Utopia

Dark, creepy, disturbing, entertaining show. This is 2013 show, but looking through events current pandemic 2020 year, it may make you feel uncomfortable. I think, season 3 supposed to be even more disturbing, and for this reason it was cancelled (read: wasn't allowed to produce).

TV at its finest. Everything from the characters, the locations, the plot, the photography, the soundtrack, every bit of it is bloody brilliant.

This show deserves wide recognition.

What to say about this show? I read some good reviews without spoilers and so I was looking forward to find it out for myself if it was that good. And yes it certainly was. It's actually one of my favorite British series. The story is one of the better stories I watched in a long time. It's futuristic but inevitable if you think about it. I won't say anything about it because I don't like spoilers. Just find out for yourself. There is a reasonable amount of gory parts but it's never really graphic. It's more that you have to imagine about it. The actors are all really good, especially the killer in his flamboyant suit. It also contains my favorite scene ever shown on TV, that's how much I loved it. It's the opening scene in the last episode of the last season. It's just brilliant, can't get enough of that scene. What I also like about British series is that they are short, only a couple seasons. That's how it's supposed to be, you tell a good story and then you end it. Not like some American series where they try to milk the story as much as possible, and so ruin a perfect little story sometimes.

It's hard to know where to begin with this show.

A rag-tag gang of comic fans are drawn into a deadly game with shadowy operatives and the Malthusian elite. "There's no such thing as 'sides,' just people who help you and people who don't." There are visual and verbal references to MK-ULTRA, the all-seeing eye, the Masonic compass, weaponized vaccines, and much more. Even for those who aren't interested in the conspiracy angle, Utopia still has much to offer.

Never have I seen such a unique and well-crafted presentation on a network series. The saturated visuals, the framing, the BRILLIANT and unsettling soundtrack, the writing and the acting - everything fits together perfectly and creates an experience for the viewer unlike any other.

As an American, I didn't recognize most of the cast, which made their roles even more believable. Everyone is good but Neil Maskell, Paul Ready and Fiona O'Shaughnessy give standout performances. The character arcs do not disappoint, either. Even though Utopia is a deeply cynical and brutal show, every character feels authentic and human. Unlike many other shows, their motivations actually make sense.

When I say Utopia is a brutal show, I mean it. Game of Thrones, a series notorious for it's shocking violence and surprise deaths, seems cheap and gimmicky in comparison to many moments in this show.

My chief criticism towards Utopia is that S2 is slightly weaker than S1, and it also ends on a generally unsatisfying note. (Utopia was intended to have 3 seasons.) Still, all 12 episodes are well worth watching - many times over. I could probably write 10,000 more words about how great this show is, but I urge you to just watch it (the whole series can be found free on youtube) and make up your own mind.

Utopia will ravage your senses.

The visuals are stunning, with camera work that bleeds from every scene with dynamics reminiscent of a graphic novel. The soundtrack is less a soundtrack, and more of a medium for an aural injection of dopamine and adrenaline.

Combining the two in lustfully artistic confluence, Utopia induces a sensory overload that deceptively functions as an aesthetic sleight of hand to the real act; Utopia's plot.

Narrative tropes aside, the story line encapsulates contemporary paranoia in a microcosmic collage of espionage and epidemics, resonating tremors of real world concerns. As a snapshot of current society, Utopia dexterously mitigates the mediagenic compulsion to sensationalize, by employing a sublime cast and writing crew. From apathy and sociopathic detachment, to metaphysical dread and even humor, the show is a vivid mosaic of psychological dissonance and societal decay.

Utopia is tailor-made for the cynical. Strangely enough, as a misanthropic cynic, I found myself entertaining delusionary hope for the human race. By the end, I had painted myself into a corner of morbid optimism, which is an absolute testament to strength of Utopia's narrative. The lack of a third season is veritably tragic, but follows in the pattern of sublime shows that meet an untimely demise. (Carnivale anyone ?)

The introspect induced by Utopia is shattering. The implications suggested by Utopia are devastating. The future painted by Utopia is bleak.

Utopia will ravage your being.

Right until the next day. And then you'll go on with your life and perpetuate our predicament with continued ignorance; because hey, it's just entertainment right ?