Summary
Episode 4 settles down a little, feeding the audience information on certain subplots while revealing some truths about certain characters.
This recap of Amazon original series Utopia season 1, episode 4 contains significant spoilers.
We recapped every episode — check out the archive.
The opening
Jessica and Ian dig a hole ready for burial. They throw the deceased Artemis inside. They then return to Becky and Wilson and update them on what happened. Ian is freaking out again but Jessica states that the Harvest would have killed Artemis for a longer period and it would have been more painful, which sounded like a strange justification to strangle her to death. Jessica reminds them that when they were living their normal lives, she was living the life they followed in a comic book. Grant then appears and Becky announces that they found the boy. Grant is being defensive and holds up some scissors — as Jessica approaches him, Grant realises that she is Jessica Hyde.
Fighting over Utopia
Episode 4 shows how Jessica is a celebrity worth getting excited over until you get to know her and the young boy soon realises he has a fight on his hands.
Jessica tries to grab Grant so she can have Utopia which scares him. He heads out of the bathroom window and runs off with the comic. They both pick up pages of Utopia off the grass and then they look at each other.
Crossing the line
Kevin Christie’s team do a brainstorm on Utopia and Jessica Hyde. He also mentions the group of young teens — he wants to find a way for them to reveal themselves. Thomas Christie leads on the operation. Kiara keeps on objecting to Thomas’s ideas as they suggest spreading the virus at a park to kill more families — she says there is a line and he’s clearly crossing it. Thomas accuses her of being emotional. Kiara tells Kevin that Thomas needs to be grounded. Episode 4 brings the theme of corporate manslaughter and almost has the remnants of The Boys, with those within the company finding ways to suppress their plans.
What do the numbers mean?
Jessica talks to Grant and tells him that he’s going to end up like her and asks if she can look at Utopia. She wants to find the answers. They lay down the whole comic on a table. Jessica urges them all to find answers quickly. Ian asks for the numbers under Artemis’s fingers — the same numbers are in the pages. The numbers mean the Chicago area code. They ring the number and it’s an agent at Homeland Security — the agent gives them directions. Jessica wants to burn the house down but the group convinces her that they shouldn’t do with Sam’s dead body inside. She causes an explosion in the house anyway.
She clearly doesn’t give a sh*t.
Some of the mysteries seem written rather easily into the plot in a bonkers kind of way so we can only hope the plot sustains its energy so it doesn’t become nonsensical.
Getting inside
Michael Stearns talks to parents of children from the hot zone and he tries working with them to get inside that area. He heads back into the hot zone. Thomas Christie turns up and Michael tries to get his attention.
Meeting the agent
Utopia season 1, episode 4 sees the story veer towards a government conspiracy as well.
As for Jessica and the group, they split up — Jessica, Wilson, and Grant head out, while Becky and Ian stay in the car. Becky and Ian meet the agent from Homeland Security. The agent asks where Jessica Hyde is and feels that her time has been wasted. Becky tells her that they have seen Utopia. The agent talks about biological warfare and how the Harvest can target specific groups. Ian asks who Mr. Rabbit is. The agent claims that she doesn’t think Mr. Rabbit is done creating death. Ian asks if they can seek asylum but the agent feels they are of no use to her as they don’t have Utopia or Jessica Hyde — that’s who Mr. Rabbit wants.
This is another running theme in season 1 of Utopia so far — no-one seems to want to reveal their hands — the lead characters are scratching their head at a secretive world.
Finally getting access
Jessica, Wilson, and Grant rejoin Ian and Beck and they head towards Chicago. After plenty of conversations, Wilson believes Jessica may know who Mr. Rabbit is. Meanwhile, Michael Stearns finally gets access to the hot zone.
The ending
Arby picks a child from a class and Kevin Christie tells him that whatever he does, he must do it humanely. He gives the child gloves and a rifle. The child and Arby head to a house. It’s Kiara’s house and she and the family are all killed. As Arby kills the last kid he takes his inhaler and starts screaming. The episode almost hints he’s suffering from trauma which the next chapter should confirm.
Episode 4 settles down a little, feeding the audience information on certain subplots while revealing some truths about certain characters.
Additional points
- Kevin Christie calls Michael Stearns the most dangerous man on the planet.
