Utopia (TV Series) not slow not bad (2020) User Reviews

What Have You Done Today To Earn Your Place In This Crowded World???

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 6/10 · 5 October 2020]

This EP. starts off with Ian and HYDE digging a grave here and burying HYDE'S friend who she broke her neck. I mean what are friends for??

And GRANT, he comes to HYDES house, and promptly locks himself in the bathroom. But they make it out of there to fight in the yard over who can pick up more pages of the spilled UTOPIA comic.

Next, we have CHRISTIE talking about how they will deal with STERNS with his son TOM.

And then TOM , conducts a meeting of his Utopia team. they are going to plan a KILLING SPREE. Lets kill some children in order to create a nationwide manhunt for GRANT CARSON, the name they've attributed to the BOY that has their UTOPIA MANUSCRIPT that they want so badly. CARA, part of the team, she's getting EMOTIONAL about the situation. TOM IS GOING TO HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!

Grant, and HYDE, they have a talk. And they agree they must LOOK AT UTOPIA. SO HYDES TEAM, THEY SIT DOWN AND LOOK THROUGH THE UTOPIA 'COMIC'. Wow, they call a phone # and get an Agent from DHS...and then they have to GO, THEY ARE GOING TO FIRE THE HOUSE!!!

Then IAN AND BECKY meet with the DHS AGENT, KATHERINE MILNER. She gives them a background on WHAT purpose MR. RABBIT HAS. MILNER OFFERS THEM NOTHING. She wants Jessica Hyde, she wants UTOPIA. She doesn't offer anything unless Ian has that to offer.

Arby goes and picks himself up a 'good listener', from a classroom. And Arby sends young Adam in with a weapon and to open the door for him . And then Arby grabs the gun and blows everyone away. Oh and it's CARA'S HOUSE. Apparently Cara's reluctance to be fully on board with Tom's ideas wasn't appreciated by Dr. Christie.

+1 Star for the End of This One. Arby's Mini Rampage.....

Fundamentally misunderstands the characters.

[W011y4m5 · 5/10 · 25 September 2020]

Arby isn't complicit in the crimes commits for the Network (or "The Harvest" in this adaptation). He is a victim of circumstance & a result of serious unresolved childhood trauma from years of forced experimentation & abandonment by his father. That's not an attempt to condone or pardon what he does (because that can never be excused) but ultimately, he's always been Dennis Kelly's impactful answer to the fascinating question "is a killer born or alternatively created?"

For instance, in the original, his handlers abuse & dehumanise him (even going so far as to deprive him of a name, giving him the title of "Arby" - derived from the abbreviation of R.B - "Raisin Boy") & then weaponise him as a lethal blunt instrument - sending him out to do their bidding if ever they require the use of extreme violence. He's a tragic, emotionally conflicted character, tormented after being taught to kill from a young age in order to gain approval from influential individuals he desperately seeks validation from. He never devises the plans he carries out; he isn't strategic enough to perform a task such as that. Instead, he's regularly impulsive, acting instinctively & often quiet, remorseful & unsure of himself following a controversial mission.

That's why Gillian Flynn does such a major disservice to him as a character when she changes his story so that he actively partakes in the preliminary process of orchestrating a massacre. Immediately, he goes from a morally grey character who is detached from humanity & incapable of truly understanding the ramifications of his actions to a cold, complicit killer who fully comprehends his crimes before he commits them. Not only that, but now he reminisces & counts the number of dead - in an attempt to justify his existence, wearing the tally proudly as a badge of honour. It's the difference between murder & manslaughter - on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Hence, the ambiguity or depth he had is removed because she's made the bewildering creative choice to peel away the layers which genuinely made him interesting. He isn't flawed anymore - he's just a Machiavellian villain.

Lord knows why you'd waste such potential when it was already perfect to begin with.

Why Dennis Why???

[gareth-75442 · 3/10 · 27 September 2020]

Hard to believe or even understand how the original creator Dennis Kelly has a writing credit & executive producer credit on this show, a show that is inferior in pretty much every aspect of the original release, dark humour replaced by unfunny attempts at comedy, excellent storytelling replaced by endless exposition, a thrilling terrifying plot replaced by farce. After 4 episodes, each a struggle to get thru, I find myself uninterested in continuing with this drivel, no doubt the paid critics that kiss & lick the behinds of those involved will herald this as the new hot thing instead of the burntout wreck it actually is.