"Our protagonist, Carol (Rhea Seehorn), is of course hard at work trying to break global peace and revert everyone to normal. Laxmi (Menik Gooneratne), who's hostile to Carol, seems to cope by ignoring the stakes altogether because she still has the shell of her son."
"And then there's Koumba Diabaté, an affable, elaborately dapper Mauritanian who greets the end of the world by living it up. We first meet him in the second episode, " Pirate Lady," in which he has refashioned Air Force One into the pleasure craft where Carol tries, but fails, to win the remaining humans to her cause. He resurfaces in this week's episode, "HDP," now settled in Las Vegas, where he continues to indulge his fantasies complete with a little Casino Royale cosplay and sleeping with a variety of bodies absorbed by the Joining."
"Koumba is a tricky character to realize, chiefly because postapocalyptic hedonism can easily slide into unsavoriness. His de facto harem has sparked a lot of conversation (certainly in my circles) about how consent works in Pluribus's world. But in the hands of Samba Schutte, the warm, vibrant Dutch-Mauritanian actor last seen in Our Flag Means Death, Koumba reads more as a sweet, gentle being who just lucked out. That complication in reading the character is, of course, by design. "We talked a ton about getting the right tone," Schutte tells Vulture. "What's really key is that there's a wonder to him. If we maintain that, the sweetness will come through.""
Pluribus depicts a world transformed by the Joining where a few humans remain separate and cope differently. Carol works to break global peace and revert everyone to normal. Laxmi remains hostile and clings to the shell of her son while downplaying the stakes. Koumba Diabaté celebrates the end of the world by indulging fantasies in repurposed luxury settings, including Las Vegas and a refashioned Air Force One. Koumba's behavior raises complex questions about consent and ethics in the new world. Samba Schutte's portrayal aims to keep a sense of wonder and sweetness in the character.
Read at Vulture
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