Utopia: Season 1

"Flynn is unafraid of rapidly adding more and more branches to the Utopia mythology, which occasionally shocks but seldom intrigues. ... the villains are unconvincingly all-powerful yet constantly screwing up and there are more traumatized but precocious children (Javon Walton, Farrah Mackenzie) than there should be in a fight against the end of the world."

"The series incorporates a slew of thematic elements that are eerily timely—an increasingly devastating pandemic, for one—but an overreliance on brutal violence masks the fact that Utopia doesn’t have much to say about the corporate overreach or government listlessness that inspired the show’s concept."

"Has numerous and obvious parallels to current real-world events — but this violent, darkly comic, bizarre and consistently involving eight-part series (I’ve seen the first seven episodes) has its own wild creativity and exists in a universe even crazier than our own. In nearly every episode, something shocking happens."

"A lot of thrillers likeUtopiahave trouble sustaining themselves past the initial premise in the first couple of episodes, butUtopiaremains compelling."

"Utopia might prove worth the wait, but it's hard to say. On the evidence of the first episode, this is big budget but low stakes: a very American utopia."

"An at-times maddening, at-times fascinating, but always twisty show that thrives on shocking you"