The Creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ Saves the World from Happiness

Following up a smash success like Breaking Bad is difficult, to say the least, which may go some distance to explaining why, after the finale of that decade-defining series, Vince Gilligan stayed in the same universe with the prequel series Better Call Saul. Though initially greeted with skepticism, that show won fans over with a different, more measured kind of storytelling that some argued surpassed Breaking Bad in quality. Now, though, Gilligan has returned with an entirely new project: The sci-fi series Pluribus, starring Better Call Saul alum Rhea Seehorn.

Given the secrecy of the marketing campaign, revealing the show’s premise almost feels like a spoiler. But the first episodes establish an intriguing twist on post-apocalyptic fiction, as a massive global shift creates a population that is perfectly content and kind — that is, everyone save a small group of individuals who appear immune to the effect.Seehorn plays Carol Sturka, a writer of tawdry romance novels and all-around misanthrope; thepush and pull between the happy and contented collective and the angry individual that is Carol becomes the show’s central dynamic, as she must learn to control her anger and deal constructively with her longstanding depression.

Gilligan, who knows a thing or two about science fiction from his days working on The X-Files, comes up with a genuinely new take on a classic sci-fi concept with Pluribus. A surface reading of the show might position it as an ode to the individual battling the scourge of a literal “woke mind virus,” but the show’s global shift is a product of genuine empathy. This empathic reasoning extends to every living creature — including the combative Carol and her compatriots, not all of whom share her antagonism toward the “afflicted,” as she calls them. That she is even able to meet with these far-flung individuals from all over the world is also a function of the phenomenon, whose sole goal is to help in any way it can.

There is mystery in Pluribus, fitting it comfortably next to any number of Lost-influenced series over the past two decades — up to and including Apple TVs own Severance. But Gilligan doesn’t let the show become a mystery box: In fact, at various points throughout the season, Carol’s attempts to uncover what’s really going on are met with happy admissions. It’s a welcome approach, though it also produces a distinct lack of tension for a show this serialized and grandly produced.

The most impressive thing about Pluribus is its scale. Shot in widescreen and taking full advantage of a big Apple budget, the series looks and feels astonishingly big. Shot primarily in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico — also the setting for both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul — Gilligan and his team manage to make this new world feel fittingly enormous. Big, often wordless scenes act as demonstrations of just how amazing the show can get on a technical level, and they are all duly eye-popping.

Yet, the cast of the show is small, mainly focusing on Seehorn’s Carol and a few people with whom she interacts. This makes sense for the plot of the show, but that smallness, rather than serving as an appropriate counterweight to the show’s globe-spanning premise, often ends up feeling at odds with it. The enormity of the premise is rendered on such a grand scale visually that it seems to dwarf the emotional stakes of a story about a romance novelist figuring out her mental-illness issues. The result is a series that is splendid to look at, entertaining and even emotional at times, but also oddly myopic.

It’s an odd problem, and one that — ironically enough — might have been solved had the show been a bit more scaled back. It’s easier to believe that a single person’s otherwise mundane life would be the subject of a post-apocalyptic story when it’s clear the budget only allows for a few sets; disbelief is suspended, and the story is free to do its work. Here, though, the scale begs for wider-scale storytelling as well. One wonders about the operations of the phenomenon, the logistics of it, and the implications of all that is happening beyond the emotional turmoil of this one individual.

Contrasted with the cliffhanger-induced suspense that carried Breaking Bad, or the more patient, but often equally intense Better Call Saul, Pluribus, while a grander spectacle, somehow feels less urgent. It has less psychological depth despite its themes, and less to pull the viewer along other than the typical TV enticement to see how it all ends. That’s all still enough to carry the show, and Seehorn in particular does incredible work anchoring her antisocial character, never lapsing into caricature while always maintaining a seething rage. Despite all the pyrotechnics, it’s Seehorn as Carol that makes Pluribus worth watching.The first two episodes of Pluribus premiere November 7 on Apple TV, with new episodes every Friday through December 26.