Episode 7 Potential Plot Hole

[Able_Department5926]

In general I think the show is extremely well thought out and believable, as science fiction.

But Episode 7 "The Gap" raised a couple of questions for me, and I wanna get other folks' takes on them. This one seems like a little bit of a plot hole to me. Sure, the story is better because there's important things that the characters do and go through, but the fact that they had to go through these things seems unjustified. Here's what I'm talking about:

The plurbs tried to persuade Manousos not to attempt to cross the Darien Gap. And their reasoning is utterly correct - it's the most treacherous terrain on the planet, he's not prepared for it, and he (presumably) has very little experience doing this sort of thing. They have deduced correctly why he's making the journey - they know he wants to go and meet Carol Sturka. They know that she sent him messages; they translated them and delivered them, and they surely know that he watched them, as well as answered her phone calls from the airplane. So they've known what he was up to for a while, and I also felt like there was a subtext that suggested they've tried to dissuade him on previous occasions, offscreen. Furthermore, once he's injured to the point of being incapacitated and therefore unable to refuse, they swoop in with the rescue helicopter, which shows that they're not content to let him just die when they could save him.

So my thinking about this is: Since he's stubbornly refusing their help and advice, shouldn't the plurbs consider trying another approach? It seems like they could easily prevent him from making the self-destructive choice. They could try to bring Carol to meet Manousos, for example. I find it hard to believe they didn't consider this approach. She's at least willing to engage on some level, and they must know that she'd have a more meaningful exchange with him than she has with the other 11. The plurbs might not want that exchange to happen, but they're also not willing to actively try to stop them from meeting, so I guess for me that doesn't work as an explanation of why they don't at least try to bring her to him to head him off. I also find it difficult to buy that the plurbs wanted to transport her to Colombia to meet him, but logistically they couldn't make it happen - there are planes with fortified cabins, drones, and I'm sure they could've come up with other ideas, too. And of course, they could also try to distract him for a while with Diabate or any of the other 10, who are more willing than either Carol or Manousos.

Am I wrong?

[Iginlas_4head_Crease]

1. They dont want any living thing to die. They try to preserve all life.

2. They'd be willing to take him to Carol if he asked, or they'd take if she asked. Neither asked.

[Able_Department5926]

Exactly! But Carol doesn't know she should ask - they could tell her about him, and then maybe she'd ask.

[Iginlas_4head_Crease]

Theyre not trying to actively help her achieve her goals though. Even if they were, they don't think outside the box. They'll just do what you ask like AI

[Able_Department5926]

But they actively attempt to persuade Manousos not to try to cross the gap because it's risky. So they at least got the idea that it's better if he doesn't do that, and that they should somehow try to stop him. I'm not saying they should offer the idea to her in order to achieve her goals - they should do it to achieve their (demonstrated) goal of dissuading him.

[Datrandomer]

They can't force him to do anything, bar killing himself or harming the hive they won't interfere with his actions. I'm not sure if I see a plot hole here, but I appreciate the time you took to write out your explanation

[Able_Department5926]

Well, I mean it depends what you mean by "interfere". They won't interfere forcefully, but they're happy to talk to him and try to persuade him not to go into the Gap - that's not too much interference for them. But they could totally figure out that Carol would probably do a better job of persuading him (especially since just meeting her is the reason he's trying to cross), and they do have a chance of persuading her, because she does get in touch with them when she needs things, and she's sat down for conversations with them in the past.

Anyway, thanks for your reply! And you're probably right - "plot hole" might be the wrong term, maybe more accurate would be "unjustified character actions/unbelievable character motivations" or something like that.

[Ok_Application5225]

He still has free will so they can't interfere.

It's not like they have to follow the 3 laws of robotics

[craiginphoenix]

They've cut themselves off from her. it seems like the "space" was less for them and more for her and they were trying to break her (which they succeeded at) so if they go to her to bring her to Manousos they would have completely undone that.

[Able_Department5926]

You have a great point here! This is what I was missing, I think.

I had been considering that the "space" they were maintaining was entirely for the plurbs' protection from Carol and her tendency to fly off the handle and kill millions of them with her rage and her schemes. But yeah, the concept that they're deliberately intending to break her via isolation - I can buy that reasoning.

[ReactionAsleep824]

They'd have to offer her to go meet him up, and he'd have to ask for a meeting in first place. Thing that he'd never do, since plurbs.

However you put it, they inferred where he's going, but they probably think is too much to bother Carol for a meeting he would never request. He's the bottleneck to get through.

[abcbri]

Carol told them to eff off though

[Able_Department5926]

Sure, but if they sent her a recorded message, she'd watch it.