Vince Gilligan, creator of the famous crime show “Breaking Bad” and its prequel “Better Call Saul,” unexpectedly returns to TV with a new thrilling science fiction show “Pluribus.“
“Pluribus” centers around Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn,) a writer of corny fantasy romance novels living in New Mexico. While she feels resentment towards her own work, viewing it as mindless garbage as opposed to the real art she’d like to create, she appreciates the money it has brought her and lives a fairly happy life with her girlfriend Helen (Miriam Shor). Unfortunately, this changes when everybody passes out as a result of an alien virus. Once everyone wakes up, Helen is dead and everybody except Carol are all in a strange hive mind, with everybody acting and functioning as one person, while having independent bodies and movements. The hive mind has all the memories and knowledge of the people it possesses and, therefore, knows almost everything about the world. Despite the hive mind’s kindness towards Carol, she is determined to find a way to put an end to it.
The hive mind acts in a very interesting way that is unique to Pluribus in comparison to other sci-fi stories of its kind. The hive mind is very kind and is willing to help Carol with anything, serving her food daily and even trying to use one of the infected bodies to create a companion for her, Zosia (Karolina Wydra). But Carol rejects what they try to do because she blames Helen’s death on the hive mind. Since the hive mind would do anything for Carol, she tries to use it to her advantage, scheduling a meeting with all the people around the world who are still not a part of the hive mind to talk about the end of the virus. Carol is surprised to find out that most of the unaffected people don’t think the new world is that bad, meeting Laxmi (Menik Gooneratne,) an Indian woman who is annoyed by Carol’s insistence that the world needs to go back to how it used to be and Koumba (Samba Schutte,) a Mauritanian man who takes advantage of the hive mind’s kindness by asking them for mansions, cars and servants. The only person who agrees with her is Manousos (Carlos Manuel Vesga,) a Spanish-speaking Paraguayan man who has completely cut himself off from the outside world.
As a big “Breaking Bad” fan I had high expectations, but the episodes of “Pluribus” so far blew me away with how good they were. As a departure from violent crime stories to existential sci-fi, “Pluribus” is a lot slower than Gilligan’s previous shows and focuses more on Carol herself than complex plots. This doesn’t mean for a second that it’s boring, however. It still manages to have perfect pacing that makes every scene worth watching. Seahorn’s amazing and emotional acting is also an essential part of the series. “Pluribus” is an immersive show, making you think about different characters and complex problems that they face. It makes you think about what you would do if what happened to Carol happened to you – would you reject the new world, embrace it, or just try to carry on with your life?
While only a couple of episodes of “Pluribus” have come out so far, it has already proven itself as a great show. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the story unfolds. “Pluribus” is available to stream on Apple TV and is rated TV-MA.
