Pluribus

Two episodes in, I'm not sure what to think yet. The concept is original and there's definitely something interesting here, but as often happens with Vince Gilligan, it takes a long time to get moving. The slow-burn approach is intentional, yet at times it feels overly drawn out, and I caught myself skipping ahead during a few scenes that just lingered too long.

It looks great, the acting is solid, and the idea has real potential, but I'm struggling to feel fully engaged. I'm more curious than excited, and I still don't really see where the show is heading. It's not bad at all, just a bit too slow, occasionally dull, and not gripping enough from the start.

Hopefully it finds its rhythm.

When I started watching it, the series had a 9.1/10 rating, so I was expecting something extraordinary. Maybe I'm jaded, but it definitely wasn't. Nothing revolutionary, nothing new. Not bad, but not innovative either.

The first episode is promising, but the second is rather boring...

We'll see if the rest lives up to expectations, but it doesn't bode well. At first glance, it looks like a series with only dialogue, differing opinions, more dialogue, and not much else.

To be continued...

We are living in a new world where basic stories need 40-50 hours to tell. Writers are obliged to barely advance plot points so that viewers have enough interest keep their subscriptions, and the streaming services their profits. Long gone are the geniuses like Serling, who could have told 80-100 original stories in the same time. Then we now have Gilligan commenting that the show is so slow because he wants viewers to "savor" it. BS. He wants to push out the show into a 4-5 season series for the cash grab, to maximize the cash return on his small amount of original ideas (and let's face it: this is basically the "Species" premise with some "Twilight Zone" ideas mixed in). At the end of Season 1, I'm bored with every single character. They just ran around in circles for 7.5 hours. To delay plot progression even more they throw in convenient flashbacks when the story starts to develop. If you want to "savor" something, watch a Kubrick movie. Those last 2-3 hours, less than 1/2 the time you'll waste watching season 1, and you get a full story. If I continue on with Season 2, Ill binge watch on at least 2x speed. I don't need to chew my food 1000 times before swallowing.

I want to like this show more, but it falls into the same trap as so many other shows, it should have just been a movie. It takes forever to say anything or get anywhere and this makes it terribly boring and drawn out. If season 1 had been the first 90 minutes of a 2 hour movie with a proper conclusion, it would be getting a 9 star review from me.

I am sorry to say that, so far at least, Pluribus is a disappointment. The premise is potentially interesting, but not much happens in this show. There are few bright spots. Rhea's great, but even her skills so far haven't turned this snoozer into a program with the excellence of Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. My hope is that Carol visits a Cinnabon and is served by Gene Takavic.