Okay so I just binged both episodes of Pluribus and this thing is weird as hell but its going to make you think a lot. Vince Gilligan really came back after all those years doing crime stuff with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul to give us some proper sci fi and even though Im sure this is not a series that is going to fit everyone as the story has some contradictory rules, basically you cant leave the brain at the door, this one is going to make you think again about life and humanity. The first episode was solid as hell, started with this whole countdown thing showing us 439 days before everything went to hell, we meet these scientists who pick up this signal from space and they figure out its not just random noise its actually a recipe for something that ends up being this virus or whatever you want to call it that turns everyone into this hive mind thing, it has to be a virus as how it changes everyone genetically although is it really a virus when it makes humans less destructive but at the same time takes everything there is to be a human?? I think thats the question. The hole thing felt very creepy when it started spreading, people shaking and convulsing then just snapping out of it all in sync like some old school Twilight Zone episode, the way they showed it was disturbing with the amount of people who died in the transition, if an event like this happen in real life would be the biggest massacre in history of human kind.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22202452/
- Platform: AppleTV+
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The show develops the story of Carol as the main character, who is this romance writer played by Rhea Seehorn and she absolutely kills it in this role, Carol hates her own books calls them mindless crap and you can tell she is just over everything in her life, she is miserable as hell and the only thing keeping her sane is her wife Helen who also happens to be her manager. I loved how they showed Carols relationship with Helen because it felt Helen had her back and put up with all Carol's angry management problems no matter what, at least for the short time they were together, you could see that Helen was the only person who truly understood Carol and cared about her happiness even when Carol was being a total ass about everything. The whole book tour sequence at the beginning was great because it showed us who Carol really is, she is successful she has money she has fans but none of that makes her happy because she is stuck writing these fantasy romance books that she doesnt give a damn about instead of the serious book she has been working on for five years called Bitter Chrysalis. That detail about the book she wants to write feels important because I bet by the end of this season or next season Carol is going to finish that book and it will mean something big for her character story or the very plan to restore humanity, or join them, this is just my imagination going wild. Helen even mentions James Joyce and how his book made people miserable but it was still worth it if it made even one person happy witch becomes a huge theme later on.
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Episode one really picks up speed when Carol and Helen are at a bar celebrating their best book tour ever and Carol is just complaining about her fans calling them dummies, then they go outside for a smoke and thats when shit hits the fan real quick. While they are out in the parking lot Carol notice planes in the sky but it looks like they dropping some spray in the air, most likely the virus and thats when a truck crashes in the parking lot, Carol goes to help the driver and then Helen just drops to the ground and starts shaking like everyone else around them, Carol runs back inside the bar and everyones shaking and convulsing witch was intense as hell to watch. Rhea Seehorn puts up sch a great performance in these scenes because you can feel Carols panic and confusion, she has no idea whats going on, why all this people are just shaking with some falling on the floor and all she wants is for someone to help her save Helen. Carol manages to get Helen into a truck and drives to the hospital but its the same thing there, everyone is infected and when Helen wakes up for a brief moment you think maybe she is okay but then she dies right there in the back of the truck. That scene where Carol is trying to do chest compressions on Helen and begging for someone to help her was heartbreaking, you could see the desperation and fear in Carols face and it made the whole situation feel so real and heavy, her acting is so so good. After Helen dies all the infected people wake up and they all start talking in unison saying they just want to help Carol witch was creepy as hell, they try to take Helens body away but Carol tells them to stop and they actually listen witch was interesting because it shows they are not trying to hurt her they are actually trying to help her.
The rest of the first episode is Carol trying to process what just happened and dealing with the fact that the entire world has been taken over by this hive mind virus thing, she drives home and the city is on fire cars are crashed everywhere its total chaos. When she gets to her house she cant get inside because she left her keys in the car so she tries to break down the door with a rock, then her neighbors kids come out and they know exactly where she hid a spare key nine years ago witch is creepy because how the hell do they know that, it shows that the hive mind has access to everyone's memory and knowledge witch makes me start thinking about how this thing actually works, but latter one "they" mention to not knowing exactly how it works, making me think if this is just part of their plan or is it that this virus is really way ahead of human brain capacity, you would think that if every single human in the world is now in sync they could come up to understand how this hole thing wokrs. Carol finally gets inside and turns on the TV and theres a guy standing at a podium in the White House waiting for her to call a number on the screen, when she calls the guy explains that its not an alien invasion but they are the result of extraterrestrial technology, never call it a virus though as a virus is often an infection. The signal the scientists picked up at the beginning was made up of four tones that are basically the building blocks of RNA, they turned it into a virus and tested it on rats and one of the rats bit a scientist and thats how it started spreading to humans. The guy calls it a psychic glue that binds everyone's minds together and he admits they dont really know how it works it just does, Carol finds out she is one of only 12 people in the world who didnt get infected and the hive mind wants to figure out why so they can fix her and make her join them, they specifically mention they are here to help her not to hurt her and that her life is he owns but what happens if she says NO and refuse to join??.
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Episode two is where things slowed down a bit for me and I started losing some steam as they start to give us crumbs of how things work, the episode opens with this character named Zosia who looks exactly like the pirate from Carols books and she flys in to check on Carol. The whole opening sequence with Zosia was cool because it showed how the hive mind operates when Carol is not around, they all move in sync they dont need to talk to each other they just know what everyone is thinking and doing. Zosia shows up at Carols house and tries to get her to drink water because apparently every doctor on Earth thinks Carol is about to pass out from heat exhaustion, Carol is out in the backyard digging a grave for Helen and she refuses to accept any help from the hive mind. Zosia ends up revealing that Helen joined the hive mind before she died witch pisses Carol off because that was supposed to be a secret between her and Helen, then Carol starts screaming at Zosia and then the entire hive mind glitches out and freezes witch was insane to watch, just put that picture in your head as you are the single human on Earth that can get piss off and because of your temper the entire human race falls into the floor and starts shacking. Carol realizes that her tantrum caused thousands of people to die and she gets sick about it, the hive mind tries to comfort her and they even bring in a mini excavator to help her bury Helen witch was funny but also showed how much power and resources they have at there disposal. Carol asks about the other people who are immune like her and Zosia tells her there are now 12 of them and they all agree to meet up in Spain, so far the Hive Mind is not holding back any secrets and its completely transparent but this Hive sounds more like an Ai and we alraedy know what happens with all this contradictory rules and how the classic number one rule "Never hurt a human" and how the second and third rules can be contradictory, it all end in chaos.
The meeting in Spain is where episode two really lost me because it was just way too much sitting around tables talking and debating with Carol been the only one who cares about humanity and not just been in paradise like the rest, Carol gives this big speech about how its up to them to save humanity but nobody is buying it because most of the people at the meeting have family members who got infected and they dont see it as a bad thing because there is no more crime, no more war, everyone is happy and connected, there is this guy named Diabate who is a total dick and he basically says the world is better off now so why would they want to fix it, I wonder who he was before this hole thing started. Carol tries to argue that individuality matters and freedom is important but she doesnt do a great job of selling it, been angry all the time doesnt help her neither. She even tells one of the girls that she doesnt really want to join her family witch is pretty contradictory to her whole argument about freedom and choice, the best part of the meeting was when Carol goes toe to toe with Lakshmi and points out that her son is not just her son anymore he is also her prime minister and a guy she dated in high school and her gynecologist, that shut Lakshmi up real quick but it didnt win Carol any fans. The hive mind reveals that 886 million people died during the joining witch is a huge number and way more than zero for a group that claims to do no killing, they try to justify it by saying they had to escalate because the military found out and they wanted to prevent more bloodshed. Then Lakshmi drops the bomb that Carols outburst killed 11 million people witch completely undermines everything Carol has been trying to say, after that Carol just starts pounding glasses of wine and yelling at everyone calling them traitors to the human race before passing out in the yard.
To come up with this story is something that had to be develop through many many years because it is well though, things that are contradictory makes a lot of sense in a way that helps a lot the story telling of the series, I honestly love the series but since this is one that is going to make you think a lot, probably wont resonate with part of the audience. If you ever watch Breaking Bad you are going to notice the correlations and references, the lab scene, the suites, the yellow signature color, Carol always been agry as Mr. White, the series been develop in New Mexico, its all so good. Carol wakes up the next morning and finding out that everyone left except Diabate, he tells her he is going to Las Vegas to stay in Elvis Presleys penthouse and he wants to take Zosia with him because he is interested in her, her body to be honest. Carol is surprised and calls him out for taking advantage of the situation sexually over everything else witch is fair but it also introduce the question about consent and pleasure, Zosia cant choose to go with him because doing so would hurt Carol and thats something the hive mind is not capable of doing, they cant kill or hurt anyone, not even bugs, in context not even an ant. Carol decides to leave Spain alone but then at the last second she changes her mind and stops Air Force One, yeah thats how Diabate travels, its a weird ending because you are not really sure what Carol is trying to accomplish but I think it shows that even though she is fighting against the hive mind she doesnt want to be completely alone or is it that she will keep trying to find a way to get Diabate on her side??. Overall I am giving episode one an 8 out of 10 and episode two a 7 out of 10, the first episode was tight and intense and kept me wondering when they where going to jump Carol but the second episode felt a bit slow and dragged in places. I trust Vince Gilligan to cook something good here but right now I am not totally sold yet I just hope he doesnt go too deep into themes like sex preference, religion and politics, please please just dont, keep things entertaining. I got questions about why some people died and others didnt and what makes Carol and the other 12 people immune. The performances are great especially Rhea Seehorn who carries the entire show on her back, the production is stunning and the whole vibe of the show is eerie and unsettling in the best way possible, I am excited to see where this goes and I will definitely be watching every week to find out.
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