If you’ve already watched “The Gap”, which is the seventh episode of the first season of Pluribus, you can probably guess what it is.
Fair warning: Spoilers ahead for season 1, episode 7
One of the most striking locations of the first season of Pluribus so far is the cul-de-sac where Carol lives, overlooking much of Albuquerque.
But contrary to what some may think, that is not a real residential cul-de-sac rented out for the show, but a purpose-built set located northwest of the city, in an area known as Volcano Cliffs.
And while it is possible to use Google Maps to view Google’s most recent satellite imagery of the location, Google Earth offers a “historical imagery” tool, with images dating as far back as 1984.
Using this feature, it is possible to go back to August 2023 and see the set as it was being built on a small patch of relatively barren land, with most of the houses still framed in wood.
Skipping forward just one year, to August 2024, you can see not only the completed set, with Carol’s garden in full green and the stone slabs covering Helen’s grave, but also the large “come back” Carol wrote across the cul-de-sac in a pivotal scene near the end of episode 7.
We didn’t include the image here because we didn’t want to inadvertently spoil the episode for those who skipped the spoiler warning above. But you can check it out for yourself here.
If you look closely, you can also see what looks like the delivery-and-pick-up drone tangled on a street lamp North of the cul-de-sac, although it’s hard to be 100% positive on that one.
Still, for a show that features waving at the sky as a way of communicating with the infected humans, it’s fitting that real-world overhead imagery has inadvertently preserved a major spoiler.
... continue reading