Order 2472

Order 2472 is the fifth episode of the Prime Video series Utopia. It, along with the other episodes of the series, were released on September 25, 2020.

Synopsis
Inside the St. Louis Hotzone, Michael must make a life-or-death choice. As things grow increasingly dangerous, Jessica comes face to face with someone from her past.

How can Becky be fine?
A child is sealed in a bodybag after dying from the flu. Multiple reporters give reports from the St. Louis Hotzone, giving updates on what is happening as protesters continue to gather outside. One reporter comments that the most frightening thing is that there have been no survivors. In a tent, Dale Warwick's daughter shows a fever of 104.9. He comments to Michael Stearns that having a child is like having your heart go walking outside your body. Stearns tells him that the risks of complications are high and it might not even work. However, he has the vaccine and after asking him a couple medical questions, he agrees to administer the vaccine. Warwick urges him to hurry. He leaves and another girl arrives that looks just like her, taking off her protective gear. She says that they should decide and he tells them that first, they're getting a last meal. The two girls, clearly neither of them at all ill, enjoy an elaborate meal, giggling and stuffing their faces. Kevin Christie enters the tent, removing his protective gear from his head, and gives them both a hug, calling them "sweethearts." He asks if they've decided and one of the two, Lily, says that they wanted him to pick. He says he couldn't possibly, but then points his finger back and forth between them, reciting a poem. He chooses Charlotte. He tells them that time is of the essence. He inserts a disc with a barcode into her mouth, asking her what she's done to earn her place in this crowded world.

Jessica and the rest of the group arrive at the latest safe house. Jessica tells Grant that it's time for them to get the rest of Utopia. He explains that he left the other half with a friend, Alice. Just then, Becky has a seizure. She runs to a bathtub and Ian holds her, telling her to breathe. Back in the hotzone, Stearns returns to the tent, telling Warwick that they're doing it. Charlotte is now showing the t-shaped rash of the flu and her temperature supposedly reads 105.3. He takes a sample of her blood and then injects her with his vaccine. "That's it," he tells Warwick and crosses his fingers. He tells him they should know within about 12 hours whether or not it worked. He suggests they talk, asking where he went to medical school. He replies "Stanford," then asks for some time alone with his daughter. Stearns exits and Charlotte asks if he wants to do the photographer now. He tells her not to push herself, but she tells him they need to do the photos now. "It's okay, Dale," she tells him and a man comes in and takes photos. He sobs that it isn't okay, but she tells him that they practiced. Lily comes in, saying that he never should have gotten so attached. He's just her sponsor. "No blubbering, it's not useful," she tells him. Charlotte tells him he should be happy for her. "Okay," he agrees, still sniffling.

In the bathtub, Ian reads his and Becky's horoscopes. He quips that when combined, their two signs will save humanity against world-ending flus. She tells him that he's seen how bad her Diels syndrome is and that there's no cure. He tells her they're going to figure it out. Outside, Grant says that he can't tell them where Alice's is. He says that it's not that he doesn't want to, it's just that he doesn't know any street names. He has to show them the way. Jessica gives Becky a drink, telling her one shot per hour, that she can't get spooked. Fear is a luxury and so is "boyfriend-girlfriend stuff." "Okay," agrees Becky, "No relationships, just meaningless sex," but Jessica replies that there's to be no sex ever either. It makes it very hard to run. Just then, a news report comes on, naming Grant Bishop as allegedly being the youngest mass shooter in United States history. "Things are getting dangerous," realizes Jessica. In the hotzone, Lily tells Warwick that it's time. Charlotte is placed in a bodybag. Before they take her away, Lily snips off her ponytail as a memento for Warwick, telling him not to worry, that she's going straight to the incinerator. Back at the home, Jessica lays it out to Grant that the Harvest just saw to it that everyone in the country is looking for him. Meanwhile, Ian uses a laptop and learns that his entire family was poisoned, and in critical condition. Wilson then grabs the laptop and learns the truth Jessica hid from him: that his family was killed in a faked gas leak. He shouts at her for letting him live for two days not knowing they were dead. "Yeah, I lied," she agrees. Becky finds out that she's apparently fine - she didn't have any family to go after. Wilson, however, goes nuts, wondering how it is that she can be "fine." She asks if it would make him feel better if someone she knew were dead, shouting at her. Jessica finally shuts everyone up, saying that members of the Harvest don't sew eyepatches for the blind. She tells Grant they need Utopia, but he can't come with them because he's a mass-murderer now. He shoots back that he has to see stuff to remember how to get back there. She asks if he'll remember if she tortures him. "Don't know," he replies. "Get me a razor," she tells the others and they walk outside.

Not running
They walk, her telling him to keep his head down and look entitled. Thomas Christie meets with Kevin, discussing Charlotte's death. They agree it was a purposeful death and that it's time to head home. Kevin tells Thomas that he was supposed to be a twin and he wonders if they both survived if it would have been them in the tent. He's not sure he could have done it. Thomas replies that it's something to work on, that people feel he's shielding him from sacrifice because he's his only biological son. Neither of them want that. Kevin calls what happened with Cara Frostfield and her family a nightmare, saying that he knew her since she interned for him during college and was at her wedding, her kids' christenings. They agree she was a good person, but that she rejected the program. They talk about how they grow "useful children." Back in Charlotte's tent, now Lily's, Lily tries to talk down Warwick, who feels that he has committed murder. She keeps repeated "What have you done today to earn your place in this crowded world?" until finally he gives her the answer she wants, that he made a sacrifice. She lays down, telling him that Stearns is coming. "Charlotte?" asks Stearns and Warwick tells him that it's unbelievable, that she's gone "from death's door back to Charlotte again." He measures her temperature, supposedly down to 100.1. He takes a blood sample, Warwick telling him that he's very grateful. He agrees that he's very pleased. He leaves with his sample and tests it, calling Colleen and telling her that Charlotte is 100% better. She's recovered, as if she was never sick at all, like nothing he's ever seen. Her viral load is zero. "Jesus... Christ..." he comments, telling Colleen that it completely worked and Charlotte's blood is completely clean.

Stearns returns to the tent and they all have a toast. Warwick says they have to spread the news. He races out of the tent, shouting that they have a cure. Stearns tells him to wait, but it's too late. He wheels out "Charlotte," shouting about the cure. Back at the house, Wilson makes the connection between the current flu and the bats in Peru. Warwick meets with the protesters outside, telling them they have a cure and lauding Stearns's efforts. He asks if Charlotte wants to say something. She takes the microphone, saying that after the darkness, there's some light and that they have hope. They have found both a cure and a vaccine. She thanks Stearns as her hero for saving her from the Stearns Flu with the Stearns vaccine. She urges everyone to get the vaccine. At Alice's house, Kim comments that they have to get her the vaccine. Just then, a news broadcast comes on about the mass shooting supposedly committed by Grant. The two are shocked. Back at the safe house, Becky tells Ian that he should go home and check on his family, but he replies that it'll only make things worse. She offers to go with him, but he tells her not to give up. He say she's not running, that after all the things he's seen and done, he can't go back. He tells her that his mother would have really liked her, but would probably have asked what she was hanging around him for.

Free the vaccine
A convoy from the CDC and the FDA arrives at the hotzone. "Now they show up!" shout members of the crowd. Toni Tambler meets with Stearns, thanking him for his "preliminary findings." He tells her he thought too that they needed more time, but he's tested the vaccine. She tells him she's not interested in being the insulation between him and a class-action lawsuit. She goes before the crowd, saying she's there to answer their questions. She tells them they're going to put the vaccine through trials. They shout that it's been tested and they have proof. Stearns goes on the microphone, saying that the virus is 100% fatal without the vaccine. He says that his vaccine has already been vigorously tested and the only danger is that of delay. The crowd cheers and he continues that the children have a right to be well. The crowd takes up the chant and Kevin Christie, watching, declares to Thomas that "it's time." Thomas Christie speaks into a phone: "Shipping order 2472, please." Jessica and Grant walk, evading a cop by ducking inside a local bar. The two bond a bit playing an arcade game. Arby hears an ABP about Grant and abandons a cartoon he's watching.. Back at the hotzone, Kevin Christie appears before the crowd. He thanks Stearns for being "back on the side of the angels" and speaks to the crowd, declaring himself a man dedicated to saving children. He tells them that he'll do anything to stop the pandemic. He tells them they have the vaccine and that Christie Labs is producing it. They need only the FDA's approval. He tells them to do the right thing, "free the vaccine." The crowd begins this newest chant: "Free the vaccine!"

Jessica and Grant continue their journey, boarding a subway train. At Alice's house, some police speak with Kim, interrogating her about Grant. There's a ring at the doorbell and a Juvenile Services liaison arrives, wanting to talk to Alice. Arby then arrives, killing the entire lot of officials. He demands to know where Grant is, or where Jessica Hyde is. "Where is Utopia?" he asks. Alice tells him she has it and runs upstairs. Kim pleads with him not to hurt her and she ends over the pages, then he kills Kim. She wails and he points the gun at her, telling her to be quiet. She sobs over Kim's dead body and he tells her again to be quiet. She stares at him, crying softly, and tells her to come with him. She leads him into the kitchen and he tells her to sit down. He makes a sandwich at the table and packs a lunch. He then looks over Utopia, telling Alice "It shouldn't be long now." Jessica and Grant arrive at the house. They enter and see Kim's dead body. Grant races ahead, shouting for Alice, but Jessica pins him, telling him to stay. Arby pulls a gun on her. "Where is Jessica Hyde?" he comments. "Here is Jessica Hyde? I'm Arby." They fight, Arby taking a gasp on his inhaler. He points two guns at her, telling her he'll always win and not to feel bad, that it's his purpose. He tells her he's supposed to take her and Utopia to "them," but he doesn't want to anymore. He asks if she wants Utopia, telling her it's a very bad idea for her to look at it. She tells him she doesn't care and he leaves the pages on the table. He tells her to leave, saying that others will come. He tells her she'll want to eat before she looks at it, that she won't want to eat after. He starts to leave, then turns to her, telling her that if she ever needs him, she can find him back Home. Elsewhere, a shipment of rabbits is loaded into a truck by a man in a biosuit. He closes the door of the truck, which reads "Order #2472."

Starring

 * John Cusack as Dr. Kevin Christie
 * Ashleigh LaThrop as Becky
 * Dan Byrd as Ian
 * Desmin Borges as Wilson Wilson
 * Christopher Denham as Arby
 * Javon "Wanna" Walton as Grant Bishop
 * Farrah Mackenzie as Alice
 * Cory Michael Smith as Thomas Christie
 * Jeanine Serralles as Colleen

with


 * Rainn Wilson as Michael Stearns

and


 * Sasha Lane as Jessica Hyde

Guest starring

 * Hadley Robinson as Charlotte
 * Crystal Fox as Kim
 * Tim Hopper as Dale Warwick
 * Gloria Coco as Toni Tambler

Co-starring

 * Bernard Gilbert as Steve/Christie Minion #1
 * Mike Brunlieb as Minion/Doctor/Photographer Scott
 * Michael Emmett Carey as Minion/Doctor Derek
 * Taylor Blim as Double Charlotte/Lily
 * Daryn Whitney Harrell as PFC Betsy Ruskin
 * Julian Griffith as Soldier One
 * Rosie Moan as Angry Woman
 * Andrew Ritter as Demonstrator
 * John Gawlik as Cop #1
 * Brandon Loeser as Detective
 * Loren Ashley Jones as Officer Garland
 * Chris McClure as Officer Tuttle
 * Jack Bronis as Bartender
 * Shaun Graves as Rabbit Handler
 * Demetrios Troy as National Anchor #3
 * Meg Warner as National Anchor #4
 * Pamela Jones as National Anchor #5
 * Michael Christopher Collins as Left Man
 * Elizabeth Klinge as Right Woman
 * Jose Nateras as Reporter #1
 * Lisa Roti as Reporter #2
 * Lionel Moise as Reporter #3
 * Matthew Keffer as CDC Hazmat
 * Mike Schminke as Crowd #1
 * Jason Jack Edwards as Crowd #2
 * Suzette Mayobre as Crowd #3
 * Kaiser Ahmed as Journalist #1
 * Alex Fisher as Journalist #2