The old adage goes, ‘timing is everything.’ There’s a good reason why it’s ‘an old adage’ because time and time again, it’s been proven right.
The latest example of this is the release of Amazon Prime’s new sci-fi/comic book/apocalyptic thriller, Utopia. Produced by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn and adapted from the British series of the same name, Utopia suffers from being released at the absolute worst time possible.
It’s truly a shame because up until 3/4 of the way through the second episode, Utopia delivers a fascinating premise that’s peppered with clever bits of satire. The premise revolves around the long-lost manuscript to the cult comic book Dystopia — aptly named. Dystopia garnered a mass following due not only to its compelling storyline, but also an idea that the comic predicted mass plagues and pandemics that afflicted the world in the past 20 years. A hardcore sect of fans have interpreted some of the imagery of the comic to represent such pandemics as Zika, Ebola and MRS, all of which it predates.
The series focuses on a group of these fans — Becky (Ashleigh LaThorp, The Handmaid’s Tale), Wilson Wilson (Desmond Borges, Living With Yourself), Ian (Dan Byrd, Cougar Town), Samanha (Jessica Rothe, Valley Girl) and the mysterious Grant (Javon Walton, Euphoria) — who befriended each other on a Dystopia chatroom and are working together to purchase the lost comic. Of course, there’s malevolent forces at hand in the shape of two disparate hitmen (Chris Denham of Argo and Michael B. Woods of Sinister 2) who are killing their way to find the comic.
Their presence gives credence to the fact this comic might not just be a work of fiction but a text predicting the end of the world — and more importantly, how to prevent it. It also doesn’t hurt that the comic’s star Jessica Hyde (Sasha Lane, American Honey) is real and is looking for the comic as well. Meanwhile, we’ve also got this side story of a famed scientist (John Cusack, High Fidelity) who’s invented a synthetic protein that would replace the world’s dependence on meat but also might be absolutely lethal to those who eat it.
This entire premise sounds fantastic, right? The story absolutely has you hooked from the jump and the performances of our core group of heroes is so charming and so lived in that you can’t help but immediately feel massive sympathy for them when everything, predictably, goes awry. The satire revolving around male-centric comic book/comic con culture is also very well done.
Yet, things do go terribly, terribly awry as a result of the introduction of Michael Stearns (Rainn Wilson, The Office) — a vaguely disgraced/undervalued scientist who, years prior, discovered a specific flu strain that has yet to hit the world. Yes, you can see where this is going. Throughout the first two episodes we see quick news segments talking about a mysterious “flu-like virus” that is killing children throughout the U.S. The audience, like the characters, shrug the news off as we’re more absorbed into the world of the story. Yet, the Stearns character shoves this flu storyline to the forefront and unfortunately derails everything.
The moment you can hear the show come to a screeching halt is when Stearns’ wife says to him something to the effect of, “This is the virus you discovered. The one akin to the Spanish Flu. You know, the world killer.”
Game over, folks.
Not only is the line just terribly written and so oddly delivered, it just screams “bad timing.” We’re in the midst of a pandemic. The President of the United States has the virus and is telling the population not to let it “dominate your life.” This virus has been highly politicized. It’s dividing the country. It’s destroying industries, businesses and has forced millions into unemployment And let’s not forget 200,000+ people have died from this virus so far and we have no idea the long term ramifications it will have on the health of those who’ve been lucky enough to have recovered from it. And that’s just in this country. A series that’s central problem is a virus, that is “like the Spanish Flu…the world killer” while we’re dealing with COVID-19 is immediately a turn off.
That line and this plot not only took this reviewer completely out of the series immediately, but it also makes you look at what you’ve already seen through a different lens. The hyper violence of the first two episodes, especially after hearing this line, becomes cold and callous. The sheer amount of death in these episodes is almost flippant and played for cheap (but ultimately ineffective) laughs. This revelation of the story completely changes your perspective of the series, and it deadens the impact of the second episode’s massive twist. You sit there, disgusted, instead of shocked.
Now, this reviewer will play devil’s advocate. There are those who will feel my reaction to the first two episodes is an overreaction and that reality is not being separated from fiction. Utopia was adapted from a 2013 series that aired on Channel 4 in the UK. It was shot and produced for Amazon Prime well before the pandemic hit. So this is not an exploitative piece of entertainment in terms of its impetus and creation. For those that feel this way, you may enjoy this show greatly — and there’s a lot to enjoy about the show, including its premise, mythology and excellent performances.
Yet, none of this does anything to obscure the fact that the timing is simply terrible. Sitting in the midst of a historically traumatic time the world makes the central conceit of this series too much to bear. It runs the risk of reopening many if the traumas nd wounds that we’ve gone through over the past seven months and continue to go through daily as we march into the type of uncertain future this sees only as a fun novelty. It’s just going to be too much for many people, this reviewer included. Had Utopia dropped in January, we’d be talking about it as a great series. Unfortunately for all involved, the world has changed, and Utopia no longer has an entertaining place in this new world we are all forced to live in.
