Anyone else been watching Utopia?

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Dacnomaniac

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#1  Edited By Dacnomaniac

It's fucking amazing. For some reason i'm obsessed with it.

To those not in England, I recommend you track it down. It's fucking weird but amazing at the same time.

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thomasnash

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#2  Edited By thomasnash

I've been watching it. I'm kind of reserving judgment on it so far. It's kept me watching, I love the soundtrack, the performances are all good and the cinemetography is great.

But at the same time, without knowing how all of the threads it's throwing out there get tied up, It's hard to say whether I'll think the story was great or just silly or what. Also, as much as I like the comic book look they have with the cinematography, I feel like sometimes it's a bit too arch, like I'm being held at arms length. This might be the point, I suppose, but again, it's tricky to say for certain before you can look back at the total thing. Even so, though, I'm not sure they can justify the fact that they are so in love with some of their shots that it stalls the pace fo what is already a pretty laconic show.

I'm nitpicking though, I guess. Every episode I find myself really wanting to watch the next so that's all that matters right now, isn't it?

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MordeaniisChaos

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#3  Edited By MordeaniisChaos

Some sort of idea of what this "Utopia" is would be nice.

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GunstarRed

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#4  Edited By GunstarRed

Yes, it's shot beautifully. I'm not the biggest fan of the really hard violence, I'm cool with violence in things, but it seems like they took it to the extreme. I'm undecided if I think it's good or not., but I have been compelled to watch the new episode each week.

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Aegon

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#5  Edited By Aegon

I just read the summary. Sounds interesting.

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thomasnash

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#6  Edited By thomasnash

@GunstarRed: Yeah I've seen a few people say that the violence is a bit much for them. It's yet another thing I'm reserving judgment on really. the slow-mo headshot was definitely a bit ott and I can't see how they're going to get around that. It's another spot where the dedication to making the show look and feel like a comic book might not have been handled in the best way possible - it both draws out a horrible scene unnecessarily, and also distances the viewer from it; you end up fascinated rather than apalled.

But it's strange because other moments of violence have been handled really well - the torture scene in ep 1 was a good example of how suggestion can be used to pretty horrible effect, and scenes like Arby getting the canister from the bag as the garage door closes carry great narrative impact with minimal graphic upset. It's even weirder because what should by rights have been the msot shocking sequence so far (at the beginning of this week's episode) wasn't as fetishistic, and manged to have all of the why-won't-the-camera-look-away horror that you get from an unedited shot, without being deliberately provocative.

I'm hoping that the disconnect has some point, that something about that headshot scene required it, but part of me suspects its just that they wanted to see what they could get away with on a mainstream channel: the more tasteful (and, imo, most effective) moments have tended to involve children.

I wouldn't say the violence puts me off, I'm not the sort of person who gets offended by that sort of thing, and narratively I would say that the violence is "justified," but the way it's presented is just a bit problematic at times, I suppose.

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Geurge

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#7  Edited By Geurge

First series just finished yesterday, great show. Also, an amazing soundtrack, hoping I can buy it somewhere.

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tablefloor

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#8  Edited By tablefloor

Yeah, I watched it and really enjoyed it! Along with Black Mirror, it's good to see Channel 4 producing some really thought provoking content!

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jerseyscum

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Episode 3. Holy shit.

That was goddamn disturbing. I'm not usually freaked out by television, but watching the opening scene was a little much. There is seriously no way this show will EVER air in the States after the Sandy Hook shooting.

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MistaSparkle

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#10  Edited By MistaSparkle

Just watched the trailer and I'm interested. I'll try to hunt down a site to watch it on, since I'm not from the UK.

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Optix12

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#11  Edited By Optix12

Thanks to you guys for updating this I just finished the first episode and if it were not 1am and having work early in the morning I would definitely get 2 more episodes in. It was a really good wtf buildup episode. Also cannot wait for episode 3, @jerseyscumis the third person ive seen on these boards stating it will never air in the US because of it

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49th

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I'm still kind of waiting for the "Ah ha! This show is great" moment, even after seeing the whole first series. I definately enjoyed the cinematography and the unique characters offer a nice change, but some of the decisions they make and their motivations seem quite random or strange sometimes. I also don't really enjoy that everyone seems to triple cross each other.

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MrT

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Is that the end? I would like to see a season 2 but Wikipedia says it was a 6 episode mini series.

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tablefloor

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6 episodes isn't really a mini series in the UK. There are plenty of shows that run for 6-9 episodes per series!

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ShaggE

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This sounds interesting. Will definitely check it out some time.