Who or What Is Under the Tarp on 'Pluribus'?

Pluribus is a Vince Gilligan show, and he is a smarter man than I am, so know this: My Pluribus theories are going to be wrong more often than they’re right. This week’s episode has already disproven one of my theories — that Zosia would “reset” after being resuscitated (although the jury is still out on whether the Paraguayan is uninfected and not immune). The thing about Vince Gilligan is that he’s very good at zigging when you think he’ll zag. Who could’ve predicted, after Carol gave Zosia drugs and sent her into cardiac arrest, that the entire hive mind would up and leave Albuquerque? The entire city population is just gone in a matter of hours.

So, whatever is underneath the tarp at the end of episode 5, “Got Milk?” is probably a zag, too. What do we think it is that might elicit Carol’s horrified reaction? A dead body?

OK, first of all: The idea that the hive mind is drinking the nutrient-rich remains of dead people doesn’t really track with their ideology. They’re vegetarians. They don’t kill. Then again, extracting nutrients from dead bodies doesn’t exactly go against their ethos, either. They’ve proven they will use the resources available to them, even those of dead animals; they just won’t kill them.

Carol’s shocked reaction might also be to the corpse of someone we know. Who could that even be? Plotwise, we’ve only really gotten to know three other characters: Helen, Zosia, and Koumba Diabaté. It’s not Helen. I went back and rewatched. She’s definitely dead. She wasn’t replaced. We saw Carol bring her into the house and saw Helen’s bluish corpse the next morning.

Is it Zosia? It’s an interesting possibility, if only because it could suggest that the hive mind ended her life because she got too close to giving away their secrets to Carol. I don’t think that’s it, though. Zosia is the only other major character on the show, and you don’t kill her off for momentary shock value. Plus, it’s too soon in the series to suggest that the hive mind is breaking with its own ethos.

What about Diabaté? Believe me, I spent 90 minutes pondering how Diabaté’s offhand quote about Han Solo in Star Wars back in the second episode could relate to his body being under the tarp. It doesn’t work. The reference to Han Solo was meant to represent individual motivations (Han Solo) vs. the good of the collective (Luke Skywalker). That was thematic, not foreshadowing. Also, there’s no way Diabaté’s body could reach Albuquerque. Gilligan would not introduce a misdirect that convoluted. I do think, however, that something happened off-camera between the second and third episodes — when Carol flagged down Diabaté’s plane to remove Zosia — that may come back into play.

So, if it wasn’t a corpse, and if it really wasn’t Zosia, Helen, or Diabaté? What or who was under the tarp?

My theory is this: It’s Bob, and Bob is alive. Or at least, partially.

Watch again: When Carol looks under the tarp, she clearly finds something chilling. But the shocked reaction — placing her hand over her mouth — is delayed. That suggests to me that she saw a body, was haunted by it, and then was shocked when the body moved.

Who else could still be alive but not part of the hive mind? Bob is the only person I can think of. Remember Bob?

Who else would even think to hide? He’s the guy who discovered the virus, after all. He’s the guy who studied it, helped decode it, and figured it out. That’s a guy who understands the nature of the virus. That’s a guy who hides from it or assimilates to the point that he goes unnoticed. Most importantly, he’s maybe the only other character we, the audience, would recognize, and Gilligan wouldn’t give us someone out of left field.

And that’s my theory: Bob is under the tarp. I look forward to Friday when Gilligan blows it up.