Pluribus

What’s it about?

Pluribus follows a misanthropic novelist who resists a global happiness that has swallowed almost everyone.

Starring

Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, Samba Schutte, Peter Bergman, Elena Estér, Olivia Rouyre

An Introduction to Pluribus

Pluribus starts with the world getting the kind of happiness that is typically touted by those selling high dollar mattresses or ‘clean’ ingredient smoothies. It comes without fanfare and without permission, everywhere. People become calm, agreeable and strangely free of the scatter-brained emotional clutter that made them recognisably human. The change is introduced with a disturbing normalcy – catastrophe is particularly sinister when no-one seems to be troubled by it.

At the heart of this new deal is Carol Sturka (Better Call Saul‘s Rhea Seehorn). Carol is a successful novelist with very little patience for her readers, her reputation, or the general business of being expected to feel grateful. She has the prickly intelligence of a woman who spots every false note in a room and the emotional open-ness of a locked filing cabinet. Carol’s proudly contrarian nature and life-long misanthropy make her the most worst possible candidate for suddenly finding herself in a society that is geared towards a cult-like collective consensus.

The opening scenes establish Carol’s sense of isolation without setting her up as some sort of action hero in the making. She’s not presented as a ‘chosen one’ or someone who just needs to realise how amazing they always were. She’s a difficult, emotionally-guarded person who is struggling to understand why everyone else is suddenly ‘happy-clappy’ while she still carries around fear, anger and grief. The world around seems bizarrely orderly and super-positive, making it even more unsettling. No-one needs to raise their voice when they can just smile and say everything is fine.

The tension of the show comes from the promise of the comfort that comes with the new order versus the freedom it’s subtly taken away. Pluribus also throws in the idea that Carol isn’t completely alone. A few others seem to have been resistant to the change, but distance, suspicion and incompatible survival instincts make locating and cooperating tricky.

The opening poses a bleakly humorous question: How much of humanity would people give away for permanent peace? Carol’s response would “none, what’s wrong with you?” delivered with the exasperated rage of someone who just found out that the apocalypse has really annoying customer service.

Summary

Pluribus is a science fiction drama created by Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) in which happy co-operation is a new addition to society’s methods of social control, replacing the need for most of them in the process. A mysterious event across the globe changes nearly everyone on the planet into members of a calm, unified community. The society that emerges is peaceful, efficient and accommodating to the extreme. The world seems to have lost its crime, its conflict and its everyday suffering. Lost too, is privacy, disagreement and much of the messy individuality that makes people themselves.

One of the few who doesn’t seem to be affected is novelist Carol Sturka of Albuquerque. She is immune and finds herself in a world where most of the people seem to have found their emotional balance, while she is weighted down with all the ‘old’ human trappings: resentment, grief, suspicion, a need for control and the occasional need to be left alone.

Pluribus’ main comic irritation comes from the premise. Carol may often come across as relatively unpleasant, but the people around her are so overly nice they start to feel unsettlingly menacing. They offer help in a way that feels like a customer service team that’s been infiltrated by a cult. They seem to have good intentions, but it’s their unshakable belief that their way is the only way that’s the issue.

The series follows Carol as she attempts to find out what happened, to find other unaffected people, and to determine whether the collective represents human salvation, extinction or a particularly well-organised land-grab. There are some survivors who are actively resisting the new order, while others have found ways to exploit it. Some seem more than willing to take pleasure from its advantages, which makes for an awkward moral quandary for those hoping for a story that neatly separates freedom-loving heroes from obedient villains.

Pluribus is not so much interested in showy set-pieces and explosions as in the discomfort of being the only person in a room who isn’t buying the enjoyment everyone else seems to be experiencing. It poses the question of whether suffering is an inevitable, necessary component of autonomy, whether personal preference matters within a utopia and whether humanity can remain human when everyone agrees on everything. The enjoyable contrariness of the show lies in its refusal to lazily portray misery as noble or happiness as good. Carol’s resistance might be a principled stand for everyone’s individuality, but it also forces her to face up to the less flattering parts of her own.

Check out the Season 1 Trailer here: