#pluribus

#pluribus

Some science fiction movies rely greatly on the final moments to reveal a massive twist that changes the context of everything you've seen. Whether it's the ending of the original Planet of the Apes revealing the nature of the titular planet, or the ending of The Sixth Sense, in which a certain ghost is explained, genre fiction would be nowhere without the twist ending.

If Pluribus fans understand anything by now, it's that the mysterious new Apple TV drama is far from predictableto say the absolute least. Following weeks of bizarre clips teasing the plot of Vince Gilligan's (Breaking Bad) latest series, the first few episodes finally revealed that the story follows an author named Carol (Rhea Seehorn) who finds herself the last hope for humanity in a post-apocalyptic Earth compromised by an alien virus.

Vince Gilligan's new show, "Pluribus," opens with an unconventional apocalypse. A benevolent alien hive mind descends on Earth, commandeering the bodies of all but a handful of people who appear to be immune, including a curmudgeonly writer named Carol Sturka. Though the world that the "joined" are building seems ideal-no more crime, efficient resource distribution, an end to discrimination-it doesn't leave much room for Carol's messy humanity. Is it worth it?

A global catastrophe takes place in the first episode (much like in The Leftovers but with the tone of Severance); it's another quirky, head-scratcher from Apple that feels very on-brand for the post-Covid-19 TV environment. Not because you're watching actors on Zoom screens or shell-shocked ER doctors like in The Pitt, but because Pluribus kicks off with a montage of brain-washed factory workers spreading their germs onto petri dishes and distributing them into our water supply at mass scale.

but in the case of Pluribus, it boils down to a sentence: What if the body snatchers were right? To be sure, it could have been any one of a handful of sentences, including "Vince Gilligan has a new idea" and "Rhea Seehorn is playing the lead." But the show, whose first two episodes drop on Apple TV+ this Friday, has more to offer than the tantalizing prospect of reuniting the creator

In the 1988 John Carpenter classic They Live, aliens have invaded the country without anyone knowing it - or, at least, without anyone of actual power and importance knowing. Then one day, a drifter in Los Angeles, played by the wrestler Roddy Piper, picks up a stray pair of sunglasses, puts them on, and sees the world as it truly is.