Pluribus review – the audacity of the Breaking Bad creator’s new TV show is incredible

It takes some chutzpah to make television like this. Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn is the only US citizen immune from an alien virus that makes everyone in the world supremely happy – and it’s a bleak, blackly comic watch

Even with the name of Vince Gilligan attached as creator, Pluribus – neatly styled Plur1bus on screen, to further evoke the unofficial motto of the US “E& pluribus unum” (“Out of many, one”) – looks at first like a bit of light relief. The man who has spent the past two decades immersed in the harrowing world of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and El Camino, you reckon, has probably earned it.

Perhaps he is returning to his X Files roots with this& tale of an alien virus that sweeps the globe, turning& everyone happy and content, literally uniting minds (everyone’s thoughts, knowledge and memories are available to all – people no longer refer to& themselves but as “this individual” when they speak) and causing them only to be kind to each other. Peace in our time! But what, kids, are we going to do about Carol (Rhea& Seehorn)? She’s a middle-aged, bestselling writer of romantic fantasy novels, fantastically rich, adored by hundreds of thousands of& fans – and as furiously miserable as only a misanthrope can be in& such conditions. And Carol appears to be the only& person in America immune to& the virus. Hilarity must surely& ensue!