Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of “Pluribus.”
We knew Rhea Seehorn was a tremendously talented actor from her time as Kim Wexler on “Better Call Saul,” but she may have topped herself with her poignantly nuanced work as stubborn survivor Carol on the Apple TV sci-fi hit “Pluribus.” We already honored Seehorn as TVLine’s Performer of the Week for the “Pluribus” premiere, and we have a policy of only honoring an actor once per season. But Seehorn’s work in this week’s “Pluribus” finale was so incredible, we had to take a moment to show our appreciation — specifically for one 30-second scene that had us ready to hand her an Emmy on the spot.
To catch you up, in case you haven’t watched: Seehorn stars as Carol, one of only a handful of people on the planet who weren’t affected when a mysterious alien virus turned everyone into cheerful members of a shared hive mind. Carol was dead-set against joining the hive mind, and she wouldn’t let them take a sample of her stem cells to find a way to convert her. But she began to soften when she fell in love with Zosia (played by Karolina Wydra), her hive-mind handler. Even when fellow unaffected survivor Manousos was ready to join her in fighting against the hive mind, Carol pushed him away because she was happy in her little love bubble with Zosia.
That brings us to the scene in question…
Seehorn’s face tells an entire story
Near the end of the “Pluribus” finale, Carol and Zosia are enjoying a romantic getaway at a snowy ski cabin when Carol idly wonders if there’s another way that they can access her stem cells without her consent. Then we cut to a shot of Carol facing the camera as she tries to puzzle this out. (In the video clip above, the shot begins at the 4-second mark.)
For a few seconds, Seehorn’s face scrunches in thought as Carol earnestly tries to come up with a solution. And then we see the realization come over her — and she stops breathing. Seehorn’s entire body freezes as Carol puts the horrible truth together in her mind. Then her neck tightens as she chokes back tears, pursing her lips and stiffening her chin to fight the intense grief washing over her. Finally, she visibly puts her guard back up — the guard she had let down to let Zosia into her heart — and plasters on a phony smile as she says: “My eggs. The ones I froze with Helen. You have them, don’t you?”
Carol has realized that the woman she fell in love with, who promised to give her anything she wanted, can convert her against her will — by using the stem cells from the eggs Carol froze with her late wife Helen, who was killed when the alien virus reached Earth. It’s a monumental betrayal, and Seehorn manages to convey every terrible inch of it with just her face before she even says a word. (Kudos to director Gordon Smith, too, for deciding to shoot Carol’s realization with a tight close-up of Seehorn facing the camera, letting her face tell the entire story.)
The scene, all told, is only about 30 seconds long, but it’s an absolute roller coaster of emotion, and Seehorn is just masterful the entire time. She was nominated twice for an Emmy for her work on “Better Call Saul” and never won. But if there’s any justice, for this scene and many others she delivered all season long on “Pluribus,” Emmy voters will be checking the box next to Rhea Seehorn’s name this time around.
Check out our conversation with Seehorn, Wydra, and more about the “Pluribus” finale, and let us know what you thought of the episode in a comment below.