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At 58 years of age, Vince Gilligan well and truly has nothing left to prove.
The American screenwriter and director, who first started out writing episodes on X-Files, boasts none other than Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul among his creations.
With those two juggernauts notched under his belt, he could very easily take a step back from the limelight and dine out on the fact that he has produced arguably two of the greatest series in the history of television.
But, to our benefit, Gilligan seems intent on cementing his legacy as one of the greatest living writers we have today with his new Apple TV series, Pluribus.
Despite this being a departure from his usual Netflix home, the nine-part sci-fi series treads familiar ground, quite literally, as it is once again set in Albuquerque and features Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn as misanthropic romance author, Carol Sturka.
In what could perhaps be viewed as an extension of himself, Carol is an enigmatic writer who seems fed up with her adoring fanbase, but, within the space of a few hours her life as she knows it vanishes after a ‘peaceful’ virus that makes people happy and content consumes the world.
Notwithstanding the fact that Pluribus contains one of the most thrilling and unique first episodes that I can ever remember seeing, Gilligan manages to propel forward a masterfully layered plot as he takes on the already crowded ‘virus outbreak’ genre, see The Last Of Us.
With each narrative step, Pluribus manages to build what is an increasingly rare commodity in today’s TV landscape – trust.
We’re safe in the Breaking Bad writer’s slightly twisted and pessimistic hands as a perfect breadcrumb trail of clues are laid out for you to follow.
But beyond that, the series manages to explore the existential dread and horror of an Orwellian ‘Newspeak’ virus taking over our society.
Rather than giving us a terrifying alien species that wants to feast on our eyeballs, the horror here is more subtle, but as time passes, it’s altogether much more terrifying than any CGI monster that could be produced.
Rather than relying on cheap scares, the series forces us to ask – what would happen if we lost our individuality?
What if the world was dominated by a higher force and free will was destroyed?
With the looming threat of Artificial Intelligence in a world that is becoming increasingly more polarised, there’s an urgent message in here about not letting political systems dominate our thinking.
But within this, somehow, Gilligan manages to maintain this hilarious levity and life-affirming soul, largely through the powerhouse performance of Seehorn who is, expectedly, so multi-faceted and commanding as a leading figure here.
Pluribus may be no Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, but it’s a wonderfully singular and confident step in a new direction for an already masterful writer.
Pluribus premieres on Friday November 7 with the first two episodes. This will be followed by one new episode weekly through to the finale on December 26.
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