Diksha Sundriyal
In Apple TV+’s ‘Pluribus,’ the world falls into the grips of a happiness dystopia. The protagonist is a romantasy writer, Carol Struka, who is one of the few people who have not caught the happiness virus. This makes her the, if not one of the, most miserable people on Earth, and she wants the world to go back to the way it was before. The series comes from the mind of Vince Gilligan, who is known for giving the world ‘Breaking Bad.’ For the past couple of decades, Gilligan has primarily worked on projects related to the Bryan Cranston series. After the end of Walter White’s story, he worked on six seasons of ‘Better Call Saul,’ while also giving closure to Jesse Pinkman’s story in ‘El Camino.’ This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘Pluribus’ is cut out of the same cloth. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Pluribus is Radically Different From Breaking Bad
Acknowledging the massive success of ‘Breaking Bad,’ Vince Gilligan has confessed that he will forever be connected to the show, but while he loves that, he doesn’t want it to be the only thing he does. As ‘Better Call Saul’ neared its end, he started to think about a new story, but he didn’t want it to be anything like the anti-heroes he created for Walter White’s universe. He wanted to write a good guy for a change, and that led to the creation of Carol Struka. Now, one could say that with ‘Pluribus’ taking place in Albuquerque, which was also home to ‘Breaking Bad’ and its spinoff, Carol could be in the same universe as Walter White. However, Gilligan has denied this connection. He revealed that the reason he set his Apple TV+ series in Albuquerque is that he wanted to work with the same crew that has been with him for his previous projects.
Moreover, with Rhea Seehorn playing Carol, it would cause a clash with her character, Kim, in ‘Better Call Saul.’ Gilligan confirmed that there is no connection between the two universes. While fans will find some Easter eggs and connections, some of which might be unintentional, these details are merely a nod, or a wink, rather than a bridge between the two universes. One such nod appears in the second episode of ‘Pluribus,’ where Carol takes a flight with an airline called Wayfarer. This is also the name of the airline whose plane crashes in the third season of ‘Breaking Bad’ at the hands of Jane’s father. The show’s creators further teased the fans by creating a promotional teaser for ‘Pluribus,’ where Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Bob Odenkirk, Giancarlo Esposito, and Patrick Fabian, among others, appear on Carol’s TV asking her to “join them.”
It is a clever way to promote the series. It will surely ignite the viewers’ curiosity, especially since many will be coming to ‘Pluribus’ due to Gilligan’s track record with ‘Breaking Bad.’ However, at the end of the day, the Apple TV+ series is an original creation where Gilligan creates an entirely new world and a new set of characters to explore a theme that significantly differs from his previous creations. It is also a testament to his writing abilities, as he returns to his roots as a sci-fi writer, drawing on his days of writing for ‘The X-Files.’ Above all, it showcases his versatility, proving that he has not confined himself to writing the same type of stories and working with the same kind of characters. With ‘Pluribus,’ he is finally breaking away from the ‘Breaking Bad’ universe, and that makes ‘Pluribus’ all the more special.
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