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But personal expression is something else … it fosters disharmony.” That’s a bold idea for a series to put out there-to challenge the pat nature of a system that touts diversity only on the surface-and it leads to some sharp ideas about privilege, especially as Bodhi (whose personal arc is the story’s best) starts to see what his community means to higher authorities, and that those figures are also trying to mute his newfound rapping skill. As one figurehead says, “We embrace diversity. This best of the storytelling comes out in its critique of the society’s approach on diversity.

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“Utopia Falls” can be ideologically ambitious with its intricate ideas of how to encourage viewers to question everything, especially as this place does seem like a utopia from its exposition-heavy introduction. You don’t have a strong idea of exactly what art, and art forms, have and have not been banned from this society that uses dance as one of its greatest cultural expressions.

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This isn’t like the sci-fi movie “ Equilibrium,” in which all creators of feelings were taken away, instead it’s select art-you might hear the melody of “Rapture” by Blondie used as part of an Exemplar dance routine in the beginning, but that’s before learning that it’s hip-hop that has been taken out of culture.

The series has a bizarre problem with the construction of its world, as it doesn’t make you clearly aware of just how removed hip-hop is from the world, or the other culture that specifically isn’t allowed. That's just the spark for how 'Utopia Falls' heads toward revolution, and its ultimate dance competition. Authority is not pleased, and when they arrest Bodhi for dissension, the teenagers use their newfound knowledge of stepping and the Civil Rights movement to protest.

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Bodhi and Aliyah pass along the knowledge of the Archive with their peers, and it starts to affect how they dress and perform for the Exemplar. The knowledge inspires both of them, and Bodhi even leaves The Archive as a new type of rapper who can freestyle, and questions more about himself and where he comes from. It’s like a giant storage locker with a lot of unknown-to-them books, art, and a guiding voice-Snoop Dogg's-who shows them different examples of culture, including hip-hop. But everyone follows the colony motto of “Trust the Authority,” and the young people excitedly participate in this show’s version of the the Hunger Games: a dance competition called the Exemplar, meant to pay tribute to the colony’s founder, Gaia.Įverything changes by the end of episode one, when Bodhi and Aliyah discover a secret space at the edge of the colony called the Archive. Yes, there are different classes so to speak: Bodhi (Akiel Julien) is from a place called Reform, which is like the lower-class Aliyah (Robyn Almoar) unwittingly enjoys a higher privilege being the daughter of a Tribunal. The last living colony on Earth, Utopia Falls is presented in the pilot's opening scenes as indeed a type of place where peace has been figured out, and no one questions how they’re being treated.

Through episodes that have large gaps of intrigue, the revolution within “Utopia Falls” relies too heavily on sci-fi tropes as its language to communicate to viewers in 2020 about the importance of the culture and history we still have. Thorne is assuredly not like anything else on TV, and even touts itself as “the first ever sci-fi hip-hop TV series.” But it can lose its impact with its its own broader construction, including the one-dimensional, high school-like dramatics for its mass of young actors.

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