Pluribus Episode 6 Sets Up The Show's Funniest Cameo With A Truly Terrifying Opening

Contains spoilers for "Pluribus" Episode 6 — "HDP"

"Pluribus" Episode 5, "Got Milk," ended on the series' biggest cliffhanger yet, with Carol (Rhea Seehorn) screaming at the sight of something left unseen at the food packaging plant. With Apple TV releasing Episode 5 two days early ahead of Thanksgiving, it's been an even longer wait than usual to find out what exactly made her scream. The intense opening scene of Episode 6, "HDP," finally confirms that all the viewers who predicted a "Soylent Green" twist were right.

After running out of the plant, Carol goes back in with her video camera turned out, revealing that the objects lining its shelves are freeze-dried human body parts and that these parts are used in the hive mind's "milk" drink. Given the hive mind has expressed a preference for vegetarianism — and that Episode 4 seemingly proved them to be incapable of lying — finding out they've been engaging in cannibalism all this time leaves Carol reasonably terrified.

Carol goes to Las Vegas to reveal this horrific secret in person with fellow survivor Koumba (Samba Schutte) — but, to her surprise, it wasn't a secret to Koumba, who already knew all about the hive mind's cannibalism and is only mildly perturbed by it. "It is troubling," is the strongest emotional reaction he has on the subject. Turns out Koumba got the full explanation of why the hive mind needs human flesh from one of its formerly-famous members: John Cena.

Koumba turns on the TV, where "John Cena" is ready to explain everything to Carol. Turns out the hive mind's inability to inflict harm on living things includes plants, and so they are incapable of farming vegetables or grains. This limits their potential diet to fruit that has already fallen off trees, dairy products, pre-existing packaged food... and meat of the already deceased. They'd prefer not to consume the latter, so their original language about preferring a vegetarian diet was honest, but the caloric demands of over seven billion people are impossible to fulfill without making use of the dead. The episode's title is an acronym for "Human-Derived Protein," which makes up 8-12% of the hive mind's drink.

"Pluribus" has had a number of fun guest cameos so far, but Cena's is both the hardest to miss and the most absurd. Getting a frank, apologetic explanation from a beloved wrestler/actor — even if his mind is no longer that of the original human John Cena — helps paint the "Soylent Green" twist in a more humorous light than Carol's tense discovery. Having been satisfied with his explanation from "John Cena," Koumba is less worried by the unorthodox ways the hive mind feeds themselves and more worried about whether they'll be able to keep doing so — even with "HDP" in their diet, mass starvation is still expected to befall the hive mind within a decade.