Just A Fanboy
With dead bodies dotted across the hotel, episode 2 of Utopia begins with Jessica Hyde up in the penthouse. After freshening herself up, she notices the slip on the ground with the name “Grant Carson.” After spraying perfume in her face, she heads to the security guard and manages to convince him to check the footage for the room. Playing it back, she notices Grant and snaps a photo as something to go on. While the mystery deepens, Wilson heads back home with Ian, Becky and Samantha. He shows them his bunker nestled underground with plenty of Utopia artwork all over the walls. As they go over what they may have missed, one of the things Dystopia “predicted” is a symbol. That symbol leads to something about a virus that could be big news going forward. Thankfully, Ian also snapped a shot of Utopia when he saw his panel with Olivia and Ethan. As they get the picture printed out, the group notice that the raindrop is showing as a new virus. “This is our undoing,” is shown on the panels of wood in the background too. It seems like a new threat is about to present itself to these kids. Elsewhere, Dr Kevin Christie arrives at work in Christie Labs. He’s briefed on what to say before his big gig on TV. His company happen to be running a pharmaceutical drive creating miracle foods. Or “simpro” as they call it. It turns out several towns have been hit with a nasty viral outbreak right on the back of serving Simpro to them. Accused of his food being the culprit, Kevin simply tells the reporter flu doesn’t transmit through meat and walks away. This little stunt will almost certainly cause it to make mainstream news now. Grant meanwhile rides the train and runs out of phone battery. With no way of contacting him, the group make a deal with Jessica to try and bring in Utopia to solve the mystery. Only, she’s obviously intent on finding Grant no matter what. As Becky, Ian and Samantha head out for food, Rod and Arby arrive at Wilson’s house. Claiming to be from the gas company, they drug those inside and start searching around for the comic. Midway through drugging Wilson’s Father, he mentions his research which the duo pick up on. With everyone gone, the duo eventually find Wilson down in his bunker and handcuff him. They ask about Utopia but, getting nowhere, decide to ask about Jessica Hyde instead. Eventually this leads them to torture this man. They begin with salt then bleach and eventually a spoon. The latter unfortunately sees Wilson’s eye removed from its socket in a pretty gruesome scene. After all of this the duo remain convinced that he’s just a fanboy and leave. With Wilson’s eye missing and his vision blurred, he awakens and breaks free from his handcuffs. The girl standing in front of him though happens to be Jessica Hyde, who asks where the boy is. Snatching up Becky, Ian and Samantha, the group race off into the country. It’s here we learn more about what’s going on. Arby and Rod are killing everyone who have seen Utopia. This group are now in this together and need to adopt a new identity. Heading to a safe house out in the country, Jessica leads the group and tells them to hand over their wallets and phones. Burning everything, the group are left in stunned disbelief. However, it soon gets worse. Wilson’s family are dead. The Undoing is coming. And something is going to happen at 8.12pm. We then cut to find a scientist called Michael Stearns who happens to be doing viral research. Michael returns home and sees the news. Within that, the issues surrounding a pandemic are spreading and doctors are confused over what it all means. Michael however, may have the answers given his viral research in the past. He puts in a request for a blood sample from one of the infected children to figure out more. Back at the safe-house, Wilson wakes up and is forced to take antibiotics for his pain. As they all sit and talk, Jessica shows them a picture of Grant. It’s here the gang team up and agree to make contact with the young boy. Given his phone has run out of charge, Grant’s forced to go it alone, sneaking into gardens to eat blackberries. Thankfully, a young girl arrives and allows him to come inside and have a proper meal. The Mother of this house even lets him stay the night. Meanwhile, Ian remains skeptical to what’s going on… until Jessica shows her starburst scar. As they soon learn, the utopia panel from the comic they’ve seen could be predicting the current flu viral outbreak. This is just the beginning and there’s more to come in the future. Forcing Ian to sit down, Jessica instead turns the gun on Samantha and shoots her in the head. Apparently there’s no place for two leaders and Samantha was getting in the way.
The Episode Review
While shocking, the death of Samantha is actually a step backwards for the show. What a waste of a character and screen-time to kill her off so nonchalantly to show how unhinged Jessica is. Having said that, the mystery continues to deepen and there’s definite nods toward Alice In Wonderland (the rabbit, mad hatter, Alice etc.) and this feeds into the main narrative. Those new to the show will almost certainly enjoy these moments but this is also going to be a very, very divisive series. This isn’t helped by the tone either, with graphic violence that works tonally at odds with the rest of the show. Quite how the rest of this series will play out however, remains to be seen.
