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Utopia series reviews11/23/2023 In this case, they come across various pages of it in the house, and thinking if they can find more, they’ll make their fortune, especially since it’s the conclusion to another famous graphic novel, Dystopia. The original series was based around a bizarre graphic novel with the same name as the series and centred around a girl called Jessica Hyde ( Sasha Lane, in this case). This time round, a young couple move into a new house, but it’s full of junk from the previous owner. (Obviously, the US version is also just called ‘Utopia’, but, y’know, Google SEO.) By the way that ended – even with a cliffhanger – the expected drop in ratings led to its cancellation, even though a third series would’ve wrapped things up. “Utopia” premieres September 25 on Amazon Prime.Utopia 2020 is the American remake of British drama Utopia, which had an excellent – and surprisingly violent – first series, but then threw out any semblance of plot for the second series. Accidentally relevant topics or no, “Utopia” ends up feeling like a decently entertaining version of stories that have been told before. The result could be a fascinating mashup of sensibilities, but instead, the series flattens and settles into a more basic middle ground. Dillard and Toby Haynes, “Utopia” teeters on the edge of conspiracy thriller and pure comic book energy without ever fully committing to either. So while ably directed in the end by Susanna Fogel, J.D. Together, Flynn’s acidic writing and Fincher’s chilly direction have proved a potent blend that could have made this version of “Utopia” more uniquely unsettling. In that respect, it’s also hard not to imagine what “Utopia” might have looked like if Flynn got to work again with “Gone Girl” director David Fincher, as was originally the plan for the series. The moments when the show draws a line between this underground and the banalities of everyday life are smart and chilling on their own. These represent sharp enough instincts that it’s a bit of a shame when “Utopia” spends so much time down the rabbit hole where the conspiracies are accepted as facts. In modifying Dennis Kelly’s original UK drama to fit an an American mindset, Flynn, who wrote every episode, expands upon a few key themes: an intrinsic distrust of the government, slashes of shocking violence, and her characters’ deep-seated longing to be heroes - or at the very least, to have a greater purpose. All do good work, even when saddled with deadpan groaners of lines like, “I don’t like puzzles - I am one.” And Byrd and LaThrop, bringing something resembling normalcy to the table, are even downright charming. As the enigmatic Jessica Hyde, Lane tears into her character’s laser-focused mission with ferocious precision. Christopher Denham takes a purposefully flat character and finds every inch of humanity lurking therein. Christie’s benevolent billionaire act, even if that storyline is the series’ weakest. Cusack, for one, has fun subverting his everyday nice guy vibes for Dr. ![]() ![]() Still, the crowded, overlapping narratives still give the actors some room to play. For every genuine surprise, there are five more “twists” that were telegraphed from five miles away. But for a show that’s essentially a series of puzzle boxes, its mysteries are all too easy to solve. Unlike many streaming dramas given as many minutes as they like to tell their plodding story, “Utopia” flies right by. The season consists of eight energetic, propulsive episodes (seven of which I’ve seen), each unfolding like a chapter of an addictive crime novel. (And yes: the irony of this show premiering now, as a dangerous new flu spreads across the country as citizens question their government and corporate conglomerates like Amazon, is inescapable.) In “Utopia,” all governments and corporations are suspect the only person you can trust is yourself, and even then, it’s a leap of faith. With time running out, a group of rabid fans (Desmin Borges, Jessica Rothe, Dan Byrd, Ashleigh LaThrop and Javon “Wanna” Walton), a shadowy network called “The Harvest,” a possibly mad scientist (John Cusack) and the heroine of the comic herself (Sasha Lane) all end up racing to find and decode its pages as the body count around them steadily climbs. After a disturbing comic called “Dystopia” appeared to anticipate several devastating pandemics, from SARS to Ebola and back again, a sequel called “Utopia” surfaces with the promise of predicting the catastrophic future, sparking an urgent hunt as a dangerous new flu spreads across the country. Thrillers have long gone to the story well of the truth hiding in plain sight, but Amazon Prime’s “Utopia” makes it plainer still.
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