'Pluribus' Episode 6 pulls off a wild 'Peacemaker' cameo — here's what Vince Gilligan says about it
One can't help but sympathise with Rhea Seehorn's Carol Sturka on the Apple TV+ sci-fi show 'Pluribus'. When Vince Gilligan thought of his own post-apocalyptic world order, he didn't go in for the obvious scorched earth strewn with zombies. Instead, the 'Breaking Bad' creator deployed eerie plot devices that hide in plain sight, and are at times terrifyingly innocuous. As per IGN, the latest episode of 'Pluribus', titled 'H.D.P.', served as a decoy to hide the sinister truth, which Carol is eventually shocked to learn. The person who breaks it down for her is 'Peacemaker' star John Cena, who showed up in a surprise cameo.
In the previous episode, titled 'Got Milk', Collider recounted that Carol was on her way to decipher the hive mind's source of nutrition. At the Agri-jet warehouse, she stumbled upon a literal human remains that the Joined people somehow transform into a milky powder for consumption. Armed with this explosive information, Carol undertakes a trip to Las Vegas in the most recent episode to confront Samba Schutte's Koumba Diabaté. The latter, however, is already in the know and nonchalantly dismisses Carol by saying, "Is this about them eating people?"
Both Carol and the audience look forward to a bit of explaining at this point, and in comes John Cena! Appearing on a video played by Diabaté, the WWE star turned actor began by addressing himself as "We're John Cena" (the hive mind got to him as well). He went on to explain that the hive mind doesn't believe in deliberately ending any form of life, including plants. Therefore, their only mode of subsistence comes down to "windfall' or leftover food items, scavenged crops, and H.D.P., an acronym for Human Derived Product. That's just another of Gilligan's decoys to define human remains.
Cena's cameo does a good job of wrapping up the whole crazy affair in a sheath of reason, as he explains, "Given our druthers, would we choose to consume H.D.P.? No, throughout history, most cultures, though not all, have taken a dim view of anthropophagy. Honestly, we're not that keen on it ourselves. But we're left with little choice." The declaration does not make things any easier for Carol. Given her vitriolic hatred towards the Others, she's kept more and more out of the loop by the other uninfected individuals.
Gilligan recently commented on the pleasure of collaborating with Cena while speaking to Men's Health. "(John) Cena? He's cool, and he said yes, thank goodness. We just thought, 'Who is, simultaneously, the most random person to explain the eating of human flesh to Carol Sturka and the most interesting?'" The cameo was subsequently filmed at a small soundstage in Tampa, Florida. Cena quipped once after he was done delivering his lines, "I can’t wait to find out what the hell it was I just said." 'Pluribus' airs new episodes on Fridays on Apple TV+.
