But the calculated, cold-blooded havoc wreaked by Arby (a truly mesmerizing Neil Maskell) is presented in a way that forces everyone involved to really reckon with the human toll that this manuscript hunt is taking on anyone who strays into his path. “Utopia” is far from the first story to show brutality in plain daylight for maximum chilling effect. Those color pops also serve another practical purpose: In a story where a series of illustrations hold the answer to sinister global plots and forecasts of cataclysmic events, it’s almost like those harbingers are bleeding into the “real world.” To the extent “Utopia” is a puzzle for both characters and viewers to suss out, there’s something to be said for having all of these colorful pieces out in the open and ready to assemble rather than tucked away in shadow. Each successive scene is driven by its own sliver of the rainbow: red mailboxes, green hills, royal blue suits, interiors trimmed with accents you’d find on a Bob Ross palette.
“Utopia” takes full advantage of the color wheel from its opening frames of a field, drenched in the same bright yellow that make up its title card. That small group of enthusiasts suddenly struggling for their own survival - including Becky (Alexandra Roach), Ian (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), and Wilson Wilson (Adeel Akhtar) - get some reinforcements in the form of the mysterious Jessica Hyde (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), who’s savvy enough to cover her tracks and escape some sinister traps. Soon, they find out that there are forces intent on securing those answers for their own, and they’re willing to do anything to ensure that they alone have them. Some rabid fans, long committed to parsing out the predictive easter eggs in the series’ previous volume, come into possession of some pages thought lost to time.
Trying to make a neat summary of the plot of “Utopia” is a bit counterproductive, but the story centers around the manuscript of a graphic novel. The original “Utopia” has churned below the TV surface for as long as it’s had its cult favorite reputation, but compare its look with the bevy of gritty and bleak dramas that came in its wake and it still looks like something from a different, distant time. For an antidote, it’s worth turning to a show that is a decade old this year. Still, that response to “Ozark” is rooted in the truth that big-ticket series and blockbusters are, on the whole, dulling.
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