Sometimes you have to go to the past to find a show that delivers in story, visuals, and music that puts most shows today into the trash. Give it five minutes, just five minutes to soak in the mystery of what is Utopia, and I’m just talking about the opening scene. The episode starts out with two henchmen looking for a girl named Jessica Hyde and a cult graphic novel from a manuscript called “The Utopia Experiment.” The opening sequence alone will get you more invested than a John Grisham novel, or to put it in modern terms, you won’t be on your phone looking to see if anyone liked the pic of a cat doing shit all.
The story centers around a group of strangers that are from an online forum that discusses the Utopia graphic novel. One of the members entices everyone else to meet up because he says that he has part two of the graphic novel, including the original manuscript.
Ian a IT tech that lives with his mom, Wilson Wilson a conspiracy geek theorist, and Becky a student that lost her dad to a mysterious illness meet at the bar waiting for Bejan, the final member that claims to have the book. When he doesn’t show up they all just get hammered and decide to call it a night. Grant, one of the online members who is actually a little boy, doesn’t show up either.
Grant witness something he shouldn’t have and now is on the run, not sure if it’s the cops or someone else that is worse. The next day each of the other members have their very own falling out from society and must work together to find out why they are the ones being targeted by an organization that is known as The Network.
It’s hard to explain the story without going much into detail. The Network wants this graphic novel not to exist, because it is telling the truth of something that people would freak out about. They also want a girl named Jessica Hyde and they feel that the group of nobodies know more then what they are claiming to say. So, they must be executed.
The show is created by Dennis Kelly and the first episode is directed by Marc Munden both who are masters at their crafts as the episode is full of upbeat and vibrant colors along with a score that keeps you engaged to the very last scene. I can’t say any other shows live up to this way of storytelling. It is like a mix of The X-Files with the gravity of Homeland. Every actor is amazing in the quirky and sometimes brutal characters they play.
This is one of those shows that shouldn’t be missed, because there isn’t a show out there that can duplicate it.
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-Caster Durden