Utopia

I am another devotee of the original version of "Utopia" which always comes up as an underseen gem, whenever such lists are made. I quite enjoyed this retelling, though I'm not sure the increase in scale and scope was necessary and it may go down as literally the worst timed release to a series of all time.

Five enthusiastic fans of a cult graphic novel come to a convention with a plan to purchase an unpublished sequel. Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), Ian (Dan Byrd), Wilson (Desmin Borges), Samantha (Jessica Rothe) and Grant (Javon Walton) are unsuccessful in buying the comic, but are fortunate to escape when all the other interested parties are murdered by a pair on unconventional hitmen, Arby (Christopher Denham) and Rod (Michael B Woods). The graphic novel contains hidden symbolic messages that may be related to a pandemic that is sweeping the nation and for which noted scientist and industrialist Dr Kevin Christie (John Cusack) is being blamed.

Whilst I don't think this version of "Utopia" is as good as the original it certainly wasn't bad, and in terms of quality certainly doesn't deserve the relatively poor audience it must have received for Amazon to decide to cancel it so quickly. The unfortunate situation that occurred since filming, that 2020 would be swallowed by a real global pandemic, and with the series having horribly prescient parallels to Covid, couldn't have been foreseen - but does, I suspect, mean that the potential audience was looking for escapism that the show doesn't provide.

It's hard to not compare this to its predecessor. On its own terms it's a dark, darkly comedic, drama with good performances from the cast and a decent story that reaches a conclusion, if clearly not the end of the story. The increase in scale that came with this remake I don't think works in its favour. Both the scale and power of "The Network" increasing exponentially makes them less a shadowy cabal and more every other multinational company.

But generally I enjoyed it and I'm sad to see that a second series isn't going to be forthcoming.

First off I want to mention, I did not watch the original. But I enjoyed this version more than I thought, it was an easy show to binge with some great acting. The vfx and shots where subpar to say least but the story was compelling enough.

Is it the besh show ever? Nah. Does it keep you entertained? Yah. Jessica was a super annoying character imo, but she gets a little better later on.

I decided to watch the British version through before taking a look at this, which was probably a mistake. Instead of being gritty and interesting, the fugitives in the new version have a frothy high-school vibe, Jessica Hyde has lost the classy demeanour and the neurotic self-possession to become a thuggish brat, the personality of the child, Carl, has been watered down so that none of the powder-keg anger and rebellion springing from a childhood of neglect remains and the psychopathic assassins are nothing like as sinister, demented and quirky as the originals. The British version demanded patience and intelligence from its viewers, while the American version dumbs-down the plot and serves up heavy exposition from the word go. Even the bizarre and cryptic artwork from the original series, in which clues were buried, has now been transformed into a literal comic strip. Instead of the moody and atmospheric soundscape of the first version, we now have pop music underscoring some of the transitional scenes. This new version is glitzy and superficial where the original was stylish and deep. Although the original version didn't conclude at the end of its final (second) season - and this one might eventually extend further to wind up the story - I'm not sure I can watch the rest of this, knowing how significantly inferior it is; I probably wouldn't have had as much of a problem if I'd only ever seen this predictably-Americanised remake. If you only ever watch one of them, ditch this one in favour of the first.

A couple finds a comic book called Utopia while cleaning out their newly purchased home. It's the follow-up to Dystopia, a cult comic book depicting an imprisoned rabbit scientist forced to create apocalyptic viruses. The couple is meeting various fans at a comic book convention to sell the original manuscript. Most are just fans. A few believe that this is more than fiction. It is and there are those who are willing to kill.

I like the UK original, especially the first series. I like its visual style. I like its surrealism. I like its mystery story and I like its brutal violence. For this American version, I knew coming in that it had already been cancelled after its first season. I wanted to check it out anyways. Obviously, the mystery is gone since I've seen the UK version. The style feels less unique. The show is keeping the weirdness but the visual is not as cool. The pilot episode needs to start with some brutal violence like the UK version. There is no need to save any of that. The bloody violence is a big part of the show. I would have liked to keep Rothe. She's the best comedic actor in the group along with Dan Byrd. Maybe she could have been a good Jessica Hyde. I love Sasha Lane but Rothe has more comedic chops. Sasha delivers more instability but that also makes it questionable why the group stays with her. This one needs to exploit more of its comedy.

The unnamed elephant in the room is Covid. The story is uncomfortably close and uses a conspiracy theory that touches upon the reality outside our windows. It's too close and too soon. It's uncomfortable in many different ways. It's also too convoluted. Of course, it's contrived but it feels contrived. There are too many things that are too unreal. The evil scheme has some unrealistic holes and is overly complicated. The conspiracy is too big to keep secret. In the end, it wraps a short eight episode first season and gets cancelled before moving on to a second.

I liked Amazon's Utopia enough to finish season one. I mean, being that 99.9% of American television wanders between IQ diminishing & total brain rot this series is at least watchable. But then I decided to watch the original version of Utopia that aired in the UK back in 2013. And after just 2 episodes I realized that it already put Amazon's 2020 Utopia to shame. It seems to me by americanizing Utopia Amazon turned a gem into a pacifier for the masses. By removing parts of an already great script and replacing them with America's PC ideology, Amazon made their own version become stale and a bit bland. If you like this Utopia then be sure to check out the original; which happens to be streaming on Amazon video for no cost to subscribers.