In the second episode of Pluribus , Apple TV+’s horror/science fiction/social theory thriller about a brain virus from outer space, Carol (Rhea Seehorn) references a familiar premise. After mentioning “pod people,” a term first used in Jack Finney’s 1955 novel, The Body Snatchers , Carol barks, “I’ve seen this movie. We’ve all seen this movie. And we know it does not end well.” Finney’s pod people premise, understood as anti-Soviet messaging, was that parasitic aliens were replacing individual