper level.

The true form of the alien threat is never shown. Instead, it hides behind the faces of everyday people, all wearing the same eerie, empty grin. The Joined’s power is absolute, and the speed of their takeover—at least from Carol’s point of view—wipes out any hope of resistance. Everyone else seems to have given up, mindlessly accepting what only Carol refuses to.

Unsettling Discoveries and Shifting Horrors

As chilling as that is, it’s nothing compared to the fact that The Joined don’t bother hiding their endgame: assimilating Carol and the other dozen or so immune survivors. Whether it takes days or years, The Joined calmly tell Carol she’ll eventually be brought into the fold once they crack her immunity. The combined brainpower of humanity is working on it non-stop.

This brings a heavy sense of finality, an existential helplessness made worse by Carol’s isolation after the collapse and her own grief. The second episode dials up this discomfort, swapping jump scares for a slow, gnawing unease—at least until episode five.

Carol, still unable to accept the new reality, starts making videos for other survivors, hoping to find a way to reverse The Joining. She’s found a glimmer of hope, though she’s not sure what it means yet. With The Joined having left her city for a bit of “space,” Carol has time to dig deeper.

Milk Cartons, Factories, and a Gruesome Truth

Carol notices every public bin is overflowing with empty milk cartons. But it’s not milk inside—it’s a strange yellow liquid. Her search leads her to a dog-food factory, Agri-jet, where she finds not just leftover food but something much more disturbing wrapped in plastic. Is it human? Alien? We don’t find out straight away—Carol’s horrified gasp is cut off by the credits. The next episode picks up with her fleeing the factory, shaken by what she’s seen.

Determined to get proof, Carol films inside the factory. Through her camera, we see human heads sealed in plastic, along with other body parts.

“This is what this whole plant is being used for,”

Carol says. There’s a meat grinder the size of a bus, though we never see it in action. The implication is clear: the yellow liquid The Joined drink comes from this grisly process. For a show that’s been so unpredictable, this is the first time Pluribus feels a bit obvious. Of course the aliens are eating people. It’s a classic move.

But Gilligan isn’t one to stick with the obvious for long. The way this reveal is shot—like a found-footage horror flick—turns out to be another way to mess with the audience’s expectations. After Carol’s factory visit, the show suddenly jumps to an LA hot tub party, where Koumba, another uninfected human, is living it up. The Joined are always around to keep the survivors happy…

John Cena, Cannibalism, and the Banality of Horror

Koumba’s hedonistic bubble bursts when Carol arrives to share her discovery. But Koumba already knows.

“Is this about them eating people?”

he asks, unfazed.

“It is troubling,”

he adds, as if it’s just another bit of bad news.

Just like that, the horror is flipped on its head. Why isn’t Koumba more disturbed? Why didn’t he warn Carol? The answer comes in the form of John Cena. Yes, really.

The former wrestler and Peacemaker star appears in a promo The Joined have made to explain their “food supply.” It’s the real Cena, but he’s now part of The Joined’s collective mind. Cena explains that The Joined can’t harm any life, so they can’t farm or eat animals. With billions to feed, they’re running out of options. Only so much leftover food exists. Cena says 8–12% of the yellow liquid is HDP—human-derived protein—taken from the 100,000 people who die naturally each day. By consuming their remains, The Joined honour their memory.

“We’re not that keen on it, but we’re left with little choice,”

Cena says. It almost sounds reasonable, especially coming from such a likeable bloke in a slick promo.

Koumba admits he’s not thrilled about it.

“None of us are.”

But it’s the reality they have to accept, and so does Carol—she doesn’t have much choice.

Ethics, Acceptance, and a Chilling New Normal

This is a different kind of horror than expected. What starts as a sinister plot to turn humans into food is explained away with a calm logic that’s even more unsettling in its ordinariness. The use of stats and acronyms to justify eating human flesh drains the emotion from the reveal, just as The Joined have drained humanity of its spirit. There’s an expectation that everyone should just accept this as reasonable, which adds another layer of discomfort.

Carol is forced to understand, maybe even sympathise.

“Cena didn’t mention most of the population will starve to death in the next ten years,”

Koumba points out. We, as viewers, are nudged to do the same.

Pluribus plays with horror tropes through an ethical and existential lens, making us complicit in accepting The Joined’s actions. The episode soon shifts back to Carol’s personal journey. She’s left out by the other survivors, her loneliness deepening, but hope returns when she learns The Joined need her consent to assimilate her.

By the time the story jumps to Manousos in Paraguay, the horror of the alien virus forcing people to eat the dead is almost forgotten. All thanks to John Cena’s winning smile—now shared by billions in this unsettling version of utopia.

Pluribus is streaming now. Don’t miss an episode.