Pluribus (Season one)

Created by: Vince Gilligan

Starring: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vesga

What is it about? Wait! Before I tell you what it's about, if you're lucky enough not to know yet and want to start watching it blissfully ignorant of its premise, do it! I'm sure it will be an amazing experience. Just know that it's considered the best new show of 2025, and the pace is sometimes slow, so be prepared for that.

Or... If you're not daring enough to commit at least an hour to a show you know nothing about, I'll give you a brief overview. Just know that the following paragraphs contain heavy spoilers for the first episode but none for the rest of the season.

It's a science fiction show, but not really. The first episode has some science-fiction elements as you'll see in a few lines, but it's really not the point of the show and after that, it's really about how various people, one in particular, react to the consequences of the first episode.

Pluribus begins with a group of astrophysicists who discover a radio emission coming from a distant star. The emission follows certain patterns and they understand that it must come from an intelligent source. Soon after, scientists realize that it was not a message, but rather a code. Not just any code. It's a kind of RNA code. Some biologists then decide to recreate the protein coded by this message, and that's when everything goes wrong.

The protein was actually a virus that quickly escapes and infects more and more people until the entire human population is infected in a matter of days. The virus doesn't kill its victims, though. Instead, the minds of everyone who is infected join together until all of humanity becomes one unique "hive mind."

All of humanity?

No, not all of it. A few people are immune to the virus, including Carol, a writer and our main protagonist, .

The show follows her, depicting her reactions to this new world and how she navigates it. I really can't tell you anything else.

I like almost everything about it. The show is high quality. It's funny, sad, engaging, and thought-provoking. It makes you think about many different aspects of what makes us human. I like how different viewers see different things in the show. Sometimes, when I read different reviews, it seems as if no two reviewers like it for the same reasons or interpret it in the same way. It's only the first season, and I feel that the scope will only grow bigger and deeper as more episodes are released.

I don't like... I don't really dislike anything, except maybe the pace of the first three episodes. Yes, the show is a slow burn, which doesn't bother me, but after a very engaging first episode, episodes two and three could have been compressed into one episode. Most of what happens in both episodes is Carol getting upset at everyone and everything she encounters. This repetition makes Carol unlikable at times. On the other hand, I think that's the point. The viewer is also supposed to experience frustration about the situation. And the situation bringing out the worst in Carol makes her more human and relatable later on. So yes, those two episodes are frustrating, but they're supposed to be.

The rest of the season gets better with each episode, and by the time it ends, you'll know you've seen something special.

Season two won't be released until 2027, so a rewatch of season one is in order sometime this year.