My idea of happiness: A new series from Vince Gilligan, a master of the gloriously offbeat, as evidenced by his unlikely hit Breaking Bad — it’s hard now to remember that a drama about a milquetoast’s evolution into a drug kingpin was anything but an easy sell – and its terrific sequel, Better Call Saul.
Before achieving that level of auteur success, Gilligan honed his craft on The X-Files, where he earned his first Emmy nominations. That imaginative genre-blending spirit is alive and well in his latest creation, Pluribus, a sci-fi infused character drama that’s simultaneously creepy and weirdly funny, thoroughly original even when it echoes classics like The Twilight Zone and, more specifically, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I’ll be surprised if this doesn’t become Apple TV’s next buzz-generating hit in the tradition of the much murkier Severance.
Gilligan has gifted his brilliant Saul star Rhea Seehorn with the role of a lifetime in Carol Sturka, who inadvertently becomes the last unhappy person on Earth. A snarky writer of romantasy novels (which she considers “mindless crap”), Carol soon finds herself trapped in a scenario she could never have imagined, isolated in a transformed world where everyone but her appears to be unusually and eerily cheerful. (To say much more would be risking spoilers, of which there are many.)
In a twist that makes Pluribus such a joy to watch, Carol is chronically allergic to anyone and everyone’s well wishes. She keeps hearing people say, “We just want you to be happy,” and she’s having none of it. As a bewildered Carol rebels against this utopia of conformity, Seehorn runs the gamut of emotions from grief and confusion to fear and rage, only the latter of which seems to ruffle the composure of her fellow citizens, each polite and scrupulously honest.
The contrast between the Stepford populace and Carol is hilarious but also deeply unsettling, which is the vibe that should keep viewers watching Pluribus to see what happens next. From episode to episode — Apple made seven of the first season’s nine chapters available for preview — I had no idea where the story would veer, which makes the ride even more exciting. The unpredictability is thrilling, and thanks to Seehorn’s bravura performance, the fascination never ebbs.
Her unhappiness is our bliss. May we all join as one (reflecting the show’s title, parsed from our national motto “e pluribus unum (out of many, one)” to celebrate the arrival of what deserves to be our next streaming obsession. Make room, Severance.
Pluribus, Series Premiere (two episodes), Friday, November 7, Apple TV
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