People are interpreting Vince Gilligan’s new sci-fi show Pluribus in a lot of different ways, questioning whether it’s really about AI, consumerism, or something else entirely. While the debate sucked me in, something else made me stay: Gilligan’s care in handling the main character’s identity as a lesbian. Carol’s sexuality isn’t the most important thing about her, but it does play a key role in how it colors her view of the weird extraterrestrial attack that has most of humanity in its grip. More importantly, Pluribus raises the bar for how to handle one of the worst clichés about queer characters with the respect and care it deserves.

[Ed. note: Spoilers below for Pluribus episode 1-4.]

Pluribus establishes early on that Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) is angry and frustrated with her life, even before almost everyone else on Earth gets merged into one big hivemind. Despite the fame and fortune she’s amassed thanks to her bestselling romantasy book series, Carol is a grouch who despises her own work and the fans who love it.

It’s a privileged viewpoint that makes her seem unlikable at times, but she earns sympathy and relatability through the way she handles her grief over the loss of her partner Helen (Miriam Shor), who dies when an alien transmission leads to the merging of almost all human minds. The transmission puts everyone into a happy hivemind state — all except Carol and a handful of other immune people worldwide.

Carol is also a closeted lesbian. That made Gilligan nervous as a writer, because he didn’t have first-hand experience with a queer perspective. In the same interview, Gilligan expressed concern about Carol being his first female protagonist. But so far, it seems like operating with that concern in mind has pushed Pluribus' writing team to navigate the treacherous ground of queer characters’ deaths with care and close attention.

In a scene from the show’s opening episode, before the hivemind takes hold, Helen encourages Carol to be open with her fans: Would it be so bad for them to know she’s attracted to women? It’s a sore point for both of them, but before they can really get into it, the hivemind merging enters its final stage, and absorbs Helen, gaining entrance to her memories.

It isn’t a peaceful joining. While most people come together relatively unscathed, Helen dies during the merging, along with millions of others, for reasons that are so far unclear. But since the hivemind has access to Helen’s memories,........

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