Pluribus’ existential art question, answered by Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn

From the jump, the hivemind has always seemed a bit obsessed with Carol (Rhea Seehorn), one of about a dozen people across the world who proved immune to the “psychic glue” that enveloped the remaining seven billion into a blissful shared consciousness. And that obsession extends to Carol’s “Wycaro” novels, a best-selling series of romantic-fantasy books that she doesn’t seem to take very seriously.

When Carol announces she’s writing a new book, the hivemind leaps with joy, but they don’t seem particularly interested in literature in general. When Carol steals a Georgia O’Keeffe painting from an abandoned museum and hangs it on her wall, the hivemind compliments the piece, but doesn’t seem particularly concerned about maintaining this priceless work, or the countless other paintings hanging in presumably empty museums around the world.

So does the hivemind appreciate art? Can they enjoy a sculpture or a poem? And what does the answer say about the clever sci-fi concept at the heart of Pluribus. I posed the question to Gilligan, his writers, and his stars. Here are their responses.

Vince Gilligan, Gordon Smith, and Alison Tatlock

In a video call with Polygon, Pluribus creator Gilligan, Gordon Smith (director, writer, executive Producer), and Alison Tatlock (writer, executive producer) approached the question from several different angles, ultimately revealing an arguably bleak take on the hivemind’s relationship with art.

Vince Gilligan: I think they appreciate a painting. But I think they appreciate the Mona Lisa just as much as they appreciate dogs playing poker or a black velvet painting of a matador sold by the side of the road. I think they appreciate every blade of grass. They appreciate the view standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and they can probably also find beauty in a big pile of cow poop. And when you appreciate everything, are you really appreciating anything? That’s the way I see it. What do you guys think?

Gordon Smith: Everything’s cranked up to 11 with them. From our sort of limited perspective, you have to focus on something to appreciate it, and cut out everything around it. But everything around them is interesting. I don’t know what it would be like for them to appreciate a painting.

Gilligan: Do you think they still make art?

Alison Tatlock: I don’t think they still make art. They do not care about possessions. So they are not archivists in that way because it’s all internal. All of the archives are in their minds. That’s why Carol is welcome to walk into the George O’Keeffe Museum and take what she wants, because that is not important to them anymore.

Gilligan: And even if she burned all the great paintings on Earth in a bonfire, I don’t know how sad they would be. They’ve got it all in their brains, so does it matter anymore?

Smith: They could probably repaint them.

Karolina Wydra

Image: Apple TV

Karolina Wydra plays Zosia, a member of the hivemind assigned to keep Carol company and make sure she has everything she needs — at least, that’s what she claims. As such, Wydra may understand how the hivemind thinks and acts better than almost anyone else working on Pluribus, besides Gilligan, of course.

Karolina Wydra: I believe the hivemind genuinely loves art. They have the greatest artists ever that ever lived inside them. They also have the greatest scientists in them, the greatest writers, directors, and actors. So they do appreciate and love art. Now, I would say the negative side is that the [non-absorbed] old schoolers are the only ones who can provide new art for them. So when I do read Wycaro, the little few pages from Wycaro that Carol writes, there’s a joy and the excitement of, “Oh my God, we get to experience art that we love.”

Rhea Seehorn

Image: Apple TV

Finally, series star Rhea Seehorn offers the most nuanced answer to my question; one that reveals more about our own limitations as art-loving humans than it does the fictional hivemind of Pluribus.

Rhea Seehorn: There is an argument to be made for, Why are any of insisting that some art is real art and some art is not? As long as any of it’s making anybody happy, then it’s all great, right? This book is just as great as this book. And so when you say appreciate art, can the hivemind appreciate that it brought anybody joy? Can they can even appreciate the joy it brought the person to make it? Because most likely that person’s brain is also in their brain.

But when you talk about appreciate as far as evaluate and compare and contrast art, then not really. And now, when everybody’s skillset is the same. Sometimes I’m listening to an amazing song or appreciating a great painting, and part of the appreciation is, Wow, a human being can do that and I can’t. I can do other things, but I can’t play the violin. And the appreciation is being in awe of what humans are capable of. But I don’t know that you can do that if everybody can do everything.

Pluribus season 1 is streaming on Apple TV.