Chris Nicholson joins me to talk about Season 1 of Pluribus. This is a completely different conversation than the one I just had with Rob. Chris keeps pointing out, and I agree with him, that the show is probably not going to go that deep philosophically or in terms of the origins of the virus. He mentions his “oh no” moment when Vince Gilligan noted to the interviewer he was talking to that the drones were happy. Are we just getting the most basic thought experiment from intro to philosophy? Is the virus storyline simply unnecessary?
I add that the interviews have another value here, in that Gilligan tells us explicitly that the show is not about Covid or AI. In some ways, the point about AI makes it worse, because it takes away one plausible method for the virus to have ended up with its bizarre and seemingly contradictory characteristics. We discuss the idea of Vince Gilligan interviews serving as the Word of God in understanding this universe.
I note how incurious Carol appears to be about why animals are not part of the joining, or even why she is one of only a handful of people on earth immune from the effects of the virus. Major red flags.
Chris reminds me here that I wasn’t demanding enough as a viewer. We’re getting answers about how exactly the joining works, and the rules governing the Others’ behavior. What we don’t have any hints of are the whys. There is no indication that we’ll ever get them either. Why are the Others like this? Is there a deeper logic of the origins of the rules? Does it have something to do with human nature, or does the virus not care about the specifics of the species it infects? Is there an evolutionary theory that can explain how we got here? The show creators want us to speculate on these things, but they haven’t given us anything to go on.
Chris and I clarify that we’re not saying it’s a bad show. But there are a lot of opportunities to go deeper here, and we might just not get them. If things continue like this in Season 2, I’ll be disappointed but may be able to more fully enjoy the show without expecting it to be any different.
For those who get to the end, you’ll see us preview the forthcoming Game of Thrones spinoff and talk about why shows take longer to make these days.
For previous discussions on Pluribus, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, see below. All episodes are conversations between me and Chris, unless noted otherwise.
“Should You Become a Pod Person?” Pluribus, S1:E1-3, with Rob Henderson
“The Kim Wexler Theory,” Pluribus, S1:E1-6
“The Righteous Mestizo,” Pluribus, S1, with Rob Henderson
Nietzschean or Christian? Marc Andreessen on Breaking Bad and Saul
“The Conscientious Objector to Therapy Culture,” Rewatching Breaking Bad, S1-S2
“A Love Story?”, Rewatching Breaking Bad, S3- S4E4
“The Whitewashing of Walter White,” Rewatching Breaking Bad, S4-S5
Better Call Saul: S6E7, Plan and Execution
Better Call Saul: S6E8, Point and Shoot
Better Call Saul: S6E9, Fun and Games
Better Call Saul: S6E10, Nippy
Better Call Saul: S6E11, Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul: S6E12, Waterworks
Better Call Saul finale with Chris and Marc Andreessen
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