Series 1 Episode 3

The third episode of the first series of the British thriller-drama action, Utopia, was first broadcast on 29 January 2013. The episode was produced by Kudos Film and Television for Channel 4.

Synopsis
The gang feel the full weight of The Network's power as Grant is framed for a shocking crime. With nowhere else to turn, they are forced to make a new ally—but can she really be trusted?

Plot
At Corvadt, Conran Letts is approached by his assistant, who tells him that "it's time." He gives him a phone and says "it's the only way," leaving Letts to make the decision. Arby, sitting in a public toilet and eating raisins, receives a phone call. The caller tells him to "make it quick" and he puts on gloves with fake fingerprints glued on before retrieving a gun from his bag. He walks outside to reveal he is in a school and is approached by the principal, still believing him to be a police officer looking for Grant Leetham. Arby methodically executes him and everyone nearby, including several children. He enters the gym where he finds a boy alone on a bench, frozen with fear. When Arby levels his gun, the boy tries to protect himself by throwing his arms up, causing the raisins he was eating to spill on the floor. Arby freezes and hesitates for a long moment before wiping a tear from his eye and shooting the boy dead.

At their new hideout, Becky tends to Grant's bruises after making him a sandwich. Grant thanks Becky for finding him and finds that she is single, declaring Alice Ward his girlfriend despite knowing her for only one day. Becky asks Grant if he has part two of The Utopia Experiments on him and he explains he "left it somewhere." Becky tells him to let her know where it is when he feels up to it and asks what the contents of the book are like. He tells her it was different than he expected, essentially a retelling of part one with new characters, the scientist now named "Carvel". Becky asks if the book names Mr. Rabbit, and Grant muses it may have begun with the letter "L". Becky, Ian Johnson, and Wilson Wilson debate over whether to give the manuscript to Jessica Hyde or Milner when they get it. Jessica herself arrives and insists they interrogate Grant, which Becky is firmly against. As they argue, Wilson notices the news reporting on Grant, and the group watches as Grant is framed as the one who shot up the school, the fake fingerprints on Arby's gloves being his and him being edited into CCTV footage. Arby sits alone in a dingy room while eating raisins, deep in thought. The group gives a deeply distressed Grant some space and Becky expresses horror at the idea of the Network being willing to sacrifice children just to make it easier to find Grant. A visibly upset Jessica explains that the lives of ordinary people mean nothing to the Network and that they will have to get used to that fact. Later, Becky checks that Grant is asleep and has sex with Ian, who she teases when he at first expresses hesitance that it leaves them open to being attacked. Grant, actually awake, listens to them in another room.

The next morning, Jessica introduces herself to Grant and explains her childhood was built on running and not trusting anyone, and that she feels connected to him because of recent events. She asks her to come with him, feeling as though there is no place for her among the rest of the group, and also asks for the location of the manuscript, letting him choose whether or not tell her. As Wilson rereads part one of The Utopia Experiments and makes more connections between the book and real life events, Ian finds Grant and Jessica gone. Driving away, Jessica tells Grant that Mark Dane's real name was Philip Carvel and that he was her father, and that she raised and trained by a man named Christos. She recalls watching him be tortured and killed by the Network at ten years old. Wilson and Ian futilely attempt to hack MI5 to get Milner's email. They directly call MI5 (Ian being told not to stay on the line for more than thirty seconds to avoid tracing) and speak to Milner, identifying themselves as "friends of Jessica Hyde." Milner seems to not know who she is and Ian hangs up when they reach thirty seconds. Milner immediately calls them back, telling them their previous call was monitored and they need to leave. She gives them a meeting place in a chapel and hangs up. As they drive off, a bald man follows them in his car.

Michael Dugdale reads an article about Anya being arrested for William Kaye's murder, visibly regretful. He asks his wife to call his work and tell them he is sick. Dugdale goes to meet Donaldson, the scientist Kaye pointed him to, who claims not to know Kaye and hurries inside. Dugdale chases him to his lab and Donaldson calms down when he realizes who he is, having been informed of him by Kaye. Donaldson tells him he needs either a vaccine sample or part of one of the bodies on Fetlar island dead from the Russian flu. When Dugdale insists he needs "something on them," Donaldson notes that he has no idea who he is dealing with.

Waiting for Milner at the chapel, Ian awkwardly tries to talk to Becky about last night, and she confirms she enjoyed it but does not wish to speak further, despite Ian's clear like of her. The bald man who followed them storms into the church and holds them at gunpoint. Wilson emerges from another room with a gun trained on the man, and the two stand off, Wilson begging him to put the gun down so he will not be forced to kill him, and the man smugly insisting Wilson does not have the stomach to shoot. Before the man can fire, he is shot in the head by a middle-aged woman, who immediately digs her fingers into the gunshot wound to remove the bullet. She calmly introduces herself as Milner and has Wilson blow the man's head open with his gun, as the shape of the bullet wound could identify her as MI5 and thus give her away should the man's death be investigated. Wilson gives her his gun upon request and she points her own weapon at his head, asking if she has been led into a trap, only lowering it when Ian asks the same thing. Moving the meeting out to a forest, Milner explains they need to find out why the Network wants the manuscript. Becky theorizes that it may be to protect the identity of Mr. Rabbit, which Milner agrees with. Becky tells her that Grant has it and that he also mentioned having a girlfriend named "Alice", and Milner encourages them to find her. When Ian protests, not wanting to put him and his friends in more danger than they already are, Milner tries to sway him by explaining Philip Carvel was in favor of eugenics using disease. Unconvinced, the group move to leave and Milner gives them a phone with her number programmed into it.

Jessica sneaks her and Grant into a motel room and she offers to let him hold her gun when he stares at it, but he does not. Grant is impressed when she explains she hacked them into a room and says he wants to be like her, which Jessica seems to like. She dyes his hair black and gives him eyeliner while watching a news report about more deaths on Fetlar from the Russian flu. Grant watches a segment on the news of a woman asking him to turn himself in and asks Jessica to contact his mother, wanting to tell her he was not responsible for the shooting, which she refuses. Grant solemnly asks if he is going to be "normal after this," and Jessica distracts him by offering to give him alcohol. Letts gives Arby Alice's information and he moves to leave, but stops and asks Letts what he himself was like as a child, his earliest memories being of killing animals with Letts present. He tells Letts about his hesitance to kill the boy with the raisins and Letts tries to calm him, but Arby ignores him and asks who his parents are. Letts tells him he does not have parents and mentions that Arby was experimented on by Philip Carvel as a child. Arby muses that Lee, the person he knew best next to Letts, was killed and yet he feels nothing about it, wondering why he feels that way. Letts tells him he is "special," but Arby responds with "I don't feel special."

Jessica has gotten Grant drunk in hopes of learning where the manuscript is without hurting him. Before he can say anything, he rushes to the toilet and vomits, now distraught and apologetic. She puts him to bed and holds him as he passes out. Milner meets with Ian and gives him Alice's information, telling him to go to her house as Jessica will also be headed there. Ian asks her why finding Mr. Rabbit's identity is so important. Milner tells him a story: he was a man who operated deep within a Chinese criminal underworld, playing organizations off each other without anyone knowing. Irate, the CIA leaked this knowledge to a crime boss named Rabbit, who attacked Mr. Rabbit in the street and dragged him away, carving the Chinese character for his name into Mr. Rabbit's stomach. Mr. Rabbit freed himself, killed Rabbit and his men, then went back to the spot he was abducted from and killed everyone who had seen him, the death count totaling 265. If the group exposes his identity, the Network shuts down and they get to go back to their lives. Dugdale goes to Fetlar and sneaks into a quarantined tent that is being used to store bodies and cuts off a corpse's finger before hiding from the men in hazmat suits working on the island.

Alice is in a meeting with a detective, her mother, and Laura, a child liaison officer, the Network having tipped off the police that she had been in contact with Grant. When she surrenders nothing, the detective passes her off to a "police officer," actually Arby. He immediately asks "did he give you the manuscript?" and judges by her facial reactions that Grant did. Grant and Jessica retrieve the manuscript from Alice's room just as Arby, Laura, Alice and her mother return home, causing them to hide. When Alice goes to get the manuscript from her room and finds it gone, Arby shoots Laura in the head. He threatens to kill her mother next as she insists she does not have it, and Grant, hiding in the bathroom, shouts that he has the manuscript. Jessica, also with Grant, shoots through the door in case Arby is on the other side and announces her presence. When she refuses to surrender the manuscript, Arby kills Alice's mother and grabs the girl, shouting that he will kill her next. Grant begs Jessica to do something, and she reluctantly drops her gun and agrees to trade Alice's life for the manuscript, first taking several pages from the book and giving them to Grant to hide. Grant and Alice escape out the window and Jessica gives Arby the manuscript while he levels his pistol at her head. He asks what Philip Carvel was like, and Jessica says she does not know and that is why she wanted the manuscript. A visibly confused Arby lowers his gun and asks "where is Jessica Hyde?" before leaving. Grant and Alice's getaway is intercepted by the group, who pull up and have them get in before driving off.

Dugdale cuts up the finger and returns home, where he finds Geoff Lawson talking to Jen about her and Dugdale's attempts to conceive. Lawson asks to talk to Dugdale privately and orders him to give him the finger or he will have Jen raped. He asks if Dugdale gave him all of it and he insists that he did. Lawson reprimands him for using his own ID to get into Fetlar, that having been how the Network found out about his plot, and tells him he saved his and Jen's lives by insisting Dugdale is still useful. He promises Dugdale that his life could be good if they worked together, but that he will be killed if he goes against Lawson again. Lawson leaves and Dugdale takes out another piece of finger from his pocket, hiding it in his couch cushions.

Cast

 * Wilson Wilson - Adeel Akhtar
 * The Assistant - James Fox
 * Michael Dugdale - Paul Higgins
 * Milner - Geraldine James
 * Alice Ward - Emilia Jones
 * Arby - Neil Maskell
 * Christian Donaldson - Simon McBurney
 * Jessica Hyde - Fiona O'Shaughnessy
 * Geoff Lawson - Alistair Petrie
 * Conran Letts - Stephen Rea
 * Becky - Alexandra Roach
 * Ian Johnson - Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
 * Grant Leetham - Oliver Woollford
 * Jen Dugdale - Ruth Gemmell
 * Anya - Anna Madeley
 * Alice's Mum - Teresa Banham
 * Corporal - Ben Bishop
 * Shaven Headed Man - James Boyland
 * Grant's Mum - Sarah Churm
 * Bev - Eleanor Matsuura
 * Detective Richmond - Jay Simpson
 * Head Teacher - Dan Tetsell

Deaths

 * Principal
 * Teacher
 * Eight schoolchildren
 * Hitman
 * At least sixteen Fetlar citizens
 * Laura
 * Alice's mother

Music

 * "Utopia Finale" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Recap/Credits)
 * "Where Is Jessica Hyde? Part 1" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Arby contemplates the shooting, Grant and Alice run/Arby and Jessica meet)
 * "Meditative Chaos" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Jessica tells Grant she is like him, Jessica puts Grant to bed after he vomits)
 * "One Day Like This" - Elbow (Jessica drives with Grant)
 * "Evil Prevails" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (The group leaves the house to meet Milner)
 * "Dislocated Thumbs Part 1" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Dugdale chases Donaldson)
 * "Samba De Wilson" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Confrontation in the church)
 * "Utopia Descent" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Wilson shoots a corpse in the head/Meeting in the woods ends)
 * "A New Brand of Drug" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Milner explains Mr. Rabbit's origin story)
 * "Fertility Control" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Dugdale sneaks into the Fetlar quarantine)
 * "Conspiracy Part 2" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Standoff at Alice's house)