Multibus episode 5 is out now on Apple TV – yes, it arrived two days earlier than expected – and, hoo boy, is it a doozy.
Titled ‘Got Milk’, the sci-fi mystery drama’s latest chapter sees Carol make an alarming new discovery about The Others. And judging by the reactions I’ve seen online, Apple TV viewers are seriously hoping that the resolution to its cliffhanger ending isn’t as obvious as we expect it to be.
What is the liquid the Others drink in Pluribus?
Episode 5 picks up immediately after its ancestors’ own cliffhanger ending. So, Zosia went into cardiac arrest after Carol injected Zosia with too much thiopental sodium.
Given how badly Carol has treated Zosia—and, by proxy, the rest of the hive mind, collectively known as The Others—in recent episodes, they decide they need some space. Long story short: The others leave Albuquerque en masse, leaving Carol alone to fend for herself. Unless she calls them to ask for help with something.
In any case Multibus‘ Latest entry will be a one-person show following said exodus, with viewers following Carol down an investigative rabbit hole that has something to do with… milk cartons.
Stay with me here. Carol, forced to dispose of her own trash after The Others fail to do so, notices that every trash can and trash can is full of discarded milk cartons. She traces their manufacture to a local dairy and soon comes across large, brown bags of what appears to be a crystalline substance not unlike salt or sugar.
After bringing a bag home and performing some routine tests, the Apple TV Original’s protagonist assumes that this is what The Others consume on a daily basis to maintain the “psychic glue” that binds them together. Basically, she believes that this soluble white powder is added to water, poured into the milk cartons on an industrial scale, and then sent to The Others to consume.
As part of her findings, Carol also concludes that the liquid is odorless, has a light olive oil consistency, and has a pH level of 7.1; a number that means that, like water, it is neither acidic nor basic.
What does Carol see at the end of Pluribus episode 5?
That discovery leads to a much bigger one that, based on Carol’s reaction at the end of ‘Got Milk’ and what fans are saying online, may be even darker in nature.
You see, after Carol discovers a barcode on the bag she brought home, she goes to her local Sprouts grocery store, but fails to track down where it was made because the barcode readers at Sprouts don’t recognize it. But after she compares this bag’s barcode to another on a bag of dog food, she traces its origins to Agri-Jets, a local food packaging company.
Breaking in, Carol quickly finds a giant refrigerator that at first appears to prevent pallets of fresh fruit from falling off. This is Albuquerque after all, so it gets very hot outside.
Scanning the shelves, Carol’s interest is piqued by… something covered in a plastic sheet. Lifting it up, it takes her a few seconds to realize what she’s looking at before she recoils in horror. Screen is cut to black. Revolving credits.
So what did Carol see? My first thought is that it hair to be human remains. It could be a dismembered body or just a collection of human bones. The latter are white and when ground down will look like a crystalline powder. In fact, bone marrow is considered to be one of the most nutritious parts of the human body, so this may be the substance dissolved in water and ingested by The Others.
Judging from what I’ve seen on the ResetEra forums, r/Pluribus, and other forms of social media, there are many who agree with me as well. After all, what else would make a startled Carol back down as soon as she registers what it is?
As a few viewers have pointed out, past episodes provide further evidence that this is the case. In fact, referring to episode 2’s first scene, ResetEra user Arsene no Kiseki reminded us that The Others took dead people away in a van with a bottle of milk painted on the side. Additionally, Redditor LoretiTV jogged our memories of a moment in episode 3 where The Others ask Carol if they can “help” dispose of her dead partner Helen’s body. You don’t need to spell out what it would have meant if Carol had accepted it.
Why are Pluribus fans comparing it to a movie called Soylent Green?
Look at
The more I think about it, the more I doubt myself about this theory.
Why would The Others keep human remains along with fresh fruit and vegetables? If it’s just bones, why refrigerate them when the bones don’t decay the way other parts of the human body would? Didn’t Zosia previously tell Carol that The Others are vegetarians because they can’t kill living things, including insects? And most importantly – at least from a story point of view – wouldn’t this reveal just be a lazy plot twist on the part of the writing team that we’ve seen countless times before?
There are several examples of this narrative trope, but that’s it Soylent Green that the audience has immediately compared Multibus to. A dystopian sci-fi thriller film from 1973, Soylent Green‘s big twist is – spoiler – that the titular substance is made from human bodies.
If Multibus have taken this specific narrative cue from movies and shows like Soylent Greenwill be a rather uninspiring event for a Vince Gilligan-created project. Considering how creative Gilligan usually is from a storytelling perspective, I pray we’ll be proven wrong once this cliffhanger is resolved. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until the next installment of one of Apple TV’s best series arrives on December 5 — and that’s only if Multibus episode 6 reunites us with Carol. Don’t make me wait until its seventh chapter to learn more, Mr. Gilligan…
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
