by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
Upload is a futuristic show set in the year 2033 where when you die, you can upload a digital copy of yourself to a digital afterlife. The concept of this show greatly intrigued me back in May 2020 and I have eagerly awaited a season two. This show immediately pulled me in, even though series creator Greg Daniels is extremely hit or miss for me. Upload is an Amazon exclusive and is one of two of their exclusives I have checked out; it’s the only one whose sophomore season kept me intrigued enough to finish it. Even though I thoroughly enjoy this show, it’s not without its problems and hiccups along the way. The story is fantastic and quite humorous. There are still questions that haunt me even after finishing season two, so let’s dive into the world of Upload.
Upload tells the story of Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), who gets into a mysterious car accident and is then immediately uploaded to the wealthy heaven of Lakeview by his girlfriend Ingrid Kannerman (Allegra Edwards). As Nathan begins to explore his new environment, he meets the A.I. Guy (Owen Daniels) and befriends Luke (Kevin Bigley), but soon discovers there are some things he can’t seem to remember. The techs who help the deceased transition to their new lives are called Angels, and Nathan’s is Nora Antony (Andy Allo), who begins trying to help Nathan uncover his memories. They discover something mysterious is going on, so Nora and Nathan set out to figure out this big mystery. Season two picks up right where season one ended, and now Ingrid is in the Lakeview world with Nathan Things just keep getting worse and worse for Nathan as he tries to solve the mystery of his accident, missing memories, and why everything has hit the fan.
Amell has amazing chemistry with everyone on this show and shows how talented he is. Amell and Allo have real chemistry, and their characters click with each other right away, which helps Nathan begin to grow as a person. Edwards also plays Ingrid really well, as she is a super wealthy person and her character doesn’t always come off as a superficial rich girl. Season two shows her how her trauma has affected her in a deeply emotional way. One thing Upload really has going for it is the chemistry between the actors; everyone involved feels like they would naturally hang out outside of doing the show. With such I high-tech CGI in the world of the show, the actors pull off using the CGI tech.
Even with all the fast food company names being combined with other company names, this world still feels like a realistic future, whereas a lot of sci-fi movies and shows make the tech seem too futuristic. The tech here feels both grounded and futuristic at the same time. The idea of a digital afterlife is really far-fetched, but the way the show uses it as an allegory to show how it’s only the elite who can afford the perfect afterlife is really eye-opening. We do see people who can’t afford luxuries still getting to live in these digital afterlives, but their lives are FAR less grand than those who can afford the best. Daniels doesn’t even beat you over the head with this. He shows that there are still people out there like Nora and Nathan, who care about making a difference. In this season, we are introduced to a radical group called the Ludd’s whose goal is to stop digital afterlives altogether, and the way they are handled doesn’t go too far into a parody of what a group like this would do.
One of the many things that haunts me about this show that I may just be reading too far into, is the processing power they would need to house these digital uploads, and why they can do so much. I understand wanting to have somewhere for your loved ones after they die so you can visit and have more time with them — hell, I’m definitely someone who would use that service. In the show, the uploads eat, sleep, play golf, paint, play tennis, even have sex (with other uploads or still living people), and there’s even talk about allowing them to still work. Like, why do they need to do all of this? Even Nathan brings that up, but the show just dismisses it like, look at all the cool stuff you can do once you’re dead. It just doesn’t click why they would want to still have all these things when they are literally just code (like the ones and zeroes digital code). Like I said, I am probably reading more into this than I should.
This show really is a great watch, and it’s even a pretty quick one at only 30 minutes for each episode. I can not recommend it enough. I waited almost two years for this show to come back for another season. It’s only seven episodes, three shy of the first season, but I agree with Daniels when he said the story could fit in these seven episodes. It gets me excited for hopefully more to come. So if you haven’t checked this one out, or it’s on your Amazon list waiting to be watched, there’s no time like the present to do so. You could easily knock it out on a weekend.
Score: 8/10
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