Pluribus takes a while to get your head around its concept, but as we’re first introduced to its world, a mysterious virus is about to hit the Earth in just over 14 months’ time.
Scientists detect a signal, repeating every 78 seconds, and coming from 600 light years away (with one light year being around 6 trillion miles, but what’s the significance? I was channelling that GIF that states “I’m not saying it was the aliens… but it was the aliens”
Then we move to 71 days to go, where successful author Carol Sturka’s (Rhea Seehorn – Bad Boys 4: Ride Or Die) with her partner, Helen (Miriam Shor – American Fiction), on her book tour, signing her new romantic/sci-fi novel for all the nerds who read it; and given that Carol is very matter-of-fact, speaks her mind and always has a look on her face that reads “What the fuck are you talking about?”, this makes her very much the ‘everyman’ in this situation. And certainly morelike how I would behave, so I’m liking her already.
Just as the book tour comes to and, though, with both Carol and Helen getting off a plane, they encounter everyone suddenly being seriously affected by whatever’s going on, to the point that it incapacitates many of them, even if it can be a temporary issue.
If there’s one thing I do enjoy, it’s an ‘end of the world’ post-apocalyptic-type scenario, and Pluribus (stylised as Plur1bus – to indicate that Carol’s on her own in this) has this in spades, it’s like something out of Black Mirror, with kids acting like the Children of the Corn, and just everyone apparently knowing who she is. Why? Well, apart from that she’s a famous author, of course.
In such a situation, I’d be more concerned about the lack of basic water and electrical services, since if she’s the last woman on Earth, and the world is centering around her, with the rest of the world behaving like the undead zombies – sometimes just wandering about almost human-like, and sometimes just ‘alive’, with a subservient nature.
And how come the pilot of a plane she’s on, has had no previous training, and last worked at TGI Fridays?! And might there be anyone else out there like her? And what’s going on with Zosia (Karolina Wydra) – who turns up out of the blue – and why does she look so familiar??
It can be difficult to get across why you should watch Pluribus without giving spoilers, so suffice to say, it’s absolutely batshit mental, but I’m loving it already. Rhea Seehorn is absolutely brilliant in this, and it’s a superb black comedy that’s always best acted straight by the cast members, as also recently seen in Yorgos Lathimos’ Bugonia.
Pluribus also comes from the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I will admit that as much as I enjoyed the opener for the former, it was rather after the series had been shown, and so I know it’s one of those series I should really watch, but I’m far behind with it, and I’ve got a zillion new things to watch.
Pluribus is on Apple TV from today – yes, they’ve dropped the “+” from their name, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. If it is in future, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 60 mins per episode
Release date: Friday November 7th
Studio: Apple TV
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Vince Gilligan, Gordon Smith, Zetna Fuentes, Gandja Monteiro
Producers: Jenn Carroll, Chris Smirnoff
Creator: Vince Gilligan
Writers: Vince Gilligan, Vera Blasi, Ariel Levine, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, Jenn Carroll, Jonny Gomez
Music: Dave Porter
Cast:
Carol Sturka: Rhea Seehorn
Zosia: Karolina Wydra
Helen: Miriam Shor
Mr Diabaté: Samba Schutte
Manousos: Carlos-Manuel Vesga
Dr. Nguyen: Kevin Chambers
Davis Taffler: Peter Bergman
Gordon Jump: James Cady
Laxmi: Menik Gooneratne
Kusimayu: Darinka Arones
Vesper: Anna Mhairi
Margaux: Max Reeves
Genevieve: Olivia Rouyre
Otgonbayar: Amaraa Sanjid
Byamba: Khaliun Amarburen
Ravi: Rayaan Kamal Khan
Aarush: Piyush Gupta
Padma: Viji Nathan
Xiu Mei: Sharon Gee
Neu Xiansheng: David Niu
T’ika: Elena Estér
Sisa: Jennifer Esquival
Soleil: Phuong Kubacki
Cleo: Imani Love
Jasmine: Esther Omegba
Partner: Kaabil Sekali
Teenager: Mohamed Azyane
Emmet: James Cady
Lineman: Kyle Bolt
Shirley: Ashley Dunec
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.