Vince Gilligan's Pluribus Perfects His Greatest Trick From Breaking Bad And Better Call Saul

We're sorry we upset you, Carol: This article contains spoilers for "Pluribus" season 1, episode 1.

Vince Gilligan is a master of the slow burn, but his true signature move is his ability to intersperse it with moments of shocking action. Consider /Film's list of 10 best "Breaking Bad" episodes, for instance. Virtually every entry complements the show's usual tension with explosive, unnerving moments. They're not necessarily all bombastic death scenes or ruthless face-offs, either — a suitably committed laughter from Bryan Cranston's Walter White in the season 4 episode "Crawl Space" is more than enough to kick the viewer in the gut when they realize just how far off the deep end the character truly is. Best episodes of "Better Call Saul" follow the same theme, broadening the "explosive moment" pool with some hot-blooded legal drama and Jimmy "Saul Goodman" McGill's (Bob Odenkirk) wide array of con man stunts.  

Though Gilligan didn't personally direct or write nearly every episode of these shows, this Pixies-style juxtaposition of quiet and loud is nevertheless present throughout. With "Pluribus" season 1, episode 1, the creator may just have perfected the trick. 

Gilligan's long, unbearably tense scenes and short bursts of powerful intensity are on full display in the "Pluribus" season 1 premiere. The first half of the episode takes its time to set up a well-telegraphed disaster: the discovery of a mystery space signal, the escape of a lab-created virus, the casual banter of implied main characters Carol (Rhea Seehorn) and Helen (Miriam Shor) while the world around them is showing increasing signs of chaos, "Shaun of the Dead" style. And then, after 25 minutes, all goes to hell.   

The rest of the episode is essentially Gilligan's Greatest Hits, as the shocked Carol tension-action-tensions her way through an utterly incomprehensible scenario. Witness the sudden car crash that breaks the quiet final moment between Carol and Helen. Pay attention to the way the mounting pressure of Carol rushing the fallen Helen to hospital shifts to the shock of the hive mind rising and addressing her through dozens of mouths at once. Note the cold hopelessness of the protagonist in her dark house, methodically channel-surfing ... until she finds that C-SPAN is still on the air and is addressing her personally. 

Granted, this is not an uncommon method of live action storytelling, but Gilligan's brand of winding the coil impossibly tight and then suddenly releasing it is both highly recognizable and in full swing here. In fact, the "Pluribus" premiere could well be his magnum opus in this particular respect, which is saying something considering his CV also includes "Breaking Bad," "Better Call Saul," and earlier work like "Drive" – the tense "The X-Files" episode that first brought Gilligan and Bryan Cranston together.

"Pluribus" is streaming on Apple TV.