'Black Mirror' Is Back, Reflecting Our Technological Fears
If you enjoyed Black Mirror you have to watch Utopia by Channel 4 in the UK. It&#x27;s remarkable. Don&#x27;t search for a synopsis online. It&#x27;s a sci-fi conspiracy thriller like none you&#x27;ll have ever seen before.<p>This is an imdb review that echoed my sentiments:<p>&quot;First of, I made an account at IMDb solely so that I could submit this review.<p>Utopia is exceptional. It is a masterpiece. It gets 10\10 from me.<p>I won&#x27;t explain what Utopia is about because I don&#x27;t want to give any possible hint of what is to come, so I&#x27;ll describe it by comparing it to other things.<p>Buy the DVD or download the show and your life will get.... stranger. Its rather unsettling how Utopia gets under your skin.<p>There are a few television shows that share some similarity to Utopia.<p>For example, if you enjoyed Fringe, the X-Files, then you&#x27;ll be quite at home with Utopia&#x27;s paranoid wanderings.<p>So then you cross the weirdness of Fringe and the paranoia of the X-Files with the violence of Kill Bill and the action\suspense of the Jason Bourne series.<p>Now cross that already bizarre hybrid with a series of scientific TED Talks given by Joesph Mengale, yes, the Nazi who chopped countless pairs of twins to pieces for the greater good.<p>I&#x27;m not sure which is more bizarre. That description or that incredibly, it works.<p>However Utopia is much, much darker than any of those. It is the darkest TV series I have ever seen. It also as others have said, feels very real.<p>A note of warning. When I said Utopia was dark, I was not joking. If you suffer from excessive anxiety or you&#x27;re squeamish, then do not watch Utopia. Because this TV show is nothing like you&#x27;ve ever seen before, it will affect you. You will be thinking about the themes in it long after you&#x27;ve watched it.<p>The violence in Utopia isn&#x27;t actually that strong at all, most of it occurs off the screen. But the intense atmosphere of paranoia which accompanies it makes it brutally real.<p>On the other hand since the governments of the world have apparently taken a leaf out of Utopia&#x27;s manuscript lately with regard to surveillance, Utopia could well seem prophetic in a few years time. This really is a TV series for 21st century of flying killer robots and universal surveillance.<p>The Sopranos changed the way I thought about television. I thought television was for lightweights until I watched The Sopranos. It was like thinking books were mostly about erotica and then coming across Shakespeare and entering a world full of subtle complexities on a bunch of levels.<p>Utopia is nothing like The Sopranos. But the way it&#x27;ll change how you view television is very similar.<p>Just one last thing. There is an American show called &quot;Person of Interest&quot; or something like that which has similar themes. Watch this instead.<p>In a word: this is intense. &quot;<p>It also has one of the strangest soundtracks you&#x27;ll ever hear. Listen to this:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=m2f6MfEzhvo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=m2f6MfEzhvo</a><p>Warning: Do not watch if you are especially prone to paranoia, depression or anxiety.