Arby

Arby is a character in both the and Prime Video  of Utopia. In both versions, he serves as an assassin of either the Network or the Harvest, though the two versions are rather different personality. In both versions, he is the brother of the main protagonist, Jessica Hyde. In the UK original, once he learns his birth name is Pietre, and that Arby was a nickname given to him for his habit of eating raisins (RB- raisin boy), he starts introducing himself as Pietre. Similarly in the Prime Video remake, after learning the truth of his origins, he decides to discard the name of Arby and begins going by John.

Utopia (UK)
"'I think a child needs love.' "

Pietre Carvel, also known as Arby is a main character in series 1 and 2 of Utopia. The firstborn son of Philip Carvel and Brosca, Arby was neglected by his father from a young age and raised for most of his life by The Network with no idea of his family background. During series 2, Arby's leitmotif is Brainwave Playground.

Background
His name is derived from the initials "R.B.," which stand for "Raisin Boy," which is according Conran Letts, is "what they called you when they forgot who you were." It's only when Arby finds the Utopia Manuscript and reads it that he realizes he is Carvel's son and that he was experimented on as a child, leaving him emotionally stunted and allowing him to be a ruthless and efficient killer.

Series 1
Arby is first seen with Lee entering Doomsday Comics in search of the Utopia manuscript. While Lee kills the men in the store one by one, Arby obtains Bejan Chervo's address at the counter. When Lee leaves for a cigarette after disconnecting the gas, Arby finds a child hiding in the shop, telling him "don't put the gas away yet." before leaving.

When they arrive at Bejan's apartment, Arby holds him at gunpoint and asks him "Where is Jessica Hyde?" while Lee obtains the manuscript. When Arby concludes that Bejan doesn't know who Jessica Hyde is, he pushes him off the balcony to his death. Grant, who snuck in earlier and stole the manuscript from Arby's bag, makes a sound when witnessing this and manages to escape from Lee, although he scrapes his arm on the door and they are able to find out who he is. Grant escapes from the duo at his school too and must go on the run from The Network. After submitting a report about Wilson Wilson, Joshua Reynolds is stabbed in the throat by Arby and left to bleed out.

Arby and Lee arrive at Wilson's house and handcuff him to a chair. He is then subjected to Lee's torture while Arby watches and questions him on the whereabouts of Jessica Hyde. After Lee removes Wilson's eye, Arby leaves and tells him to kill Wilson, although he is unaware that Wilson would escape and shoot Lee.

After Ian and Jessica leave an MI5 agent posing as Jack Tate's wife tied up, Arby finds her and questions her. When she asks if he will release her he shoots her in the head and leaves. When Arby finds the family that Becky tied up in their garage, he removes his portable gas canister from his bag and asks them about Jessica Hyde, presumably killing them afterward (rest in piss you wont be missed)

Arby is waiting inside a toilet stall in Grant's school when he receives a call from Letts to begin his mission. He asks the head teacher how many people are in the school before killing him. He then walks around the school killing every teacher and pupil. When he arrives at the gym and draws his gun on the boy inside, he hesitates when he sees the boy dropped a box of chocolate raisins. He wipes a tear from his eye and shoots him. Arby is later seen in his room, contemplating his decision and gazing at his box of chocolate raisins, presumably thinking of the boy he shot.

Letts later gives Arby information on Alice and tells him to find her and the manuscript. Before leaving, he reflects on his childhood, visiting slaughterhouses, killing animals and remembering Letts being there. He asks who his parents were, only told that he was "a consignment from Bulgaria." and that while Carvel was a brilliant scientist, he was not kind and had experimented on Arby. He asks Letts why Lee's supposed death doesn't hurt him and is told it's because he's special. He answers with "I don't feel special." before leaving.

Posing as a policeman, Arby meets Alice and once at her house, demands the manuscript from her. When Alice can't find it because Grant and Jessica have already taken it, he shoots her teacher and tells her that her mother is next. Grant yells from the bathroom that he has it, but Arby still kills Alice's mother and holds her hostage. He then trades Alice for the manuscript, allowing her and Grant to escape. He briefly speaks with Jessica, asking what her father was like, only to be told that she doesn't know. He then leaves.

In a roadside cafe, his "local", Arby reads the manuscript and realises that he is Carvel's son. The assistant and Letts speak about him being in possession of the manuscript and theorise that he let Jessica go. Letts enters his office and finds Arby waiting who tells him that he lied to him. He learns his name, Pietre before leaving. When Jessica forces Ian to call Milner and say that he's with Jessica Hyde, Arby is sent to their location, although he waits until they leave. Jessica then holds Arby at gunpoint and demands he bring her to the manuscript, to which he complies, stating "Of course. That's why I'm here."

When Jessica has a nightmare of Christos' murder, Arby watches her while cuffed to a fireplace. When Arby tells Jessica they must go to the roadside cafe to speak with someone important, it's really a ploy so that he can have something to eat, telling Jessica that they need to keep up their strength. He states that it's nice to actually talk to her and that he's something of a fan. He asks her if Christos loved her and says "I think a child needs love." He then tells her his name and offers a handshake but is rebuffed and told they're leaving. He aks if she has nightmares a lot and then tells her he needs to go to the toilet before he leaves.

He then brings Jessica to the tree that Christos was tied to before his murder. He reveals that he killed Christos and after describing the torture he put him through only to gain no information from him, states that he was only fifteen. He tells her he's telling her this because he wanted her to know she was loved by him and that she could kill him now for revenge or he could take her to the manuscript, but he won't do it with her threatening him. Parked outside the area he hid the manuscript in, he crashes his car into two Network agents outside and kills them, revealing he obtained a gun from a toilet cistern at the cafe. Once inside he lights a fire he prepared to keep The Network back and takes her to his childhood room. He then shows her the oldest rock in the world, of which they both have part. He tells her that he is also Philip Carvel's child and warns her not to take the manuscript, although she demands it from him. After she obtains the manuscript, Arby sits down in his cell and Jessica leaves him.

Series 2
After the fire at the warehouse storing the russian flu vaccine, Arby assumed The Network had disbanded and found a new life with a woman named Tess and her daughter Amanda which he maintained for four months prior to series 2. At the beginning of season 2 he tells Amanda that he likes cartoons.

When arriving home one day, Arby greets Amanda with a stuffed toy and sits watching cartoons with her, arguing lightheartedly over his name. When arriving home the next day however, he finds Lee -thought to be dead- waiting for him. After explaining his survival Arby invites him inside for quinoa. Arby tells Lee that he thinks they can finally move on from The Network but Lee debunks his wish by telling him that they're starting again and that the fire barely set them back. He also informs him that they want him back for the job of killing Christian Donaldson. He declines and after assuming Lee was out, discovers he still works for The Network only mere moments before Tess and Amanda return home. When Lee introduces himself, he subtly threatens them in a way that only Arby understands. This ensures his compliance and he is brought to Milner.

Their arrival interrupts Milner having a heart to heart with Wilson regarding their goal. Milner gives Arby his mission of killing Donaldson and after he leaves, Lee approaches her and explains that he's become "uncharacteristically soft". Milner then instructs Lee to send a SWAT team to make sure Donaldson is killed. When Grant is exploring a disused building with Ian and they split to search more, he spots Arby and runs. He has to stop however when he sees a member of the SWAT team and is caught by Arby, although he lets him go on the condition he remain quiet. He then waits for the soldier to come through the door and holds his gun against his head, learning how many soldiers are in the building before killing him and warning Grant to "Come with me or they'll kill you." He then finds two soldiers about to shoot Ian and Becky and kills them too. He then tells them to wait with Grant while he finds the last one. When the last soldier is about to kill Donaldson, Arby shoots him in the back and rescues Donaldson. The group then escapes to a nearby field where Arby explains that Donaldson is the man The Network are after before going on the run with them.

Arby wakes the group and gives them breakfast before questioning Donaldson on why he's been targeted. They discover that it's because his old professor, Dobri Gorski, told him "Jimmy Deesh L is fat man," although none of the group can make sense of this. Arby takes the group to Ben, a member of an elite hacking collective and an ally. He helps them discover that Russian flu, originally though to be fiction used to scare people into taking the vaccine, will actually be released. Arby then tells the group he has things he needs to see to and that he will meet them later, returning to Ben's house to request three new identities.

When Lee arrives at Ben's house he finds him and his parents are already dead. Arby then appears, offering him Donaldson and the others in exchange for Tess and Amanda's safety. Arby then tells him that "When this is over, I'm coming for you." Lee agrees to the conditions of the exchange and makes another push to recruit Arby to The Network, but finds he is already gone.

Arby tells the group he and Donaldson will go to get supplies but in fact brings Donaldson to Lee. After Arby sees that Tess and Amanda are alive and well, he calls them and gives them instructions as well as two new identities before telling them that he won't be able to see them again. He then allows Lee to kill Donaldson and sits in silence. Lee then asks that Arby bring him the others too as they now need them -perhaps because of Milner's discovery that Anton is Philip Carvel- but is instead ignored and asked "Where is Jessica Hyde?"

Arby then returns to the building that the group are hiding in and finds Grant leaving with his gun. He takes it from him and sits with him while discussing his ease at killing. Grant then tells him that Anton is Carvel. Arby then goes upstairs and kills Marius, the interpreter Becky and Ian hired to talk to Anton/Carvel. Becky manages to get away but Ian is left in his crosshairs. As he takes aim, Grant begs him not to do it. Arby then leaves with Anton/Carvel and takes Grant with him.

He brings them to an old training camp in the hills that he wants to show Carvel, although he actually believes Grant to be Arby. When he hears an unusual sound, he investigates and sees Milner in the distance, a distraction so that Jessica can point her gun at him, asking "Where's dad?" He is trusted to ensure Milner doesn't try to get away and after she goes to speak with Carvel, he sits and talks to Jessica, providing her with the third new identity. Carvel returns and still unaware that Arby is his son, shoots him in the chest before telling Jessica to run. She escapes with Arby and attempts to keep him alive.

Wilson (presumably) manages to get Arby to a Network-run hospital with the group and it's predicted that he won't survive. Lee disguises himself and finds Arby's hospital room and prepares to kill him but is stopped by Jessica, to whom he admits that Arby is the only thing that scares him. Jessica later shaves his beard off and is reluctant to leave him alone for even a minute when Ian needs her help in killing Terrance. When unknown men capture Jessica, Carvel, Ian, and Becky, Arby miraculously wakes up.