Utopia, Episode 3 – You thought the first two episodes were grim, you ain’t seen shit.

Every time I begin to watch Utopia, my first thought is, “Surely this will be a calm episode centred on characterisation and plot development, as nothing is smart enough to do all three at once.” Every week I am cock-slapped straight away for my ignorance.

Episode three is, so far, the most violent and most disturbing of the three. Arby, our good ol’ asthmatic assassin, enters a school…with a gun. In an empty school hall, he kills the headteacher. He then exits to a classroom, where we hear several gunshots and screams. Then he stutters as he aims his now mentally scarred gun at a child holding a kit-kat (I think it was a kit-kat, it was a while back. It was chocolate, that’s all that matters). After a few moments of dare I say humanity, Arby does actually kill the child. Then he kills another in the school hall. It worries me that he is my favourite character…

So the episode seemed to be setting itself up for an ‘Arby’ episode, and it was. Possibly the most interesting scene so far included Arby questioning his killing ways. We are given an insight into his past, albeit brief and rather fragile, that makes us actually pity him. His non-existent mental health is a recurring theme throughout the episode, something that we needed to actually enjoy the character more, rather than just be disgusted by him.

Aside from the Arby storyline, all other sub-plots weave as seamlessly between each other as Messi against, well, anyone. Grant’s acting abilities, though still unhoned, shows massive potential, something that Channel 4 is masterful at exploi- I mean recognising! The visuals are as stunning as ever, colour in particular. The direction is fantastic. Colours contrast in awkward or unnerving situations and the yellow theme is still strong, whilst beige’s lure us into a false sense of security.

Compared to episode two’s withdrawn and rather unsettling instalment, episode three brings us back to the gritty gore and shocking realism that episode one brought. The balance executed in this series so far has been incredible, almost perfect in fact. All we need now is for someone to tell Grant to stop being a fucking idiot.