{"id":2669,"date":"2026-01-08T21:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=2669"},"modified":"2026-01-08T21:21:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:21:52","slug":"friendly-aliens-who-will-pull-our-plug-on-pluribus-and-bugonia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/01\/08\/friendly-aliens-who-will-pull-our-plug-on-pluribus-and-bugonia\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendly Aliens Who Will Pull Our Plug: On \u201cPluribus\u201d and \u201cBugonia\u201d:"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So I\u2019m still a skeptic as far as alien visitors are concerned but it seems I\u2019m bumping into extraterrestrial stories whenever I turn on the TV. Following the epic success of Better Call Saul<\/em> (one of my favorite series of all time) the show\u2019s creator, Vince Gilligan (great name), has returned to the New Mexican landscape with a mind-bending show titled Pluribus<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Without giving too much away I can say that it\u2019s a clever send-up of the often-asked question, \u201cWhy can\u2019t we all just get along?\u201d Well, in\u00a0Pluribus<\/em>, we do all get along, or at least most of us\u2014all but 12 survivors of a global cataclysm. Rhea Seehorn (who played Kim on\u00a0Better Call Saul<\/em>) is the flinty star of the show. She\u2019s good in the role but awfully ornery. At least she is until toward the end of Season One, when she does loosen up a bit. My take: The shadow of ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) lurks in the background. The cataclysm that occurs seems a metaphor for an ASI apocalypse of sorts. Good news: It\u2019s not all bad! Everyone gets along! (Of course there\u2019s a catch that I won\u2019t give away: Watch the show and find out.) That brings us to\u00a0Bugonia<\/em>, which will no doubt be somebody\u2019s darling in the awards shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alien life forms and civilizations hover around the edges of this story, and not wanting to give too much away, I\u2019ll leave it at that. Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone are both terrific in it, and mange to pull off the kookiness with aplomb. But in both Pluribus<\/em> and Bugonia<\/em> there\u2019s a hint (or more) of humankind having an expiration date. It\u2019s our zeitgeist. Will the 21st<\/sup> century be our last? I doubt it. But every century has its apocalyptic moments, and we seem to be fodder for the End Times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I\u2019m still a skeptic as far as alien visitors are concerned but it seems I\u2019m bumping into extraterrestrial stories whenever I turn on the TV. Following the epic success of Better Call Saul (one of my favorite series of all time) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[214,2,8,9],"tags":[86,215],"class_list":["post-2669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alien-intelligence","category-annihilation","category-booksfilm","category-climate-change","tag-film","tag-ufos"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t