Introduction
Apple TV has spent the better part of the last decade methodically building a reputation for prestige television that pleases both critics and viewers alike. While its output has been selective, the streaming platform’s commitment to high-caliber writing and production has positioned it as the premier go-to production house for showrunners who want to bring their vision to life. Against that backdrop, Pluribus arrived carrying expectations that are unusually heavy even by Apple TV standards, largely due to the name attached to it.
Vince Gilligan’s reputation as a television writer and showrunner has grown steadily over the past three decades. Beginning his career as a writer, producer, and director on The X-Files, he later created Breaking Bad, which ran for five seasons and became one of the most critically acclaimed dramas in television history. He followed this with Better Call Saul, a prequel series that expanded the same universe while earning high praise for its writing and performances. The bar was set high for Gilligan’s next project.
Gilligan is no stranger to ‘mystery box’ television storytelling over multiple seasons. The 58-year-old Gilligan made his bones on the X-Files, one of the great mystery box shows in the history of the medium. LOST, Westworld, and Severance, to name a few, mystery box shows contain high-concept fiction with interlocking plots, unanswered questions, and a whole lot of mystery. Gilligan returns to this with Pluribus, which just finished its first season on Apple TV.
Synopsis
A group of astronomers discovers an alien signal 600 light-years away that contains a mysterious RNA sequence. After months of research on animals, an accidental lab leak infects the hazmat-wearing scientists. Compelled to kiss each other and contaminate petri dishes with their saliva, soon the entire planet is infected with “The Joining.” Only twelve people are immune to this sickness that has transformed the earth’s population into a peaceful hive mind. Enter self-loathing romance/fantasy novelist, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn).
At a bar in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her life partner and manager, Helen (Miriam Shor), all hell breaks loose for Carol. The rest of the population, including Helen, begins to convulse and lose consciousness. In a panic, Carol drives Helen to the hospital while Albuquerque burns. But it’s too late. Everyone has suddenly been transformed into what can best be described as friendly and highly intelligent zombies.
It becomes clear that the hive mind wishes to share its nirvana with the twelve unaffected people that are left on Earth. However, they cannot force anyone, including Carol, to do anything against their will. The hive mind sends a representative to Carol in the form of Zosia (Karolina Wydra). She’s there to assist Carol with anything she needs and to answer all of Carol’s questions. Like, why is her wife dead, and why has humanity suddenly become one giant groupthink?
Carol seeks out the other survivors in an attempt to form a resistance to make the world right again. However, to Carol’s surprise, some prefer this new global Utopia. This includes Koumba Diabaté (Samba Shutte), who enjoys a hedonistic lifestyle in Las Vegas. One man living in Paraguay, Manousos Oviedo (Carlos-Manuel Vesga), may be Carol’s only hope in stopping the ‘pluribus’ from absorbing the rest of humanity.
Discussion
Who knew that Vince Gilligan could pull off a dystopian science fiction rom-com? Pluribus is another deft master work from Gilligan, and Rhea Seehorn is its centerpiece. Seehorn, also at the center of Gilligan’s previous masterpiece, Better Call Saul, had been told as early as 2022 by Gilligan that he was working on something new specifically for her. She was in without even reading the script. That was during the production of the final season of Better Call Saul, where Seehorn played attorney and love interest to Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), Kim Wexler.
Pluribus, now the most-watched drama series in the history of Apple TV, is playing the long game. The show takes its time and looks beautiful in doing so. Filmed in and around Albuquerque (like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul), the cinematography is stunning. Some critics state that the show is too slow. It’s a fair critique. There are long shots of Carol staring at an O’Keeffe painting, working on her golf game, and passing out on the couch watching The Golden Girls.
Still, Gilligan is serving up an intriguing social experiment via Seehorn’s incredible solo acting and facial expressions. What is the price of a perfect utopian society? The hive mind ends war, hunger, suffering, and crime, but is losing one’s individuality and passion for living (and loving), worth it? Is happiness really happiness without free will? Pluribus provides an intriguing Rorschach test for its viewers. Much like the famed inkblots, after one season, viewers have no single correct interpretation as to what Gilligan is trying to convey, inviting deep and heated debates on online message boards. Perhaps that was Gilligan’s entire point.
Further Analysis
Rhea Seehorn is mesmerizing in Pluribus, just as she was in Better Call Saul. Seehorn, who has never won an Emmy Award, likely will be nominated yet again. Give this amazing actor the hardware already. Her performance in season one is an emotional masterclass. Karolina Wydra’s performance as Zosia is subtle but complex. She needs to remain neutral while also showing empathy as the representative of the hive mind. Her scenes with Seehorn are a highlight of season one, and their chemistry together is palpable.
Perhaps the unexpected breakout star of this series is Carlos-Manuel Vesga. While barely speaking a word of English, his performance as Manousos Oviedo is magnetic. His fierce and almost self-destructive refusal to engage with the hive mind in any way drives the story of season one forward as Carol goes grocery shopping, leaves endless messages on the hive mind’s voicemail, and arranges for garbage pickup. These two are on a collision course with each other, and we are here for all of it.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a new series with a unique and unsettling premise, a benevolent hive mind, science fiction blended with deep philosophical questions about happiness, individuality, and technology, Pluribus is the show you’ve been waiting for. Like Vince Gilligan’s other hit shows, the acting is superb, and the New Mexico visuals are like taking a vacation for 48 minutes every week. Side note: Carol’s house is stunning.
Apple TV and Gilligan deliver another high-quality streaming series replete with high production values, creative camera work, and a “movie-like” feel with each passing episode. Is season one taking its time? Absolutely. Building tension and developing believable and sympathetic characters takes time. Not everything is spectacle, and moral complexity does not equal explosions (although keep an eye out for a hand grenade). Buy the ticket and take the ride. Pluribus is one of the very best new shows of 2025.
