Apple TV’s ‘Pluribus’ Borrows 1973’s ‘Soylent Green’ Iconic Plot Twist

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Pluribus Season 1, Episode 5, “Got Milk.”Apple TV‘s library is so full of hits that it can be hard to keep up, especially when it comes to the platform’s sci-fi offerings. One project in particular has been absolutely fantastic so far, but not enough people are talking about it. Whether that’s because not enough people are watching it is unclear, although the show is doing very well on Apple TV’s streaming charts. Those who haven’t given it a shot yet are missing out, and even more so after the “hidden” sci-fi gem just put its own spin on a twist from a 1973 classic.

The show in question is Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus, which is the showrunner’s first project since the Breaking Bad saga concluded with Better Call Saul’s final season in 2022. Pluribus’ marketing, even before the show aired, has been almost watertight by design, giving very little away about the show’s premise and larger storyline. This may have contributed to the viewership feeling so low, but Gilligan’s decision to be so clandestine was the right one. If more plot details had been made available ahead of the debut, the various reveals just wouldn’t hit the same.

‘Pluribus’ Season 1, Episode 5, “Got Milk,” Coyly Borrows the Key Twist From 1973’s ‘Soylent Green’

MGM

Soylent Green, loosely based on Harry Harrison’s 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room!, was directed by Richard Fleischer and starred Charlton Heston as Detective Robert Thorn. The story unfolds in what was, at the time, the distant future: the year 2022. It takes place in a dangerously overpopulated New York City, in a dystopian society where the planet struggles with constant heat, food and water shortages, and not enough jobs to go around. The super-rich live lavish existences that largely bypass these issues.

The Soylent Corporation manufactures supplements, and Soylent Green is the newest addition to the lineup, alongside Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow. Originally marketed as made from plankton harvested from the sea, Soylent Green is eventually revealed to be made from the bodies of dead people, of which there is, sadly, an ample supply, due to the poor quality of life for most of the planet.

Rhea Seehorn’s Carol Sturka embarks on an investigation in “Got Milk” that follows a similar trajectory to that of Detective Thorn’s in Soylent Green. While Thorn is looking into the murder of a member of the Soylent Corporation’s board, Carol is trying to discover what all the empty milk cartons neatly discarded by the Joining mean. Regardless, both characters follow their respective leads to a food manufacturing facility. In Soylent Green, Thorn learns the gory truth behind the movie’s titular foodstuff.

“Got Milk” doesn’t fully confirm whether what Carol saw was a human body under the tarp she pulls back, but it’s tough to imagine anything else that could have made her react with such horror at what she found there. However, given how similar the blueprints for “Got Milk” and Soylent Green are, especially in their respective investigations, it’s not unreasonable to assume that the Pluribus episode has been strongly inspired by the 1970s sci-fi classic.

‘Pluribus’ Version of the ‘Soylent Green’ Twist Has One Huge Difference

Apple TV

From the very beginning, Soylent Green is framed as a fairly traditional police procedural/murder mystery, if the movie’s futuristic dystopian setting can be ignored. The food shortages and other challenges to human life feel more like detailed worldbuilding than part of the main storyline. So, it’s more of a shock when Detective Thorn discovers the truth and eventually delivers the immortal reveal: “Soylent Green is people!” However, that moment happens at the very end of the movie, and there has never been a sequel. So, what happens next, and what Thorn’s discovery sets in motion, is left completely up to the imagination of the audience.

Somewhat inversely, “Got Milk” falls right in the middle of Pluribus Season 1. Therefore, there are still four more episodes to go after Carol lifts that tarp and sees what she sees. If what she found turns out to be proof that the Others are basically following in Soylent Corporation’s footsteps and using dead bodies to feed humanity, Pluribus viewers will be getting a spiritual sequel to Detective Thorn’s story, whether they know it or not. They won’t be left to wonder and endlessly debate what happens next; they’ll get to see it with their own eyes.

Vince Gilligan’s Sci-Fi Show Must Have a Bright Future Ahead After Its Bold ‘Soylent Green’ Tribute

Apple TV

Soylent Green hasn’t stood the test of time quite as well as some other sci-fi classics, but it still has a cult following. The “Soylent Green is people” twist has gone on to be pretty influential within the genre, even when it’s not directly referenced. The moment serves as the story’s climax, shocks the audience — if they haven’t already figured it out — and then abruptly ends, doubling down on the dark reveal. For Gilligan to hint so soon at such a similar reveal, with the original of which being so quietly iconic, then the showrunner probably has something even bigger up his sleeve as Pluribus Season 1 continues.

As well as Pluribus’ inaugural run still having four episodes left to air, Apple TV has already committed to the show’s immediate future by ordering Season 2 at the same time as Season 1. So, the writers don’t just need to build on the implied homage to Soylent Green for the rest of Season 1, Pluribus also needs to continue improving and deepening the interest/mystery of the Joining into the next batch of episodes — and probably beyond. Pluribus Season 1 is streaming now on Apple TV.

• 
  Soylent Green
  

  Release Date

  May 9, 1973

  Runtime

  97 Minutes

  Director

  Richard Fleischer

  Writers

  Stanley R. Greenberg, Harry Harrison

  • Charlton Heston

    Detective Thorn

  • Edward G. Robinson

    Sol Roth

  • Chuck Connors

    Tab Fielding

• 
  Pluribus
  

  3.5
  /5

  Release Date

  November 6, 2025

  Network

  Apple TV

  Directors

  Adam Bernstein, Zetna Fuentes, Melissa Bernstein

  Writers

  Ariel Levine

You can view the original article HERE.