The original post: /r/television by /u/Environmental_Fee_79 on 2026-02-18 01:14:32+00:00.
Pluribus was one of my most anticipated shows of 2025/2026, when I heard about the series back in late 2024 and heard it’s made by the same guy who created Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul & most of my favorite episodes of the X-Files. I instantly had high expectations for it.
when the first episode aired, I started hearing mostly good to great reviews about it. So I watched the first episode and it honestly blew my mind.
First i really loved the whole opening of the mysterious strange happenings of “We is Us” that immediately set a tone unlike anything else on TV right now. We see a team of astronomers who have been tracking a mysterious radio signal from deep space for 439 days, and then it cuts to Carol doing a crowded book signing. And honestly the 2 opening scenes represent the two different tones of the show very perfectly. A Dark Mysterious Alien-Like Incident & Carol’s mundane and soul-crushing reality. It feels like a cross between The X-Files and The Twilight Zone set in Albuquerque.
Truthfully when the next episodes started coming out to build more world & characters for the show, I felt like some particular reddit subs went absolutely insane on a hate-binge/hate thread for this show. I saw so many “Slow, Nothing Happening, Carol is just Wandering Around” critique posts that it almost ruined the show for me.
it feels like most of these people have never read a book in they’re life. Like The only thing they know is fast paced mission impossible or die hard like action films. No Shade to those films.
The show is supposed to represent how Carol (Our Main Character) is struggling with the events that happened & how she is navigating a world that has fundamentally shifted under her feet. But “Reddit” Critiques are treating Pluribus like a generic action-thriller where the protagonist needs to be a ‘hero’ by episode two, but if you watched any other vince gilligan show you should know that’s not what this is.
This is first & foremost a character study on Carol, She isn’t just walking around…she is processing the collapse of her own reality. We are seeing a woman who was already disillusioned with her life now forced to confront a existential threat & a worldwide virus infection. If the show moved any faster & wasn’t slower, we’d lose the very atmosphere that makes the show so good imo.
Pluribus is one of the best sci-fi tv shows & The hate for the show feels so forced because it starts from a refusal to actually engage with the show.
Pluribus is a slow-burn the same way No Country For Old Men is. It’s a slow-burn for a purpose/reason. And it feels like most people in this app forgot that when watching the show.
And just to remind you, this show is supposed to span into multiple seasons as well. It feels like most social media apps have just become the “I don’t like this show & I find it boring so now everyone else HAS to agree with me that it’s dogshit pretty please” instead of letting everyone make up they’re own minds.