Pluribus is currently the number one TV show streaming on Apple TV and is getting a lot of attention from science fiction fans.  Vince Gilligan, the show runner, also created Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.  The main character, played by Rhea Seehorn, crushed it in Better Call Saul.

The show sucks.  I just watched the season finale, and don’t get why my nerdling friends rave about this series.

I kept watching and talking to them about it, because maybe I’m missing the joke or am lacking some context.  Nope.  It just isn’t good.

Christmas Day, I had another conversation with an enthusiastic fan of the show.  He said that the point of science fiction is to ask, ‘What if?’.  I get his point, but that is the problem.

The premise is that an alien mind-virus infects practically everyone on Earth.   All of the infected now have a shared consciousness, so all of them have access to all of their memories and knowledge.  They also avoid hurting any living thing, to the extent that they won’t pick an apple.  They can’t lie and will do anything in their power to make the remaining uninfected people happy.

The infected people don’t know how the mind-virus works, but have scientists trying to figure it out.

Back to my friend’s point about science fiction.  What if?  Or, what would you do?

For me:

  1. Choose a contact or liaison as my main contact with the collective.  My sister says that I am infatuated with Sydney Sweeney, so let’s go with that.  First day, get her over here.  She can live across the street with Carl.  I wouldn’t know how this works yet, so wouldn’t presume.  It gives me some privacy, and Carl is 96 years old.  Even if he tried some shenanigans with her, it would take him a few days to remember what to do.
  2. Get the basic idea how the collective operates.  Learn that they can’t hurt living things, can’t lie to me, won’t force me to become infected and want to make me happy.
  3. Sydney would be linked to the collective mind, so knows everything that anyone else knows.  Ask about every conspiracy or mystery that i can think of. 
  4. Meet with friends and family that I know well to figure out how much individualism is left in them.  How they are different?  Are they even still in there?
  5. Meet with the other uninfected people.  There are only about a dozen of them in the world, and only about half speak English.  Come up with a way to communicate without the assistance of the collective.  Maybe without the collective being able to listen.
  6. Visit survival shelters of the super-rich and government.  Commandeer bunkers, have them stocked for long-term survival or defense, equipped with a modular nuclear reactor, and devise a method to keep anyone else out.  If I want to remain in my house, then get a bunker built in the church parking lot.
  7. Get training and equipment so I can operate without assistance from the collective.  Like, learn to fly and maintain an aircraft, tank, or ship.  Raise food, generate electricity, whatever.
  8. Issue orders for the collective to repair and maintain houses, roads, and all other infrastructure.  I don’t want to see everything turn to shit because they didn’t need it. 

I’d have plenty of fun with famous people and places, but I would assume that I am king of the world.  All the infected people know about the mind-virus is what they can discover.  The virus could mutate or mature.  They may not remain committed to granting every request.  They may begin to ignore, manage or oppose me.

None of that comes up in Pluribus.  The main uninfected character is Carol, but she should be Karen.  She is mentally, physically and emotionally weak.  She acts like a petulant child, and gets pissed off about everything. 

The other prominent uninfected character is a guy from South America we will call Manny.  He is strong and smart, but stubbornly avoids all contact or assistance from the collective.  Because he does everything in the most difficult way possible, he doesn’t get anything done.

The show is boring because Carol doesn’t know what to do and Manny takes so long to do anything. 

The other uninfected people don’t object to the mind-virus.  Most remain with their infected families and one guy is living a wish-fulfillment fantasy in Las Vegas.  Either of those two scenarios could be interesting.

The show needs one reasonably intelligent person with enough maturity and wisdom to be suspicious of the mind-virus, but willing to use the collective to protect himself and humanity.

The writers don’t seem smart enough to have thought this through.  I’d give it a 6 out of 10.