On Screen: “Pluribus”
Pluribus
Inspired by “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Twilight Zone,” Vince Gilligan (“Breaking Bad”) created “Pluribus,” a sci-fi drama series that chronicles an extraterrestrial event that transforms the consciousness of people across the entire planet.
The plot revolves around Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn from “Better Call Saul”), a cantankerous novelist who churns out cheesy ‘Wycaro’ best-sellers. She’s on a book tour with her life partner-manager Helen (Miriam Shor), stating she’s tired of writing “speculative historical romances” and answering dumb questions from her devoted fans.
Tallying a list of complaints, Carol resents keeping her relationship with Helen secret and is annoyed that she has to blow into a breathalyzer to start her car. Suddenly, Helen convulses and dies — along with billions of others.
That coincides with the culmination of a mysterious message and countdown that scientists at a remote listening post have received from deep space.
Returning home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Carol becomes aware not only of how many people are gone but also how quickly the survivors regain their equilibrium and adapt to living in peace and harmony with the natural world.
“Nobody sane is that happy,” Carol notes, feeling compelled to maintain a moral high ground amid the new normal.
Even more bewildering to pragmatic Carol is how they all seem to be bound together by some kind of psychic glue, a hive mind allowing them to access the thoughts and memories of the entire collective. Only Carol and a dozen or so others scattered around the world have retained their individuality.
FYI: the title “Pluribus” comes from the Latin motto that Americans see every day on 25-cent coins: “E pluribus unum” means “out of many — one.”
Extremely proud of her immunity, Carol zealously guards against contamination by others but, eventually, after suffering acute loneliness, she befriends an emissary, amiable Zosia (Karolina Wydra).
Along with the slow pacing and repetitiveness, what’s frustrating is Carol’s reluctance to ask pertinent questions about the ‘Joining’ — until Manousos Oviedo (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) arrives from Colombia via Paraguay “to save the world.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Pluribus” is an evasive, enigmatic 8 — with all nine episodes now streaming on Apple TV, and it’s already renewed for a second season.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.