Utopia – Stay Alive, Jessica Hyde

By: Gladys Luna

After being dropped at Dr. Stearns’ (Rainn Wilson) door, Dr. Christie (John Cusack) is dragged inside the house by Ian (Dan Byrd) and Wilson (Desmin Borges). They put him in the couch and everyone gathers in front of him. In the meantime, people are lining up to get their vaccine while Thomas (Cory Michael Smith) watches them happily from afar. Right that moment he receives a message where he is notified that his father has been kidnapped by John “Arby” (Christopher Denham). He immediately organizes a team and asks them to go in search of his father, making sure to keep Jessica (Sasha Lane) alive and take her to him. He also instructs them that if they find Arby, do whatever they want with him.

The tape has now been removed from Dr. Christie’s head and he spits a box of raisins that Arby had put in his mouth. He sees Jessica and asks if she remembers when he used to give her cookies and finds it funny to be presented as a prayer to the people. He has been relentlessly hunted by the one that was supposed to be hunting them. Dr. Stearns accuses him of using his vaccine and his name to discredit him. The kids bring a spoon, salt and bleach to the table just in case it is required. Dr. Christie asks about Colleen (Jeanine Serralles) and then sees her dead body a few feet away. He describes her as one of his best people, always creative and with a clear purpose and also speaks about the St. Louis twins, Charlotte (Hadley Robinson) and Lily (Taylor Blim). He explains that some parents are so desperate for money that they’re willing to sell their children and that’s how they found them and then raised them with a purpose as well. At this point they have realized that once the vaccine is released, administrated and failed the only one to be blamed for will be Dr. Stearns. Jessica takes a knife and cuts a piece of tape from his torso where she can see the rabbit Chinese symbol. Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop) encourages everyone to stop wasting more time and stop the vaccine from being delivered, but then Dr. Christie stops her in her tracks by telling her that he remembers how is that she got infected with Diels. Alice (Farrah Mackenzie) calls for them and reveals the pattern she has discovered in “Utopia.” They take a look at the symbol and find out that it might be a clue about the next virus. Dr. Christie tells them that is a mistake to believe that people are driven by their need of finding happiness when the only thing that keeps them going is the need of knowing what happens next. He asks Jessica if she might be interested in knowing just that. He explains that her father created a world changing omni virus and the only reason that she exists is because he tested it on her, but she refuses to believe him. He says that this vaccine will do something bigger than death but it is not deadly. He asks them, “What have you done today to earn your place in this crowded world?” He claims that he has created a cure for their current situation. In the meantime, outside the house a van has arrived with a group of people determined to kill the group inside. Unfortunately for them, Arby is there to protect them.

Dr. Christie explains that the purpose of the vaccine is to sterilize people. They want to stop human reproduction for the next three generations since he firmly believes that the civilization has been growing rapidly and killing everyone in their way. He loves people but also loves the planet. So, he decided to take care of the problem himself. He thinks that he didn’t do anything about it that in a few years the population would have been out of control and forced to live strategically and selflessly to survive. He also claims that humans are not exactly good at it so they would be fighting a war that it’s just not worth it. He wants to create a new society, a new world – “Home;” a grand social experiment and he wants Jessica to be back where she belongs with him. He sees Jessica’s scar and says that it was a gift from her father and a proof of the tests he ran on her. While the group is trying to find a way to stop the doctor’s plans, Jessica looks through the window and sees John/Arby carrying the bodies through the yard and waving at her making her to wave back. They ask the doctor to let them know the way to get into Christie Bio and he says that the only way is by using his thumb. He challenges them to cut it off so Becky takes a knife and does it. Jessica and Wilson decide to stay in the house with Dr. Christie while the others go to the laboratories, but Ian is not sure they can make it without Jessica. The woman goes closer to Grant (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton) and gives him a fist bump, shakes Ian’s hand and gives him something. Then, she shares a hug with Becky. After they leave Jessica goes to meet John/Arby who is staring at the bodies of the people he killed and confesses to her that he was born to help her. Then, he shows her the page of the manuscript he had taken where a boy and a girl are together saying that they are brother and sister. Jessica tells him that she just wants to go home and he offers himself to take her. Jessica doesn’t feel entirely well, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by John/Arby. He tells her, “Stay alive Jessica Hyde,” and takes her by the hand.

At Christie Bio a couple of guards (Phil Ridarelli), (Scott Philyaw) are chatting when they hear the sound of screeching tires approaching. The group makes their entrance and almost runs over one of them. They stop the car abruptly and manage to escape before the guards can reach them and make the car explode. They use Dr. Christie’s thumb to open the door to the warehouse where the vaccine has been stored and begin to break every single vial they see. In the meantime, Wilson is trying to convince the doctor to record a message where he takes responsibility for his actions, but he refuses. Instead, he tries to convince him of the reasons behind his decisions. The guards are now using a trailer to break the door of the warehouse while everyone inside is still smashing everything they find. Dr. Stearns pushes one of the racks in front of him and then rack by rack begin to fall while he, Alice and Grant runs from being smashed to pieces. In the meantime, Ian decides to give Becky the ring that Jessica gave him before they left the house and they kiss while everything falls apart behind them. Before they leave the place they set it on fire and then run away through a back door while Dr. Stearns goes in search of the lab. He sees a sign saying, “Vaccine Incubator” and inside he finds a mother egg surrounded by thousands of other eggs. He raises the temperature of the place and they begin to explode. He manages his way out of the building, but before he crosses the door he sees Thomas on the screen announcing that they have been attacked by bio terrorists and now they’re going under a lockdown.

Becky, Ian, Alice and Grant manage to escape the laboratory. Ian is tired of running and so is Alice so they decide to stop. Becky, on the other hand, decides to challenge Grant to a race and they go ahead of the other two. However, just seconds later they are stopped by a couple of police cars. Ian and Alice hide in the bushes while Grant punches the cops and asks Becky to run. In the meantime, John/Arby is driving Jessica “home.” They arrive to the Christie’s Farm where they see a lot of kids running and playing. Lily is sitting there while holding a bunny and looking at the two of them. Jessica returns to the yellow house where she spent most of her childhood and asks John/Arby to wait outside. She enters the place and sees everything exactly like before. She lies on her old bed and suddenly someone enters the room and puts a record on. They sit next to her. Said person turns out to be no other than the Agent Katherine Milner (Sonja Sohn). Becky keeps running, but then a black SVU stops by the sidewalk and Wilson comes out of it and asks her to join in. She does but then is surprised when she finds Dr. Christie and Thomas in it thinking that Wilson has betrayed them. Dr. Stearns drives away from Chicago while carrying the mother egg he stole from the lab.

Back to the yellow house when Jessica sees agent Milner she believes that she is at Homeland, but the woman tells her that she is just back at “Home.” She also tells her that her blood is saving her and that she should be grateful for that.  The woman shows her the rabbit Chinese symbol she has in her torso. Jessica gets off the bed and throws “Utopia” out of the window while John/Arby watches from outside and realizes that something is just not right. Agent Milner confesses that she doesn’t care about “Utopia” or heroes and that her and Dr. Christie have taken different paths, but he doesn’t know yet. The woman also tells her that she and Jessica’s father dreamed of a world they called “Utopia,” a rebirth world where everyone can be free from their biological impulses and have no choice but to do the right thing. They fight until the agent puts Jessica to the ground. She turns her around and rips her shirt and, in the back, we can see a number of red scars turned into symbols – the same ones printed on Jessica’s blanket. The woman tells her that she is not worthy, but carries the future on her back. Jessica passes out and then the other woman leaves and goes straight to a room hidden underground where a dirty man can be seen coloring a drawing where a bunch of animals are taking the red scars symbols from Jessica’s back and putting them into a jar. The woman stands next to him and says, “I have your daughter” and the man stops coloring.