Upload—Season 1, Episode 6 (The Sleepover)
This episode kicks off with Nora on a virtual bike ride with Dave, where he takes her to a spot he and her mother use to sneak off to. She tasks her VR mask off for a moment when she receives a text from Byron, which she ignores. She tells him about Byron and he encourages her to get to know him rather than spending her time with Nathan. She texts Byron asking him out on a real date for the next night and he agrees.
We then see Nathan lying in bed, woken up by his niece, Nevaeh. She is currently at school and is visiting as the substitute teacher told the students to watch a VR about the rainforest, but she took the opportunity to visit. Nevaeh tells him about Fran’s disappearance and Ingrid inviting her to a sleepover. She is reluctant to accept the invitation but Nathan encourages her to go. Nathan introduces her to Nora, but their introduction is cut short when Aleesha tells her about an emergency staff meeting.
At the staff meeting, Lucy informs Aleesha that Luke has made more complaints about her, and that the company has a promotion going on with Nokia Taco Bell for their virtual Gordita Crunch and to push it onto Uploads.
Nathan is then walking by an art class and runs into Nora, who tries to push the Gordita Crunch on him and tells him about her impending dinner date with Byron. Meanwhile Aleesha catches Luke sneaking into a member’s only hot tub by piggy back riding on the AI Guy. Aleesha plugs in her own microphone so she can reprimand him without being recorded and takes one of his middle fingers when he flips her off. She tells him he’ll get it back when he improves his attitude, he taps her in a few places, which sends her away to another area, revealing another glitch.
Meanwhile Nevaeh goes to Ingrid’s for the sleepover, where she is having dinner with her family. Ingrid’s family constantly insults her and have no qualms about insulting Nevaeh. When her mother calls Nevaeh a piggy, she kicks them out and suggests to Nevaeh that they do their hair the same. Nevaeh worries that this means Ingrid will straighten her hair, but she actually ends up curling her own. Ingrid gives Neveah one of Nathan’s jumpers, which she grabbed out of his car when she snuck into it to turn on the “prioritise occupant” setting. She asks Neveah if she thinks Nathan’s lonely as she feels he would be, which upsets her and Neveah comforts her.
Luke continues to access items he shouldn’t without paying for them when Aleesha discovers he has a bathtub filled with Gordita Crunches. When he flips her off again, she removes both his middle fingers. When he continues to insult her, she removes his penis, so he calls Lucy. Aleesha gives him back his penis but Lucy still appears and discovers his fingers are missing. Luke tells Lucy he won’t submit a complaint if Aleesha apologises. Aleesha reluctantly does so, Lucy leaves and Luke insults Aleesha again, only to discover that Aleesha put six of his fingers on one hand.
Nathan calls Jamie and finally gets a hold of him, only for Jamie to end the call abruptly. Nora goes on her date with Byron and finds out that he volunteers at the Y helping kids. Nora takes Byron to work to show him around but he mocks Lakeview and Nathan for painting, so she ends the date early.
While Nora is hanging out with Nathan after her date, she tells him about his damaged memories, her efforts to fix them and that she also believes he was murdered. She ends up falling asleep, staying overnight in Lakeview. She is awoken in the real world by Aleesha and is caught by an angry Lucy.
Overall this was another solid episode, while it wasn’t exactly Nathan-lite, the spotlight was once again thrown on the supporting characters. Both Nevaeh and the viewers get more of an insight into Ingrid, and she is actually an endearing character in this episode. Meanwhile the interactions between Luke and Aleesha were once again hilarious, especially as Aleesha is not above punishing him, albeit unconventionally and severely. However I felt that Byron’s characterisation was inconsistent, one minute his good qualities are emphasised and the next minute these qualities are completely undermined by his bad ones. It was honestly hard to know whether I was supposed to like him or not.
It will be interesting to see what Nora’s punishment will be for staying overnight in Lakeview.
Stray Observations:
-At real world pharmacies when a man is buying condoms, he is scanned for condom size and if a man picks a different size, a loud announcement is made “condom size dispute, aisle 4!” Apparently Byron’s condom size is medium.
-Luke’s surname is Crossley and Dylan’s surname is McNadd.
-Only Upload could make a dark joke out of the quote, “children are the future.”
-Nora was able to stretch Nathan’s ears.
-Painting in Lakeview involves taking mobile phone-like photos of the landscape and putting them on the canvas.
-Apparently an avatar can speed up an angel’s speech if they wanted to.
-Apparently Aleesha has a “fingers and dicks file”, implying that Luke isn’t the first male Upload she has removed fingers or genitals from.
-Uploads can pay extra to experience the common cold. A sneeze costs $1.99.
-Apparently Angels are also outsourced to Finland and Kenya.
Loveday Writing 