Pluribus Drama

Pluribus by Vince Gilligan on AppleTV is an instant favorite for me. But watching the third episode last night, it feels like there is another shoe that has to drop. (Mild spoilers ahead—but not really.)

The Borg on Star Trek: The Next Generation were such an awesome villain because they were so completely uncaring, monolithic and unstoppable.

But the writers quickly found that writing a hive mind for a villain became boring. When the adversary is incapable of change as its very concept, where do you go dramatically?

So they had to break up the hive mind into Locutus, Hugh, the Queen, et al. It made for some terrific episodes, but in time, I’m sorry to say, I found it tiresome and absurd.

So how does Pluribus avoid the inevitable fragmentation of the “happy Borg” hive mind into that kind of silliness? The show’s story engine is set: will the hive mind assimilate Carol? Will Carol ever find peace as a character?

But episode three started to get repetitive—and Carol started to get annoying.

So there’s going to have to be some separation or flaw in the hive mind in order for the show to have enough variety to sustain itself.

The problem, as with the Borg, is that any such variation demystifies the concept of the character...and risks turning it into “bad Star Trek.”

I do know one thing: don’t bet against Vince Gilligan.

So I’m eager to see the twist or spin on the concept that he and his team find to stay true to the concept, while offering enough dramatic possibilities.