Pluribus: The Best Sci-Fi Concept In Years
Pluribus Takes A Huge Concept In Great Directions
Pluribus is a fascinating science fiction show with one of the most intriguing premises I’ve seen in years. For those that love the genre’s propensity for posing interesting, mind-expanding questions, this is it. And, best of all, telling you the premise isn’t a spoiler: it’s the jumping off point for so much more.
Though it’s kind of a difficult thing to explain. The show seems very internally consistent with its rules, but it’s a lot of rules to consider. Basically—and I am very much summarizing here—humanity has become infected with a virus that connects minds in a psychic web. This doesn’t mean everyone can hear everyone’s thoughts. It means everyone’s minds were forcibly fused into a gestalt being with one personality stretched across every living person’s body. All memories were preserved, all experiences and knowledge maintained, and there’s no discernable lag based on distance.
For the sake of clarity, I’m going to refer to this gestalt character as “Pluribus.”
But that’s just a very cool show idea. What is the story? What—if I may become an English teacher for a moment—is the conflict? Well, there’s a few, and all of them are deeply interesting to consider.
Firstly, it didn’t work on everyone. Almost every human on Earth quickly became one mind, but about 100 million people simply couldn’t survive the process and died (though the show does say some of their memories still got absorbed). And 13 people failed to be affected at all by the process.
Thus, we have our main character, Carol. The only one of the 13 we follow for more than a few scenes in the first 3 episodes. She’s a closeted romantasy novelist who hates her fans, hates her bestselling series, drinks way too much, and writes straight romances in her series seemingly because of societal pressure and fear of coming out. And now Carol’s basically alone and forced to coexist with a vast consciousness that has absorbed her secret girlfriend’s mind and only wants to make her happy (until Pluribus can figure out how to absorb her, too).
The First Episode Of Pluribus Has So Many Hooks
And frankly, if that alone isn’t enough to get you to watch Pluribus, I don’t think my review will change your mind. But I do have a lot more to praise, and it’s mostly specific decisions—both in storytelling and filmmaking.
And all of those decisions boil down to how the story really considers what Pluribus would be like. The interesting quirks of having a being that’s combined like that. Every body has the same mind behind it, so almost anyone nearby can do skill-intensive stuff like fly a plane, cook a complex meal, or solve a math problem. And, importantly, it can communicate about anything happening anywhere on the planet that any human body is around to perceive. During a conversation, different mouths will answer, and there’s a lot of moments where people basically act like ants, marching in synch to the command of the mind behind it.
But Pluribus also wants the audience to like this weird consciousness like any other character, and it does so by making a statement about humanity that’s ultimately very positive. Pluribus (the show) is basically positing that if you combined everyone into one being, basically averaging out all people’s traits, you would get a being that’s patient, kind, free of bigotry or hate, averse to killing, and—in an interesting point of characterization—a little awkward and clumsy. Pluribus doesn’t just want to help Carol; it really wants to help Carol and will act sycophantic and a little clingy.
It’s also not a scary show—despite everything. I should’ve maybe mentioned that sooner. The first episode has some horrific moments, and the implications of Pluribus’ existence can be extremely disturbing if you stop and think about what’s happening off screen (As one of many possible examples, is Pluribus having controlled bodies conceive more children to keep up the population?). But the show quickly tries to distance itself from all that and becomes quietly comedic. Carol’s utter bafflement and Pluribus’ ability to control most things on Earth lead to over-the-top moments and very dry jokes.
It’s an impressive trick, to be sure. And it achieves this tone structurally through the one rule I failed to mention—and brings us to where I start to phase in the few things I don’t like about this show. Because, while the rule is absolutely necessary to make the story work, it does lead to a lot of frustrating moments. Basically, Pluribus is sensitive. Carol is obviously going through something overwhelming, but if she gets too aggressive toward any body Pluribus controls, it will cause a stroke. Every single human (except the 13) goes into violent spasms. And a lot of them are piloting vehicles or doing other dangerous things at any given time. It’s such a strong way to solve the problem of the show simply being Carol sinking into rage (while Pluribus’ puppy-dog eagerness to please prevents Carol from being inactive) that I’m amazed I’ve never seen a similar concept in any other fantastical scenario. If the protag does anything but sort of go with the plot and quietly investigates, it kills millions of people.
But Carol still yells at Pluribus anyway. She gets angry, makes rude comments, and so much more, with the gestalt being. The show has this amazing, amazing idea, with so many cool things it can explore, and yet so many scenes consist of Carol getting mad. Carol is not a purely likeable character from moment one, sure. She brutally mocks her fans when they aren’t around. But it gets even harder to root for her when she keeps being unable to control her temper, even after she fully understands the damage it causes, and treats both the other humans and Pluribus with contempt or arrogance when they are very kind to her. There’s a scene where she meets with some of the other 13, and she bulldozes over their opinions, experiences, and concerns, acting like she—and she alone—knows what’s best.
I understand that this is obviously on purpose. The show isn’t unaware of how it presents Carol and her faults. The acting, both in small facial expressions and big, dramatic moments, is top-notch and adds layers to every conversation. But between long, quiet, drawn-out scenes seemingly to invoke some mood and Carol continuously almost killing millions, you really start to get annoyed. It becomes a pattern and slows the show’s momentum. And seemingly undoes Carol as a complex character. The first episode makes her out as very media savvy and competent in a crisis but then picks and picks at her likeability until she reads as more the antagonist than Pluribus is. I like this show a lot; I may even love this show, but I will sour on it greatly if it doesn’t find a new source of drama as it goes on.
In review terms, that means I highly recommend Pluribus, but I also warn you of its possible decline. There’s only so many endings to this story that make sense, and there’s only so many storylines that can be explored before that ending comes. Carol either kills Pluribus, dies, or becomes part of Pluribus—that’s about all I can see. The journey there is what’s interesting. The journey there is hopefully going to be as great as this series shows it can be.
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