This article contains spoilers for “Pluribus” episode 1.
We’ve seen the collapse of society due to an encroaching cataclysmic force occur dozens of times before. Between disaster movies, alien invasion flicks, zombie apocalypse films, and pandemic thrillers, we have a trope-filled template of how these events tend to go. As such, we are rarely gifted a story or sequence in this vein that feels almost wholly unique. This is why it’s such a treat to encounter something like “Pluribus,” showrunner Vince Gilligan’s new series on Apple TV.
The bulk of the series is a grounded sci-fi satire about Carol (Rhea Seehorn) dealing with her newfound status as one of the last human beings with autonomy left after a mysterious virus transforms most of the population into a hive mind organism. To get to this point, however, the pilot episode, entitled “We is Us,” (written and directed by Gilligan) presents us with a combination pandemic apocalypse/alien invasion thriller, and it’s one of the most exhilaratingly fresh examples of that type of story yet.
The freshness that “Pluribus” brings not just to television but these well-worn genre ideas can be seen in greater contrast when compared to the pilot episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us.” That series also begins with a terrifying collapse of society in real time, albeit one that skews much closer to the zombie outbreak narrative originated by George A. Romero in his “Dead” films. The episode, entitled “When You’re Lost in the Darkness,” not only hits most of the expected-by-now beats of the zombie subgenre — societal norms being ripped away, sudden, shocking violence and loss, etc. — it also sticks way too close to its video game source material. “Pluribus” is proof that originality can still happen while referencing and homaging what’s come before.
‘The Last of Us’ is hobbled by its source material
Initially, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness” seems to promise its own fresh approach to the zombie/pandemic apocalypse story, as the episode begins with a fictional talk show from 1968 involving a couple of scientists talking about the potential of a future pandemic and a potential plague involving mind-controlling fungi, which foreshadows the disastrous outbreak of a cordyceps virus. The outbreak occurs in 2003 (allowing the bulk of the post-apocalyptic show to take place in an alternate 2023), which is ironically, maybe intentionally, one year away from 2004, when “Shaun of the Dead” and Zach Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead” were released. The episode, directed and co-written by Craig Mazin (with the game’s creator, Neil Druckmann, as the other co-writer), most closely resembles Snyder’s film in its depiction of brutal horror changing the lives of its characters in an instant.
What’s most unfortunate about the episode — and the entire live-action series — is the way it hews so close to the video game’s structure and storytelling that it feels even more derivative than most generic zombie-coded films and shows. The biggest selling point of the episode’s horror lies within the Hitchcock-esque bait-and-switch of Sarah (Nico Parker), the daughter of Joel (Pedro Pascal), who is portrayed as the protagonist but is then suddenly killed by the middle of the episode. It’s the same trick played by the video game, using the same character. Not only that, but the game made this emotional cruelty much more potent, allowing the player to control Sarah for a time before the heartbreaking reveal.
In this fashion, HBO’s “The Last of Us” isn’t referencing or homaging another film, show, or genre trope; instead, it’s referencing itself, and comes off like a copy of a copy.
‘Pluribus’ has a clever approach to its genre
By contrast, “Pluribus” is a marvel of innovation and genre reverence. It’s almost impossible to foretell exactly where it’s going, yet so much of it feels familiar enough to create a sense of irony and dread. The episode begins with scientists who appear to be working for a SETI-style program, monitoring deep space for any potential signs of intelligent life. When they come across a mysterious transmission which they eventually deduce is an RNA sequence, they may think that their decision to create it in a lab is going to lead them to a higher truth, a la Robert Zemeckis’ “Contact.”
Instead, this choice is much more akin to that in Roger Donaldson’s “Species,” in which an RNA sequence is transmitted to Earth with the express purpose of causing an invasion from within. And that’s what happens in “We Is Us,” albeit with less sex and violence. Instead, the virus rapidly spreads across the world and appears to make people docile and hive-minded, highly reminiscent of the “pod people” from Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
Despite the homages to classic sci-fi and horror, “Pluribus” never goes through the expected beats of the apocalypse as “The Last of Us” does. Instead, we follow Carol through an increasingly stressful, nightmarish, and surreal experience, one where neither she nor we can predict what happens next. The onset of the invasion doesn’t happen suddenly but progressively, instead, instantaneously. It’s an ingeniously eerie depiction of a combination pandemic and invasion, and it sets “Pluribus” apart from its peers while its makers demonstrate their deep knowledge of and reverence for the genre. Leave it to an alum of “The X-Files” to turn genre conventions on their head.
“Pluribus” is available on Apple TV.
