Utopia (Channel 4) [** Spoilers **]

WealthyB

Absoutely loving this show. Arby (didn't realise that was his name) now fills me with dread the moment he appears in a scene. Really starting to connect with some of the characters as well in ep2

Didn't like the final scene of ep2

knowing the children would die

though - thought that was unnecessary.

Basq

WealthyB wrote: »

Didn't like the final scene of ep2

knowing the children would die

though - thought that was unnecessary.

Personally, I thought it was needed to establish how bad Arby actually is..

EDIT: Thread title is spoiler tagged so no need for spoiler tags for episode discussion

quad_red

WealthyB wrote: »

Didn't like the final scene of ep2

knowing the children would die

though - thought that was unnecessary.

It would have been unnecessary to show it - but they didn't. He is a truly horrific person. Completely without mercy or humanity or remorse.

He kills the family with as much compassion or emotional involvement as a normal person would wiping muck off their shoes. He is tying up loose ends, leaving no witnesses to interfere with his pursuit of Jessica and the others

TV and Cinema is filled with depictions of killers. Most are camp, very few are scary.

Bloody hell, Arby is scary. His weird disconnected stare, the ill fitting squeaking leather jacket over the pot belly.

Daroxtar

Even his walk, it's just not right. It's like he was badly put together and reanimated

mike65

Basq wrote: »

Just watched the second last night..

.. excellent stuff!

C4 continue to impress with drama.. ITV could learn something from them (and don't talk to me about f*cking "Downton").

Not sure what lessons could be learnt to be honest, the last drama series that bore any sort of resemblance to Utopia on ITV was The Prisoner in 1967/68. ITV1 drama is determinedly middle of the road (not always a bad thing of course) and has been for years now. Its the BBC who need to up their game, too many history based dramas shot like an old Sunday supplement photo spread.

#tvneedsmorecobaltblue!

Basq

mike65 wrote: »

Its the BBC who need to up their game, too many history based dramas shot like an old Sunday supplement photo spread

To be fair to the Beeb.. when they get it right, they get it REALLY right: Sherlock, Luther, Doctor Who, Life On Mars, Ashes To Ashes etc.

But I agree with the sudden surge in history based dramas - grey, dark, dank and predictable.

WealthyB

Basq wrote: »

Personally, I thought it was needed to establish how bad Arby actually is..

EDIT: Thread title is spoiler tagged so no need for spoiler tags for episode discussion

disagree completely, I think they established how evil Arby was in first minute of episode 1 (and even more so with the torture scene)

Then again, maybe it's just me. Had an amazing baby boy last year and now we can't stand to see anything in which children might get hurt. Before it wouldn't have bothered me too much but now I just can't bring myself to watch it. Was the same with Breaking Bad

when they shot the young lad in Season 5, that nearly put me off the show completely as I lost any lingering empathy I had for Jesse and Walt.

Basq

WealthyB wrote: »

Have bothered me too much but now I just can't bring myself to watch it. Was the same with Breaking Bad

when they shot the young lad in Season 5, that nearly put me off the show completely as I lost any lingering empathy I had for Jesse and Walt.

Ease up on the Breaking Bad spoilers there WealthyB.. but while we're on the topic of that scene in 'Breaking Bad' -

Jesse and Walt didn't shoot him though!

Anyways, that's discussion for forum!

2ndcoming

Enjoyed the second episode. Some of my concerns about not feeling connected to the characters in ep1 were relieved when we saw Becky's phone call towards the end of ep2. It makes sense to keep it vague initially when it's gonna be a twisty turny 'who's side are they on?' kind of gig.

WealthyB

Basq wrote: »

Ease up on the Breaking Bad spoilers there WealthyB.. but while we're on the topic of that scene in 'Breaking Bad' -

Jesse and Walt didn't shoot him though!

Anyways, that's discussion for forum!

Oops! Thanks for that, assumed everyone would have seen it already

quad_red

Love the music as well!

https://soundcloud.com/cristobal-tapia-de-veer/utopia-1

This is a little taste from the opening scene for the new Chanel 4 UK drama "UTOPIA", for which I did the original score. Full score coming soon.
Instrumentation included human bones from the Atacama desert in Chile as well as a rhino turd from Zimbabwe used as percussion.

LittleBook

quad_red wrote: »

Love the music as well!

Me too. Was talking to my friend about it last night and she said she didn't even notice the music ... "Exactly!!"

And thanks for the link!

Rjd2

Maskell who plays Arby plays a somewhat similar character in Kill List, really good in that as well,he knows how to play bastards!

Will I Amnt

Rjd2 wrote: »

Maskell who plays Arby plays a somewhat similar character in Kill List, really good in that as well,he knows how to play bastards!

If people thought the eye torture in this was rough I wouldn't want to see their reaction to the hammer scene in Kill List :pac:

AnonoBoy

ibarelycare wrote: »

Yeah they use a huge amount of colour saturation. My boyfriend reckons it's all because they want to give it a "comic book" feel.

Yeah, the colours are completely saturated and it's for that 'graphic novel' look.

The whole style of it, the big wide shots then jumping to close ups - very similar to the style of graphic novels.

Normally it'd put me off but I think it suits this show.

Daroxtar

Another great episode. Interesting developments with Arbys character. Cant Fkn wait till next week

Skerries

will it turn out that Mr.Rabbit isn't Stephen Rea's character?

Tristram

:eek::eek::eek:

Wow! Quality.

DuckStab

Brilliant show, and as said above brilliant soundtrack!
I actually managed to miss all the advertising for it, the only reason I knew it was starting was because I was subscribed to Cristobal Tapia de Veer's newsletter! He did another great soundtrack for The Crimson Petal and the White - and the director of that is also the director of Utopia so I figured it'd be quality. He is a fan of distance-shots of fields I must say!
Anyway hopefully it continues in the same vein, looking forward to next week's!

Pudsy33

Skerries wrote: »

will it turn out that Mr.Rabbit isn't Stephen Rea's character?

How could it be him? He's in the network is he not? They're the organisation trying to find him.



Edit: Got mixed up, Carvel wanted out after the cold war, not Mr Rabbit.

quad_red

Holy buck

That first few minutes is hard to watch.

ibarelycare

Another fantastic episode. Opening scene was chilling. Jessica's accent was bugging me though. Kept going between Irish and English! Just a minor complaint though, dying for the next episode, most gripping tv I've seen in a while. I think 6 episodes is enough, it's tough going!

quad_red

At the end of the episode:

Why didn't Arby kill Jessica? He asks what was Phillip Carval like. Jessica says she doesn't know, that's why she wanted the manuscript. He then lowers his gun and asks blankly 'where is Jessica Hyde'?

Was that his way of sparing her and letting her know it? Or did some sort of programming kick in?

In regards to Arby's background:

You don't have parents. You were part of a consignment from Bulgaria

What does that mean? Is it literal - is he a clone or something?

Are Arby and Jessica sister and brother or something?

pixelburp

Been watching the show and simply lurking in this thread; would definitely share the general praise being handed out. There's not a whole lot behind the stylish visuals & tone, but what exists is quite engaging. The conspiracy itself has a certain languid, British charm about it, bordering on the surreal (where often those kind of thrillers attempt a more breakneck pace).

If I had one criticism is that visually it's almost too rich, for want of a better word. Every scene feels painted & yes, much like a comic-book: you get a sense each shot was precisely & deliberately taken to resemble a storyboard, and while generally it means the show looks amazing, things like the saturation can get a bit overbearing sometimes. Other nuances like the assassin's heavy breathing & odd walk feel overly pronounced sometimes.

Leads me to wonder whether this show was a nightmare to shoot; with endless retakes until the director got everyone/everything exactly as envisioned.

Tristram

I'm trying desperately to convince people to watch this. Unfortunately I don't really know how to describe it to them. No success yet! (

ibarelycare

quad_red wrote: »

At the end of the episode:

Why didn't Arby kill Jessica? He asks what was Phillip Carval like. Jessica says she doesn't know, that's why she wanted the manuscript. He then lowers his gun and asks blankly 'where is Jessica Hyde'?

Was that his way of sparing her and letting her know it? Or did some sort of programming kick in?

In regards to Arby's background:

You don't have parents. You were part of a consignment from Bulgaria

What does that mean? Is it literal - is he a clone or something?

Are Arby and Jessica sister and brother or something?

Yeah I wondered why he didn't kill her too, seemed inconsistent to the rest of the story. And I also wondered if he was her brother.

The Gnome

ibarelycare wrote: »

Yeah I wondered why he didn't kill her too, seemed inconsistent to the rest of the story. And I also wondered if he was her brother.

She didn't kill him either which I also found odd, Arby walked away with his back turned, her gun was still on the ground, she could have easily picked it up and shot him.

quad_red

Arby was visibly upset/uncomfortable when dealing with Jessica. It all came down to childhood and it's destruction I suppose. The previous generation - Arby, Jess etc. And now Grant, Alice and all the murdered children.

In regards to Mr Rabbit - maybe he's the butler guy who works for Rea?

According to Milner, Mr Rabbit has the chinese symbol for rabbit carved into his stomach.



Is there a weird Alice in Wonderland thing going on here? Alice (Grant's friend) has now been dragged right down the rabbit hole.

Skerries

ooh I see what you're doing there
Milner = Mad hatter?

AnonoBoy

Skerries wrote: »

ooh I see what you're doing there
Milner = Mad hatter?

I didn't catch that. It's a nice little touch.