What Is Vince Gilligan's 'Pluribus' About?

That’s the big question after the debut of Vince Gilligan’s long-awaited follow-up to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. After two episodes, we sort of know what it’s about, but I have no idea where it’s heading. That’s not a complaint.

Pluribus centers on Carol (Rhea Seehorn), an author of the popular Wycaro series of romantasy novels (so that’s why Wycaro was the working title; why Carol, indeed). Her books are crap, she knows it, and she doesn’t even like her fans. As she explains to her romantic partner and manager, Helen (Miriam Shor), she has a legitimate novel she actually wants to publish.

Carol’s writing career, however, quickly takes a back seat to cataclysmic world events. This part is trickier to explain: an astronomer discovers a radio signal, a repeating sequence sent from 600 light-years away. The astronomer and his team decode it using lab rats, only to realize it’s some form of RNA virus. A rat bites a scientist, she becomes infected, and within weeks, everyone on the planet contracts the virus, except for 12 people. One of them is Carol.

Everyone else? They’re not aliens, but “beneficiaries of extraterrestrial technology.” It’s “kind of a psychic glue binding us all together.” In other words, everyone now shares the same mind and knowledge. A six-year-old, for instance, knows as much as a rocket scientist. “Everyone is in charge, and no one is in charge.”

The pod people love being pod people, and they’re eager to convert the remaining 12. They’re not malevolent; they genuinely believe their existence is superior. But during the transition from human to pod person, everyone has a seizure and freezes for several minutes, and about ten percent of the planet dies in the process, including Carol’s partner, Helen.

Carol’s main contact is Zosia (Karolina Wydra), or “Pirate Lady,” as Carol calls her. Everyone on Earth does whatever Carol asks, which unnerves her. Zosia tells her they’re only months away from figuring out how to convert her. Carol also discovers that if she loses her temper and directs her anger at Zosia, or anyone, she can trigger a global seizure. The first time it happens, 11 million people die.

Carol feels terrible about it. She feels terrible about everything, really - furious that Helen is gone, furious that the world has merged into a hive mind, and furious that she’s one of the few who can save humanity.

She eventually connects with the other uninfected, but most aren’t all that unhappy. Humanity basically serves them. They can eat whatever they want, sleep with whoever they want, and go anywhere. One man, Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte), even uses Air Force One for personal travel. Their families are still around - albeit as pod people - and the uninfected don’t seem that bothered by it. They’re alive, and that’s all that matters to them.

Carol wants to save humanity. The others aren’t interested. By the end of the second episode, after meeting with the uninfected, she decides to go home and, in frustration, even lets Mr. Diabaté take Zosia with him. But at the last moment, she changes her mind, flagging down Air Force One. Apparently, being with a pod person is better than being alone. Zosie is her only connection to humanity, even if it is to all of humanity.

Here’s what else we know about the pod people: they can’t purposely harm anything - not animals, not insects, not even the feelings of the uninfected. They’re kind and attentive, and when Carol asks for space, they respect it. Yet because their shared consciousness is humanity itself, Carol doesn’t want to hurt them either. She just wants to free them from the virus so life can return to normal. They, meanwhile, want her to join their utopia - a world of infinite knowledge and no individual will.

It’s a trip. Where’s it going? No idea. What’s it trying to say? Unclear, but probably something about individual choice versus the collective, about social-media hive mind. About our current moment. But it’s fascinating, and Rhea Seehorn is predictably outstanding. The show’s already been renewed for a second season, and it’s Vince Gilligan, so we can trust he’ll eventually give us answers. My guess, however, is that the answers won’t be as important as what the show says about humanity as it attempts to find them.