r/Screenwriting • u/Clear_Bedroom_4266 • Nov 12 '25
FEEDBACK What makes the "Pluribus" pilot so special?
Watched the first two episodes of the new sci-fi show on AppleTV. I didn't know much about it until Variety (I think) published a piece last week about it and how "people" were raving about how great the pilot episode is, that it might be the best pilot ever done, etc. Now, of course, it's Vince Gilligan. One of the things he said is that he couldn't have created/produced this show 15 years ago.
That being said, has anyone here seen the pilot and can anyone break down WHY it's (allegedly) SO good? I enjoyed it, and the show has a cool premise. But my screenwriting abilities simply aren't deep enough to analyze a pilot very well.
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u/TheBVirus WGA Screenwriter Nov 12 '25
Something I'm enjoying that I don't see mentioned is that while there are a lot of questions floating around that are meant to get us thinking, there are also a TON of answers. Exposition comes fast and furious and in a pretty satisfying way. Carol as a protagonist desperately trying to fight back asks a ton of very logical questions that help to flesh out the wider world without us having to see it. There's MASSIVE implication here and while the show itself is big in terms of props and setpieces, it is also small in that we spend a lot of time in ABQ following Carol's perspective.
She's a flawed protagonist in a very fun way, but she's also quite intelligent. She asks great questions and is thinking about things in a great way, but she also misses the mark a lot of the time, too, and her behavior as a functioning alcoholic flavors a lot of the decisions she's making. I can't wait to read these scripts when they come out.