In 'Pluribus,' Vince Gilligan examines humanity's right to be unhappy

Vince Gilligan, of “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” has gone backmost to his roots, erstwhile helium wrote for “The X-Files,” with a caller sci-fi series, “Pluribus,” premiering Friday connected Apple TV, continuing successful its quest to beryllium your location for fancy speculative fiction.

Rhea Seehorn, who played Kim Wexler, Bob Odenkirk’s emotion interest, connected six seasons of “Saul,” stars arsenic Carol Sturka, a palmy but unsatisfied writer of humanities romance fiction. She regards her enactment arsenic “mindless crap,” but it has made her rich. She’s successful a idiosyncratic and nonrecreational narration with Helen (Miriam Shor), who is besides her manager. They unrecorded connected a cul-de-sac successful Albuquerque, the metropolis wherever “Breaking Bad” and “Saul” were acceptable — but don’t expect a crossover.

A awesome from abstraction is translated into an RNA series which is synthesized successful a laboratory and, aft getting retired into the world, becomes the series’ cardinal device, a virus-like immoderate that infects the globe successful a jiffy — but for Carol, a idiosyncratic constitutionally indisposed to its expected benefits, and a distant twelve others. Described arsenic “a psychic glue susceptible of binding america each together,” the microorganism links the satellite into a hive mind, similar “Star Trek’s” Borg, oregon the explicitly referenced pod radical successful “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” — the astir frightening of each science-fiction/horror premises. That those infected are compulsively adjuvant and blandly cheerful, similar cult members asking you to “a party,” is nary less, if not more, disturbing. (The “pluribus” of the rubric you volition admit from the operation connected the money, if you person spent immoderate clip looking astatine wealth — “e pluribus unum,” oregon “out of galore one.” Get it?)

There are ideas astir the quality of happiness and an individual’s close to beryllium discontented, but Gilligan doesn’t look to beryllium engaging successful immoderate targeted societal commentary — though arsenic a originative person, I’d conjecture he’s connected the broadside of a little perfect, messier union. (In the infected caller world, determination is nary much crime, nary much warfare and nary much zoos, the animals having been acceptable escaped — but also, seemingly, nary fun.) But zombies, adjacent oregon particularly blessed ones, don’t marque television, though you whitethorn beryllium sometimes tempted to deliberation so.

This assimilation — not a creaseless modulation — sends Helen from the series; henceforth Carol’s main interlocutor volition beryllium Zosia (Karolina Wydra), sent arsenic a mouthpiece from the hive, which is expending a batch of vigor figuring retired however to flooded Carol’s immunity and endeavoring to support her blessed and steadfast successful the meantime. (They are particularly acrophobic that she hydrate.) Everyone but Carol and those fewer others not plugged into the wide caput cognize everything everyone other knows, including however to alert a pitchy airliner oregon execute a gynecological examination, oregon has ever experienced oregon felt. (Because they cognize everything, they tin beryllium rather pedantic.) But due to the fact that Zosia has a face, a assemblage and a peculiar mode of speaking, she is, for the spectator — and for Carol — a chiseled character. A person.

Not that it has thing to bash with the prime of the series, but I find it absorbing — adjacent refreshing — that determination are nary young characters here; indeed, determination are fewer characters astatine all, the streets being post-apocalyptically bare astir of the time. Seehorn, for whom Carol was written, is 53; Wydra is 44; and Carlos Manuel Vesga, who, arsenic Paraguayan subsister Manousos, is positioned to to bash thing important toward the extremity of the season, is 49. Samba Schutte, who plays the hedonistic, jolly Mr. Diabaté, is the series’ young man, astatine 42. Gilligan is 58. But I digress.

After rapidly establishing the premise, Gilligan shifts into debased gear; this is simply a dilatory series, yet ne'er a boring one. Great tracts of clip walk without dialogue. For astir of the mode it’s Seehorn’s show, and she’s marvelous — moving done a scope of emotions, confused, clever, resigned and determined by turns, arsenic she navigates (as they accidental successful the comics) a satellite she ne'er made, an aggravated idiosyncratic beating against a oversea of contentment, a analyzable idiosyncratic successful a one-speed society. (She’s funny, too; this is fundamentally a comedy, which is not to accidental a spoof.) She drinks, watches “The Golden Girls” connected DVD (“A frown is conscionable a grin turned upside down,” we spot Betty White say), rides astir successful a borrowed constabulary car (no police), hits play balls done bureau gathering windows, sings “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and turns Nancy Drew successful bid to spot however she mightiness crook the satellite normal. But volition the satellite alteration her first?

Gilligan has written a fig of rules into the plot, some arsenic regards what the hive can’t bash and what Carol is susceptible of successful bid to support his communicative going — which it volition for a archetypal play of 9 episodes (seven of which were disposable to review) and an already ordered second. (At least.) Just wherever it’s going is anyone’s guess. “We’ve each seen this movie and we cognize it does not extremity well,” Carol volition say, but her saying this seems to bespeak it might.