Utopia review: an American-ish show imitating an English gem.

The first thing you see when you begin streaming Utopia on Amazon Prime is a disclaimer. It informs you that the show is a work of fiction not based on “actual, related, or current events.” How strange, you might wonder. What could that mean?

In time, you will discover that, among other things, Utopia is about a conspiracy unfolding across a viral pandemic, after which the disclaimer changes to warn you that Utopia is “not based on an actual pandemic or related events.” It is a show that has the terrible misfortune of being accidentally of this moment, and completely wrong about all of it.

Utopia also bears the burden of being a remake of a bona fide cult hit that aired on Channel 4 in the UK. The British Utopia was stylish, unsettling, and arresting in a way that still holds up — were it to drop on a streaming platform today, it’d be one of the best shows you could watch right now.

Amazon’s remake, however? 

Let’s just say it is good, but not as stylish and dark as its English counterpart.

Oh, the contours of the new show are different, but its major beats are the same.

It begins with a group of fans obsessed with a comic book called Dystopia — an obscure one-off that seems to have hidden in its pages the secrets of a vast conspiracy theory behind every major catastrophe in recent history. Connecting over the internet, they learn something that compels them to finally meet in person for the first time: A sequel comic, Utopia, has been uncovered, and it’s for sale. Unfortunately for them, they’re not the only ones after it, and some of their competition is a little on the murder-y side.

It is also a cult comic about a girl named Jessica Hyde who is kidnapped, along with her scientist dad, by the evil Mr. Rabbit. The anthropomorphic bunny forces her father to invent terrifying new viruses to unleash upon the human race. While Jessica eventually escapes, Daddy Hyde remains in the monster’s clutches.

She scrambles to find him, with Mr. Rabbit’s stooges on her tail. Hence Dystopia’s refrain: “Where is Jessica Hyde?”

A few fans on an Internet message board have coalesced around the suspicion that Dystopia is more than a story, convinced it presaged outbreaks of viruses such as Ebola and MERS.

THE CAST:

Wilson (Desmond Borges of  You’re the Worst, in another lovably neurotic role) is a twitchy doomsday prepper with a bunker full of canned food under his front yard. Then we have, Environmental crusader Samantha (Happy Death Day star Jessica Rothe) imagines that Utopia will be her guide to saving the world.

Afflicted with debilitating seizures, Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop of The Handmaid’s Tale) is a young woman desperate for a cure. Ian (Cougar Town’s Dan Byrd), a timid office drone, seems more interested in Becky than he is in the comic. Then there’s Grant), a sneaky child posing as a wealthy adult through the online chat rooms. The group converges for the first time at a Chicago comic convention, where Utopia will be sold to the highest bidder.

Also at FringeCon, Christopher Denham’s Arby—a raisin-scarfing little boy in a man’s body, who possesses all the diabolical eccentricity of a Coen Bros. villain—and an underling stalk the hotel halls on a mission to procure the comic at any cost, dispassionately murdering anyone who might possibly stand in their way.

And a scrappy, cutthroat young woman (American Honey and Hellboy standout Sasha Lane) pop ups claiming to be the real Jessica Hyde.

These characters are responsible for a good chunk of the show’s relentless carnage. The body count of the premiere alone is staggering; so staggering that’ll you’ll need to rewatch the first episode again just to keep a tally of the dead.

Beyond the nerd group intent in saving the world, we have, a pandemic brewing. And thrust into this parallel storyline is a frustrated virologist (Rainn Wilson’s Dr. Michael Stearns) who rages against a university that has ceased to support his research. And the virologist who, once upon a time, discovered a bat-based flu strain in Peru, and is bewildered to see something remarkably similar start showing up in American elementary schools.

Meanwhile, biotech mogul Dr. Kevin Christie (John Cusack), a scarf-clad social entrepreneur and all-round evil guy, saunters around his gleaming corporate campus demanding of his inferiors: “What did you do today to earn your place in this crowded world?”

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects) adapted Dennis Kelly’s 2013-14 British series for this version on Amazon, and it seems like she’s hyped things up a bit. The violence, for one, is off the charts in the latter part of the first episode, even though much of it is played to be funny and over-the-top. Alas, unfortunately it doesn’t quite live up to the English Utopia, this version strays off the path and down a completely different warren in search of the titular, Mr. Rabbit. It’s good, the body count is high with a wicked sense of dark humor blended into a decent show.

3.5/5 STARS