this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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Well I haven't seen the show (hence my question) but my impression is that it's prestige TV slop that relies on the audience's understanding of the abstract Other as an ontological antithesis to the individual and freedom for its central conflict; that's a contradiction that serves as the structure of almost all anticommunist narratives. Even if Vince Gilligan isn't specifically trying to make an anticommunist piece of media, the only way it could avoid that trap is by actively steering into it and biting the bullet, making the hivemind the hero (but even this message would probably fly above the audience's head because of how strong individualist culture is; much like how the anti-hegemonic masculinity message of Breaking Bad flew over the heads of its male audience).
It's hard to get into it without spoilers so I'll try to be unspoilery while giving the general of the first season so far:
spoiler
The main character is pretty glib and cynical. Even before the event that kicks off the series, she is shown to be a bummer. She struggles with enjoying things and seems to resent other people's ability to enjoy things. It's hard to say that the show frames her as being correct in her stubborn individuality. So far her only valid reason for being angry is that her girlfriend dies during the initial reboot of humanity as it causes her to fall down and hit her head. The hivemind hasn't actually been shown to be directly evil or mischievous. However you can read an ulterior motive or something happening behind the scenes if you try. That is to say most of her stubbornness comes from her own pre-hivemind personal issues, or social issues that don't have anything to do with the hivemind. She reveals that she had some adolescent trauma which causes distrust.We simply don't have enough information yet to suss out the motives of the hivemind. With all we have to go on right now, they seem nice and functional as a new society, albeit a little odd. I assume this is the writer playing with our expectations about alien invasions. He did write on X-Files after all. Vince probably wants us to think something bad is going to happen to put us in the same headspace as the main character. You can also argue that there are breadcrumbs to find out the hivemind is bad. The show lays out information very much in the same way BrBa/BCS did.
I will say that this show beats you over the head with how prestige it is. You get lingering shots that seem to exist more for cinematography composition nerds than any real narrative function in the show. The show is deliberately paced with little sprinkles of information in between long character moments. It's more of a Better Call Saul character show than a Breaking Bad genre show. Apple TV lists it as "Drama, Sci-fi" so I don't think this is going to be a sci-fi heavy show, or sci-fi horror/thriller.
Good call. I'm intrigued by Carol as a character. I'm mildly curious about the alien invasion.