There are many kinds of plastic, none of which afaik dissolve in water.

So the pods ae not covered in plastic but something else

It might be possible for a pod to dissolve more slowlyl than usual, but
it's supposed to dissolve by the start of the wash cycle, long before
the drain cycle. So I don't think it's the pod.

It's a clear case of Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

It might be a screw in a pocket that made it through the little holes in
the drum. Even if a blade is partly broken off from the pump impeller,
it might still work fine once it's unjammed.

Now it is my turn to apologise for using the emotive term PLASTIC to describe the material which is designed to melt at specific times during the wssh process. A bit like the vegetarians who use the word blood when describing any moisture in a steak which keeps it from being too dry for normal people to eat!

I have already admitted the coincidence of my first use of a pod coinciding with the pump 'going out'.

Yes, it might well be something falling into the wash which is jamming something in there. And I did say that I can feel the impeller moving properly from quadrant to quadrant, though I don't now think this must mean everything IS ok with the drain pump. It is probably some blockage which hasn't made it through to the filter area yet?