In an average year for television, Pluribus ends things on a high note American television

IIn many ways, it feels like 2025 was the year TV gave up. Old favorites like The White Lotus and Severance let us down, with huge gaps and a complete lack of forward momentum respectively. New shows have failed to catch on as well, largely due to the expectation that TV shows are now the things people put on in the background while they scroll through their phones.

Overall, it seemed like there wasn’t a show people could really cut their teeth into this year. That is until Pluribus came along.

Apple TV recently announced that Pluribus is its biggest show ever. Admittedly, that might not mean much, because anyone with an Apple TV account will have seen the number of times Ted Lasso has risen to the top of the charts like a dead frog in a stagnant pond. But even beyond streamer metrics, it feels like Pluribus has taken over.

There may be two factors at play here. The first is that Pluribus is a Vince Gilligan project, the first project he’s only been responsible for since Breaking Bad (the Better Call Saul spinoff was nicely delegated to Peter Gould). It is clear that the new show from the creator of the best TV show in history will attract a lot of attention.

The second is that Pluribus has a premise that is both far-fetched and horribly plausible at the same time. Rhea Seehorn plays Carol Sturka, an embittered mysterious romance author who somehow remains unscathed while an alien virus takes over the world. The virus causes everyone to lose their identity, and they become entangled in a global hive mind that causes them to act sinisterly quietly. They work together. They seem kind. Bad feelings seem to hurt them too; Every time Sturka throws a tantrum, millions die. And so, simply because no one else will, Sturka sets out to save the world.

The story goes that the genesis of Pluribus was Gilligan imagining how hellish it would be if everyone was nice to him all the time. And let’s remember that they probably are. Gilligan, a rare showrunner who is happy to be the face of their work, became world famous through Breaking Bad. And with fame comes a flash of insincere praise that can be difficult to deal with. Certainly, a scene early in the pilot, in which Sturka grimaces through a series of interactions with submissive fans, suggests that Gilligan can see through some bullshit.

But the genius of the show is that you can read it as an allegory for anything you want. Could a show about a woman living in isolation in the middle of a global virus be about Covid? If you look at it a certain way, sure. Could the cell’s distant and strange desire for adulation be a signal of our blind acceptance of artificial intelligence? Sure it can. Maybe it’s just a show about the only voice of reason in a crazy world? Surely everyone has felt this way at one point or another.

It is this porous nature of the show that has led some to complete online obsession. Pluribus is a show that invites a wealth of theories. Reddit is practically awash with what happened to the hive, what they want, and how to stop them. There is currently a great deal of debate about whether or not Carroll was right to resist the mob. Wouldn’t it be better to simply roll over and absorb? If you’re a Pluribus fan, you’re in for a treat.

Fortunately, this level of obsession is not a prerequisite. Many viewers (myself included) can enjoy knowing that the world’s greatest storytellers are distributing something new, at their own pace and exactly the way they want. It’s rare to get something this confident and so well executed. Why kill a frog by dissecting it too much?

Speaking of speed, this may be an issue in the future. If you’ve seen Better Call Saul, which regularly walked the line between entertainment and luxury, you’ll know how slowly Gilligan likes his stories to unfold. His shows are about the process: whether it’s working out how to destroy evidence without entering the room (Breaking Bad), how to dismantle a car to check for hidden surveillance devices (Better Call Saul), or, as the latest episode of Pluribus showed, how to spend several weeks traveling from Paraguay to Albuquerque by car and on foot.

This slow pacing may be something that causes viewership to drop as the series progresses. This certainly happened with Better Call Saul – the brilliant final season was watched by only a sixth of those who tuned into the first episode – but hope springs eternal.

Because, as with Better Call Saul, the quality is absolutely there. It’s carefully written science fiction, rich in theme, beautifully directed, and seems to have a very clear sense of self. The finale won’t air until Christmas, but it ends on such an interesting note that new episodes can’t come fast enough. It’s currently our best offer. Why don’t you go with you on the trip?