‘Pluribus’ review: Vince Gilligan’s new Apple TV show is delightfully dark

TV review

It’s the end of the world as we know it, but many don’t seem all that bothered about it. At least, that’s the case in creator Vince Gilligan’s fascinating “Pluribus,” a sci-fi series that’s nothing and everything like his previous hit shows “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” It brings the same engaging attention to detail and character while launching us into a satire of sorts that couldn’t be more timely.   

“Pluribus” is a show about waking up one morning to discover everything you knew has come apart, not with a bang but a whimper, leaving a select few with the lonely task of fighting to save a world that may no longer want to be saved. There is a specific reason for this that won’t be spoiled here, but the literal explanation is merely the beginning of what Gilligan is getting at about the comforts and dangers of conformity. Led by the always outstanding Rhea Seehorn, each turn of the story offers darkly funny situations for her to stumble through. At the same time, the show is earnestly, painfully revealing about the way people can become accustomed to even the most insidious of realities. 

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This all begins with us getting to understand the reality Seehorn’s Carol has settled into. She’s a successful author who is far from enthused about her work and wants to write something she considers to be of greater substance. However, after returning home from a book tour to Albuquerque, N.M., which is where the majority of this first season is set, her world is upended. As Gilligan traces in delightfully dark detail, an all-consuming force has steadily been infiltrating the planet and now has life itself in its grasp. So, while reeling from an agonizing loss, Carol sets out to uncover if this can all be reversed and if there is anyone else out there like her who still wants to cling to their humanity. 

For all the answers that are playfully teased out here and there, the show’s richest ideas have less to do with any type of mystery box-esque revealing than they do seeing what’s already in front of us. Gilligan, perhaps seeing something of himself in Carol as he attempts to tell a more ambitious story, raises a whole host of emotional and existential questions that transcend the show’s sci-fi trappings. It still works as a gripping genre story, with Gilligan offering creative gags and unsettling sequences where we get a full sense of how off this new world is, but it’s also plenty incisive the more you sit with it.

It’s hard to come to terms with the reality that the world has shifted on its axis. But it has, for Carol just as it has and will continue to for all of us. This is where Seehorn, whose potent work on “Better Call Saul” already cemented her as one of the great performers of the past several years, really soars. She hits what can often be tricky comedic notes just as she does the dramatic ones. We feel Carol’s frustration, her drive and her sadness all at once, with each scene taking us deeper into her mind as she tries to shut herself off from a world she no longer knows.

Seehorn and Gilligan don’t ever shy away from Carol’s flaws, with one sequence surrounding a grocery store showing how she, too, is susceptible to false comforts. When the show then expands out from Carol, with one standout episode leaving her behind almost entirely, you find yourself wanting to return and see how she is doing. When you start to see how she might be getting used to this new world, it strikes a chilling chord. Even with all we came to know of how she wanted to hold tightly to herself, that doesn’t stop her from growing tired of fighting. Perhaps despite herself, she may wish to pretend all is OK even when it very much isn’t. 

The more it goes on, the more “Pluribus” becomes a show of immense, urgent feeling, one that grapples with the terrors of growing numb to loss. It’s about survival versus resistance, compliance versus conflict, fantasy versus reality, and whether a false happiness is worth losing all of who you were for. Carol is a bit of a grump, but she’s our grump, a graceful sliver of humanity’s complexity in a world that’s seeking to flatten it. Even when smaller in scale and confined in its setting, the ambition of “Pluribus” is commendable. It’s another great example of how Gilligan has a sharp eye when it comes to the little details of storytelling that he molds into works of more grand significance, and of how Seehorn is just a sensational screen presence. 

It’s too soon to tell whether “Pluribus” will have the same lasting resonance as “Breaking Bad” or “Better Call Saul” (the latter still being both of Gilligan and Seehorn’s best works to date), but it’s got all the right pieces in place to be a distinct gem in a world that’s often prone to mindless regurgitations. The world as we have known it may be ending, for Carol and all of us, but this silly yet shrewd little show is just getting started.

“Pluribus”
The series premieres Nov. 7 on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping Fridays through Dec. 26.

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