Pluribus (2025)

Series creator Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) starts things off with a scientists detecting a signal being transmitted through space. They first assume it’s some sort of message, but in reality its an RNA sequence that then quickly becomes the subject of scientific testing. Cut to over a year later, just as a lab rat bites a scientist and sets of a global chain reaction, we meet Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), a writer on a book tour peddling the latest edition of her Wycaro series of sci-fi romance novels. As Carol and her partner Helen (Miriam Shor) are arriving back in Albuquerque, the RNA hits all of civilization, causing people to convulse for a bit, then appear dead before magically returning back to life. The same can’t be said for Helen, who passes away, or for Carol who for some reason is completely unaffected. Everyone who survived, however, is part of “The Joining.” They now share a collective consciousness thanks to this “psychic glue,” which is how Undersecretary to the Department of Agriculture Davis Taffler (Peter Bergman) explains it over a live video feed. He also reveals that the President and many others have died, and there are eleven people in the world who, like Carol, remain on their own, unconnected. He encourages Carol to join them, insisting that she’ll be as weirdly happy as everybody else appears to be but Carol is having NONE of it. The second episode opens with Karolina Wydra covered in dirt helping clean up bodies in the aftermath of “The Joining.” She’s obviously part of it seeing how she seamlessly goes from getting on a scooter, to flying a plane, to ditching her clothes and stepping into a shower surrounded by people yet not having to say a word to anyone. Her character Zosia gets sent to Carol to help her but, once again, Carol’s suspicious and dismissive, despite Zosia being the spitting image of the inspiration for Wycaro’s dashing pirate, Raban. Perhaps if she’d seen her amazing ass in that shower, Carol'd change her mind!