This article contains spoilers for Pluribus‘ episodes 1 and 2.
Breaking Bad creator’s new Apple TV show is not featuring another anti-hero narrative. Instead, it seems to be cleverly reversing Walter White’s anti-hero story in one clever way.
After Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul‘s success, many could not help but see Vince Gilligan as an incredible storyteller of anti-hero narratives. His portrayal of moral decay and the slow corruption of ordinary people in the criminal world seemingly became his signature, making it hard not to wonder if he was going to portray something similar in his new Apple TV sci-fi show.
Interestingly, though, instead of staying in the same narrative domain as his previous shows, Vince Gilligan treads a completely new path with his new Apple TV sci-fi show. A closer look at the protagonist in the new series also suggests that she is more or less an anti-thesis of Walter White’s anti-hero story in Breaking Bad.
Carol’s Story In Pluribus Flips Walter White’s Breaking Bad Narrative
In a lot of ways, Breaking Bad glorified anti-heroes with its portrayal of Walter White’s moral decay. Breaking Bad’s success even inspired several other TV shows to take the same route. However, Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus on Apple TV comes off as a course correction for the “breaking bad” narrative because, unlike Walter White, its main character, Carol, is forced to “break good.”
While Walter White descends into crime and gradually loses his grip on his moral compass in Breaking Bad, Carol ends up becoming the only “survivor” of a happiness apocalypse in Pluribus. With this, Breaking Bad becomes a portrayal of how the darkness inside a man gradually consumes him and leads towards the complete loss of humanity.
Meanwhile, in Pluribus, the exact opposite seems to happen. Carol is initially the most miserable person on the planet because almost everyone has been infected by a happiness virus that keeps them in a constant state of bliss. Carol, however, is the only one who recognizes how the virus makes everyone emotionally sterile and sets out on a journey to use her darker tendencies to cure humanity’s happiness.
Walter White’s Weakness In Breaking Bad Is Carol’s Strength In Pluribus
It is often debated whether Walter White was initially well-intended and lost his grip on his morals after entering the world of crime. However, several subtle story beats in the show suggest that from the beginning itself, he had traces of the ego and pride that he later fully manifested. Pluribus‘ protagonist is not very different in this regard.
Before the apocalyptic event happens in the show’s opening moments, Carol is depicted as an accomplished author who has a love-hate relationship with her readers. Like Walter White, she, deep down, despises the life she has built for herself. However, the difference between Walter White and Carol lies in how they later channel their inner demons.
Walter White gradually turns into a dangerous anti-hero as he keeps digging deeper into his mindless pursuit of becoming more and more powerful. He is so blinded by his unchecked ambition in the criminal world that he completely loses sight of the things that once meant the world to him. Carol, in contrast, uses her inner demons as an antidote to the happiness pandemic.
While the rest of the world exists in a hive mind, losing all sense of free will and individuality, Carol stands as a heroic force who questions the nature of the apocalypse instead of accepting it as the new normal.
Pluribus Would Have Been Far Less Interesting If It Emulated Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul’s Formula
Vince Gilligan’s masterful storytelling in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul proves he knows how to brilliantly deliver anti-hero stories. However, in recent years, there have been way too many anti-heroes on the big and small screens. Another Breaking Bad reimagining would have seemed too redundant.
If Carol’s story had been like Walter White’s, it would also have been easy to foresee where her future arcs would take her in Pluribus. Fortunately, Carol comes off as an anti-thesis of Breaking Bad‘s Walter White, which brings a lot of novelty to the Apple TV sci-fi show and allows it to be a unique addition to the sci-fi genre.
Pluribus
8/10
- Release Date
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November 6, 2025
