Utopia

[bon3yard]

Yes I know its a conspiracy drama fleshed out with a smattering of surrealism and an excellent soundtrack but I kinda liked it. It was a bit of a throwback to when CH4 used to churn out this kind of stuff on a regular basis back in the 80s & early 90s before they dropped a bollock. The cast is pretty good with the chilly hitman played by Neil Maskell(Kill List)a standout. Bravo!

[El Pibe]

Missed it last night but will OD it tonight.

Did you catch Secret State, loosely a remake of A Very British Coup?

It was clearly a Blair hater's wet dream of an ideal PM, but I really rather enjoyed it.

[the-e-dealer]

its a bit squirmy in places but I enjoyed it.

[bon3yard]

Secret State? I think I watched that on Netflix and really enjoyed it. One of Cagney & Lacey were in it if memory serves along with Jason Issacs. I love a good thriller I do.

[El Pibe]

Were thay? God I missed that, that might have dedged up memories of my youthful telly consumption.

I think it was Sephen Dillane rather than Jason Isaacs, though the former seems to be morphing into the latter in his old age; two favourites of mine however.

[El Pibe]

ok, a little digging and you watched a BBC thing called The State Within, which I didn't see.

Will check on virgin OD for it if it's worth watching

[bon3yard]

Oh, ok. Altered States anyone?

[El Pibe]

caught this last night.

Haven't the foggiest idea what's going on, but I'm intrigued.

Intentionally surreal I guess, the maleficent pair were fantastic; They reminded me of Mr Croup & Mr Valdemar from Neverwhere, i reckon that might have been intentional.

[bon3yard]

On the psychopathic duo, they reminded me strongly of the vicious pair Goss & Subby who featured in China Mievilles 'Kraken'. Refreshing stuff in a sea of bland old formulaic nonsense.

[bonniebird]

I liked it!

[El Pibe]

funnily enough I first thought Goss & Stubby, but seeing as they were a massive nod to Croup & Valdemar (Actually the whole book was an ode to Neverwhere) I thought I'd stick with the originals ;)

[El Pibe]

Sooooooo, anyone the wiser?

The one bit I understood was that Stevenage lies at the heart of darkness!!!

[LadyDeliah]

Was the last episode the last of the series?

I thought it was brilliant even if it didn't always make sense!

[El Pibe]

Oh quite agree, terrific, lots of very black humour, good performances, suitably surreal and some of the best cinematography I've seen anywhere for a long time.

Still not sure who the bad guys were, even the woman off Bott on the Landscape who turned out to be the rabbit, bad guy or good guy?

[bon3yard]

I thought it went rapidly downhill after a barnstorming opening. Shame really, still it was a damn sight better than the majority of shite on the box.

[El Pibe]

I dunno.

I think the main problem was that it relied on style (beautifully shot, good writing and black humour) over substance, on tired plot devices (manuscript of hidden truth, bad people, nefarious organisation with undefined and unjustfied powers) over internal consistency and well thought out setting.

Billy the Fish always used to cover up impossible story shifts and resolutions by having the manager neck whiskly until it made sense, and essentially that's how Utopia covered up its inadequacies, by being surreal.

That said, I still enjoyed it even if it it rarely made sense or maintained any plausability even within its own loosely constructed world. It was stylish, and funny and occasionally a little disturbing.

The main theme could have been pursued a little more seriously because it actually IS an interesting question to pose, how do we solve the terrible future that's coming?

But then there has been plenty of sci-fi written that explores that much better I suppose.