‘Pluribus’ star Karolina Wydra hopes fans question Carol and Zosia’s complex kiss: “Is that who Zosia is? Or is Zosia performing?”
“Oh my god! OK. It’s happening. Everybody stay calm!”
Yes, those are the frantic words of Michael Scott on The Office. But they’re also the words that ran through the minds of Pluribus fans far and wide as Episode 8 officially made Stursia canon.
Pluribus Episode 8 spoilers ahead.
Fans of Vince Gilligan’s hit Apple TV series have been rooting for a romance between Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and Zosia (Karolina Wydra) ever since Zosia was introduced as Carol’s “companion.” And Episode 8 finally took their relationship to the next level.
Following an agonizing stretch of isolation, Carol spent some much-needed quality time with Zosia while extracting more info about The Others and The Joining. After a particularly emotional day together, Carol assured Zosia that the hive’s plans to distract her from putting the world right wouldn’t stop her from trying to save it, even if it meant she’d be utterly alone.
As a frustrated Carol got choked up thinking about her circumstances, Zosia stepped towards her, leaned in, and initiated a gentle smooch. When Zosia pulled back, the two stared in each other’s eyes for a bit before Carol passionately kissed Zosia back, fulfilling the dreams of Stursia fans everywhere, while simultaneously raising a slew of concerns. As a reminder, Zosia is part of the hive, which means Carol isn’t just kissing one girl, she’s kissing 7 billion people — nearly every man, woman, and child who was on Earth when The Joining started! YIKES! As Carol noted, The Others are also trying to actively distract her from finding a way to reverse The Joining. So rather than seeing the kiss as one thing, Wydra hopes viewers will embark on an inquisitive journey, questioning the hive’s motivation, why Zosia initiated the kiss, and the fact that various interpretations of the scene can be true.
“That whole episode for me, and for Carol and Zosia, is such a big episode because of that. Are they being manipulative because they’re trying to distract Carol? Or is it that they genuinely care about her, and want to make her happy, and get her to see the goodness of what they have, and maybe join them willingly?” Wydra mused on a Zoom call with Decider. “The kiss could also come from a place of, ‘We see her suffering right now. We see she’s struggling with what just happened in the bar, and with her feelings for Zosia. And she’s confused…”
Wydra reminds fans, “[The Others] have the highest emotional intelligence. They know human behavior. They study people. So Zosia also can watch Carol’s behavior and go, ‘I think this is what Carol needs. Let me give Carol what she wants to make her happy.’” But the theories don’t stop there! There’s also the incredibly compelling possibility that during that scene, a sliver of Zosia’s individuality, or human self, broke free from the hive.
Throughout “Charm Offensive,” Zosia experiments with using “I” instead of “we” to describe herself/the hive at Carol’s request. On a surface level, the pronoun swap instantly makes her sound more human, and as Carol questions Zosia about her pre-Joining self, she shares first-person memories, making it hard not to wonder if reflections on the individual versus the collective can help remove her from The Others.
“That whole episode for me, and for Carol and Zosia, is such a big episode because of that. Are they being manipulative because they’re trying to distract Carol? Or is it that they genuinely care about her?”
Karolina Wydra, Pluribus
“Maybe Zosia is moving herself out of the collective a little bit, and [with the kiss], you’re seeing a different side of Zosia, and her personality, and more of her individuality,” Wydra said, noting that the dynamic between her character and Seehorn’s felt different even before the kiss.
In Episode 3, Zosia/the hive struggled to recognize Carol’s very obvious grenade-related sarcasm, but as the season progressed, Zosia’s developed a deeper sense of humor and a greater ease in communicating. Earlier in Episode 8, when Zosia showed where The Others slept at night, she even made an orgy joke! Look how far she’s come!
“You see this shift. Even the croquet scene [in Episode 8], you all of a sudden see Zosia having a banter with Carol and just giving shit to her,” Wydra reflected. “They have this moment where you haven’t seen Zosia behave this way, she’s got a bit more spice and personality. So the question is, again, is that who Zosia is? Or is Zosia performing?”
While any one, or perhaps several, of the popular kiss scene theories may be true, the Pluribus star explained that the cast and creators were constantly discussing motivations, questions, and profound possibilities while filming the series. So she hopes the same is true for viewers.
“There’s many different interpretations, and we’ve had many conversations about what that scene is. To be honest with you, three different people have three different versions of what that scene is: the writer, the director, and Vince,” Wydra said. “Even me and Rhea, we all had different ideas and interpretations of what that scene is. I really want the audience to have their own experience with it, and their own theories. I hope that the audience goes on this journey of asking, ‘Wait, is it? But I wanted — Wait a second. What?’ This push and pull within the ideas of what it means.”
New episodes of Pluribus premiere Fridays on Apple TV.
