Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Utopia’ On Amazon Prime, Where Fans Of A Comic Book Have To Save The World

Utopia is based on a 2013-14 British series about a group of comic book fans who accidentally have to save the world when they get possession of a sought-after comic manuscript. Why didn’t Amazon just show the British version? We’re not sure. But with Gillian Flynn aboard to adapt the British series, we like the possibilities this version presents. Read on for more.

UTOPIA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A young couple (Maya Kazan, Calum Worthy) walk into a house that the woman’s grandfather left her in his will. “Life begins,” she says.

The Gist: The house turns out to be a hoarder home, so the couple have to start cleaning up the mess. While cleaning up, the boyfriend finds a manuscript to a comic book called Utopia. While the girlfriend dismisses the depressing and weird drawings, the boyfriend Googles a comic called Dystopia, which is referred to on one of their pages. Turns out, they have a gold mine on their hands.

Word of the sequel to the popular comic rockets through the fringe graphic novel set. We see texts go back and forth between a group of Dystopia fans that met online; they’re all planning on going to FringeCon, where the couple will be selling the manuscript. The idea put out by Samantha (Jessica Rothe), who texts the group on a break from her job painting the grass in a graveyard, is that they all bid low to drive the cost down.

Everyone has their reasons for wanting to come to bid on the manuscript. Becky truly thinks that, like Dystopia before it, the adventures of the comic’s heroine, Jessica Hyde, has real clues to coming pandemics and other disasters all over the world; she’s interested in decoding those clues and perhaps helping stop those threats. A quirky thirtysomething dude named Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges), who still has to borrow money from his dad, feels the same way.

Ian (Dan Byrd), who sells gap insurance to people who think they have Lyme disease, is excited to see the manuscript, but more excited to finally meet another member of the group, Becky (Ashleigh LaThorp), in person; it seems the two of them have an online crush on each other. Becky, for her part, suffers with crippling seizures, and is just happy to be among like-minded people. There’s a mysterious fifth member of the group, Grant, who makes like he’s going to bankroll this bid and that he’s a wealthy adult. When we see Grant (Javon Walton) in person, though, we see he’s a broke but resourceful preteen from a troubled home.

Two other people, the weird and creepy Arby (Christopher Denham) and the vintage roadster-loving Rod (Michael B. Woods) are going to FringeCon, but we soon find out that they want the manuscript but are not looking to make a bid.

The couple has one costumed nerd after another come in and get a peek at the manuscript and make a bid. Wilson refuses to put his info down and says “I’ll call you,” which intrigues them. Samantha chokes and offers $6,000. But a dude staying in the penthouse gives them $20,000. Bidding over. In the meantime, Wilson meets Samantha as she’s dressing down guys who are blind to the conspiracies described in Dystopia. Ian and Becky find each other at the bar. She’s about to tell him her secret about her seizures, but refrains. They both get drunk and make out.

But then they connect with Samantha and Wilson and try to find out if they can get the six grand together. Maybe when Grant gets there, he’ll have the cash. But, instead, Grant finds out who the couple sold the manuscript to; he goes to the penthouse and steals it, but not after enjoying some of the suite’s amenities.

Soon, though, Arby and Rod come around to the couple’s room, and we find out exactly why they’re there. And they’re not leaving anyone who’s seen the manuscript alive to talk about it.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? We kept being reminded of shows like The Boys, where a group of people get together and are thrust into saving the world from itself. Oddly enough, a third Amazon series, Hunters, also falls into this category.

Our Take: 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. But overall it feels like one of those shows that’s hard to judge from the first episode. What we’ve seen so far we like, but we don’t know enough about where the show is going to get excited over what’s next.

One thing that hasn’t happened so far is that we haven’t met two of the show’s biggest stars: John Cusack playing Dr. Kevin Christie and Rainn Wilson playing Michael Stearns. We don’t know where they fit into the story or the dynamic the veterans will bring to the show. What we do know, though, is that the five members of the group we’ve met so far are more than intriguing enough to follow around as they’re chased by Arby and others who want to make sure none of them leak what they saw to the public.

The first episode is definitely chaotic, with a lot of stories going on at once, but we see where they’re coming together by the end of the episode, so we have faith in Flynn that she and her writers are going somewhere. Then again, we had that faith in Sharp Objects, and that faith was left unrewarded. But in a show like this, that’s played more for action and chuckles than pathos and drinking-while-driving, we get the feeling that as this group gets chased down and they try to figure out how to save themselves and the planet, a story will come into focus.

Here’s the thing, though: In a pandemic where we might actually elect people to Congress that believe in QAnon’s conspiracy theories, do we really need to see a fantasy version of a pandemic and a group of conspiracy theorists?

Sex and Skin: None, at least not yet.

Parting Shot: A woman (Sasha Lane) walks into the room where the couple and their friends have been poisoned by Arby and Rod. The girlfriend is somehow still conscious. She asks for help, but the woman just wants information. Sleeper Star: Basically, someone in the cast who is not the top-billed star who shows great promise. “Who are you?” the girlfriend asks as she struggles to breathe. “Jessica Hyde,” the woman says.

Most Pilot-y Line: As Rod shoots everyone up with what they say is just a tranquilizer, the boyfriend tries to allay the girlfriend’s fears by saying, “He wouldn’t be swabbing our arms if he was going to hurt us.” Yes, he’s rationalizing, but in a really dumb way.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The first episode of Utopia leaves a lot of gaps that need to be filled. We like what we see so far, especially with the five members of the online group, but we’re not sure if anyone is in the mood to see this given what’s going on right now.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Utopia On Prime Video