‘Utopia’s Eye Torture Scene is The Grossest Thing You’ll See All Year

Amazon’s latest show almost seems designed to stir up controversy. Utopia is a sci-fi thriller all about a mysterious comic book that predicts a flue-born pandemic — something in the show that’s treated as preposterous. Yet for all of its questionable choices and odd timing, Gillian Flynn’s new series does one thing very right: Utopia is responsible for one of the absolute grossest scenes of the year.

The drama revolves around a group of people from across America who are united by one niche interest. They all believe that Dystopia, a mysterious comic from an unknown artist, isn’t actually a comic at all. It’s a coded message about the diseases that will come to infect the world. So when a sequel comic is revealed these friends drop everything and pool their money together to buy it. Little do they know that they’re not the only ones interested in Utopia. While they’re scheming and obsessing over this new installment like the giddy fanboys they are, two hitmen have been literally killing anyone who dares to look at the comic.

The gut-wrenching barf fest in question happens in Episode 2, “Just a Fanboy.” After meeting each other at a convention, Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges) invites his new buds to his underground bunker, because of course he does. This is the type of show where a character with two last names would casually have a bunker. Wilson’s pals leave him to to grab some coffee, and that’s when he’s confronted by the deadly duo of Arby (Christopher Denham) and Rod (Michael B. Woods).

By this point Arby and Rob know that Wilson has seen Utopia and he likely knows where the comic is. And so they give him an option. Either Wilson answers their questions or he has to face salt, bleach, and then a spoon.

At first Wilson has no idea what these bizarre threats mean, but it doesn’t take long for him to learn. After he insists that he doesn’t know where Utopia is and he doesn’t know the boy who stole the comic, it’s time for the salt. Arby and Rod pry one of his eyes open and pour roughly half a box of salt into the vulnerable socket. Yeah, you know where this is going.

As they move from salt to bleach to literally gouging Wilson’s eye out with a spoon, Borges gives this show’s absolute best performance. He screams and pants through the torture, writhing in a way that makes these horrors feel real and all the more terrifying. It’s difficult to watch without gagging at least a little.

Luckily, Wilson is rescued at the last minute by a deeply unexpected savior. But by that point the damage has been done. Wilson has lost his eye, and Desmin Borges’ screams have already started to creep into our nightmares.

Watch Utopia on Prime Video