Hide your bunnies and protect your eyes, the televisual mind-fuck that is Utopia is back.
To celebrate, I’ve laid on a 1970s multisensory review for you. So relax on an Omkstak chair with a crème de menthe, and press play on the video below to set the mood before we continue down the rabbit hole into Series 2…
Unexpectedly, Episode 1 sets our bright eyes on a bold hour-long 8mm flashback; a prequel to events which have unfurled long before Series 1 and which are visually different to the artful starkness of the series in its modern day setting.
It’s an atmospheric 1979 and the closing of a decade where it apparently wasn’t brilliant to be a rabbit. If they weren’t being killed in Watership Down they were having their heads cut off by kitchen knives, or being torn apart by toddler Arby… because Science.
Those who were made queasy by the violence of the first series will once again find themselves gagging at writer Dennis Kelly’s visceral taste for viscera. I found the first rabbit death pretty uncomfortable, but coolly ate a big jam sandwich as I watched a gardener get his brains blown out. I suspect many people will have felt the same way.
But for one rabbit, things are going according to plan…ish. A young Mr Rabbit, aka Milner – a concotion of husband-killing ruthlessness and sexy aloofness perfectly embodied by Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones) – is steering the human mound of shag carpet Philip Carvel (The Musketeers star Tom Burke) to creating and refining the Janus virus that would one day exist in his daughter, Jessica. In doing so we’re reminded just how far The Network’s burrowed into society.
Suddenly the Instagram filter and 4:3 aspect ratio, which at first seems to merely be an aesthetic choice, is revealed to have a far cleverer purpose, allowing the show to blend seamlessly with genuine historical footage of the events it insinuates itself into.
The Three Mile Island ‘accident’, Thatcher’s rise to power, and the assassination of Sir Richard Sykes are warped to fit the show’s dystopian timeline and the power of The Network. It’s a crafty blend of history and mystery, and like all the best conspiracy theories, Utopia mixes just enough fact with just enough fancy to be swallowable.
Yes, Episode 1 is essentially a reminder of how much we’ve missed the show: an hour of gruesome world-building hidden by just enough characterisation to keep the viewer hooked.
We learn nothing new here. It’s thanks to Tom Burke’s terrifically involved performance that it feels like something more than a recap of how deep this world’s conspiracies run. If it wasn’t for the tortures (literal and emotional) that Carvel endures then Episode 1 would feel superfluous to the rest of the story so far. It’s Carvel’s shaggy soul that glues the grand pieces of writer Dennis Kelly’s dystopia together.
And we’re going deeper underground tomorrow night with Episode 2. Now, as a thematic cool down, rabbit fans, please press play…
Aired at 10pm on Monday 14 July 2014 on Channel 4.
> Order Series 2 on DVD on Amazon.
What did you think of the episode? Let us know below…