Order 2472
Episode 5 of Utopia begins with Michael continuing to work with Dale, who pleads with him to save his daughter. Only, as we soon find out this isn’t actually his daughter. It’s actually a guinea pig used to forward his own agenda. A photographer arrives and takes a picture of him with the girl not long after Michael takes a blood sample. He then administers the vaccine and the group are forced to wait and see what happens. Unfortunately the girl dies. However, Dale works with a double that looks exactly like Charlotte to assume her place and make it seem like the vaccine works. Learning there’s no trace of the virus at all, the crowd cheers as Dale wheels Charlotte out for all to see. Jessica and the others arrive in Chicago as Grant nonchalantly declares that Arby has probably killed Alice’s family. This is, of course, where the rest of Utopia is. As Ian mentions there being no cure, Becky starts having a panic attack. Ian manages to calm her down though and promises that everything will be okay. Grant watches in horror as the news confirms that he (or at least the child assuming his identity) arrived in the building and killed everyone. Even worse, the truth about Wilson’s family spills out too and causes him to fly off the handle. Given Ian’s family are in critical care too, Wilson directs his anger toward Becky whose family are okay. Only, she’s an orphan so this explains why. Jessica speaks to Grant and manages to convince him to head out and track down Alice’s house. While they do, Becky and Ian discuss their families and contemplate whether to head off and meet them or not. On the back of the vaccine news, Toni arrives at the quarantine zone to speak to Michael. She acts as the voice of reason and tells the crowd – and Michael – that they’re going to conduct a series of tests to make sure it’s safe. Michael however, takes control of the press conference and steers the crowd into his way of thinking. As he does, Kevin and his son issue “Order 2472.” This brings Dr Kevin onto the podium and promises that they have a vaccine but need the FDA’s approval. Getting down on their knees, they start chanting to free the vaccine. At the same time, Alice and Kim are confronted by police who surround the place. Only, Arby suddenly arrives and kills them all. As he asks for Utopia, Alice hands it over just as he kills her Mum, Kim. Sitting down and reading the panels, he awaits Jessica and Grant’s arrival. Eventually Arby comes face to face with the girl he’s been hunting all this time. The two fight but Arby gets the upper-hand. Arby suddenly decides he doesn’t want to go to Utopia anymore and lets Jessica look at the panels. The sandwiches he’s made just after the murder are for her. As we soon see, Order 2472 happens to be a whole stack of rabbits ready for testing.
The Episode Review
The dark tones and the comedy are completely at odds with one another and here that comes to a spectacular crescendo of issues. Killing Kim in such a cold way while also adding comedic elements of Arby making sandwiches doesn’t really work. The plot itself is all over the place too and worse, the characters are not that likable or charismatic. Everything seems to just meander along. This is really typified by the whole Becky/Ian cliched conversation about life that doesn’t really reveal anything meaningful about their characters. Hopefully the show can pull off a dramatic finale.
