The discourse surrounding Apple TV’s Pluribus, Vince Gilligan’s (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) sci-fi mystery starring Rhea Seehorn, has been exhausting on the extremes, as is the norm with all prestige television these days. The series has been a smashing success for Apple, per the recent announcement that it has become the most watched drama series in the streamer’s history and has developed a fervent fan base who claim this season to be up there with the greats as an all-time “masterpiece.” On the flip side, there’s another loud faction of viewers who despise the meticulous world-building and character study, deriding it as “boring.” In my opinion, neither are correct, yet both arguments are valid.
The mystery surrounding the Pluribus premise and how it unfolds is a buzz-worthy hook that locks in your engagement from the get-go of season 1’s epic and thrilling pilot episode, We Is Us. An unknown alien virus has infected humanity on Earth creating a hive mind where all humans share the same consciousness, minus a handful of leftovers scattered across the globe who retain their individual identities. The show’s title itself, Pluribus, succinctly captures the essence of the story; with the Latin definition being “from many” or “of many.” And of course as the protagonist, Carol Sturka (Seehorn) is an American from Albuquerque, New Mexico (Gilligan’s favorite setting), it also has meaningful connective tissue to the United States’ motto E Pluribus Unum (“from many, one”).
As metaphorical storytelling, the show’s foundation is rock solid. Gilligan is a vocal critic of AI and the various themes and arcs explored in season 1 directly challenge ideas about consciousness, happiness, and the eerie, alien nature of superintelligence. The “Others,” are always agreeable and pleasant. They mirror AI’s sycophantic nature; just think about how ChatGPT always agrees with you and compliments you without fail. This dynamic is contrasted by Carol’s determined resistance to reject the inevitable bliss and retain her humanity and integrity. I found it particularly effective as Carol is a successful author and the hivemind is obsessed with reading her new work. Just like how AI is a plagiarism factory that is dependent on the ideas, knowledge, experiences, and work of humans. Sam Altman and the mysterious aliens both have endless thirst for human-created content.
Where I get stuck with the show is its pacing and lack of payoff. Gilligan and Co. are masters of misdirection and thoughtful world-building to create compelling stories. And that does apply to season 1 of Pluribus, but at the end of that rainbow should be a pot of gold of payoff for the audience. Something truly juicy that we are rewarded for from our hours of patience. Either character catharsis, dramatic twists, or closed loops; something that makes it feel like all the time spent in this world is truly worth it. The finale gets close to that payoff and instead chooses to continue to keep things close to the vest and use the lingering threads as a teaser for season 2. In that specific way, I was disappointed with the conclusion.
Pluribus is incredibly well-crafted (cinematography, production scale, sound), which we’ve come to expect from both Gilligan’s and Apple’s prestige television output. The performances are also pretty good. I thoroughly enjoyed Seehorn’s performance as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul. As the sole protagonist and character study in Pluribus, she does an admirable job as the audience surrogate, though many times her acting feels more on the side of high effort vs. effortless. In a handful of scenes it’s obvious that she’s acting, even if her line delivery is solid and convincing.
I’m glad Vince Gilligan took this swing. We need more epic, creative, original series like Pluribus. But for next season, I hope the writers are more considerate to reward the audience more frequently with compelling moments of storytelling.
