Upload—Season 1, Episode 9 (Update Eve)
The penultimate episode of the season kicks off with people lined up in front of the Freeyond store – a free digital afterlife. Nora and Yang are walking down the street and see a long queue already formed, despite the fact that the store won’t open for two days. Meanwhile Nathan and Luke discuss Nathan’s decision to break up with Ingrid, with Luke pointing out the flaw in his plan to break up with her and then ask her for money, so he can continue to live at Lakeview until he figures out where else to live out his afterlife.
We then see all of the Horizen staff with VR masks on in a Lakeview-based staff meeting regarding Lakeview’s impending update. They are told that all Uploads must be asleep when the update takes place. Once the staff meeting is over, the staff prepare for their winter party. Lucy is pressuring Nora to admit her feelings for Nathan so she can fire her, however Nora doesn’t break, instead telling her that Byron is her boyfriend and she asks him to come to the party. Meanwhile Nathan and Viv are consulting with their lawyers to try and find an alternative afterlife for Nathan after he breaks up with Ingrid.
After Nathan and Viv’s meeting, Nathan calls Jamie again asking for financial assistance, it’s revealed that while Jamie isn’t taking the call, he can see Nathan leaving him a message.
While the Horizen staff are having their winter party, Lakeview is simultaneously holding an update party. Lucy tells the Lakeview residents that there is a golden egg hidden somewhere and that whoever finds it will get one million Lakeview dollars and their angel will get $1000 of their own.
Jamie calls Nathan back during the egg hunt and admits to hooking up with Ingrid and gives him $3000 to try and make amends. Nathan takes the money and decides to use it to live on the 2Gig floor for a few months. When Ingrid gets a notification of Nathan being demoted to 2Gig status, she goes to Lakeview offering to increase his allowance, however Nathan breaks up with her. Ingrid tells him she has to own him as some people “wanted him out of the way.” When Nathan asks her what she knows and if he was murdered, she gets upset and leaves.
During the winter party, Nora goes on a computer away from everyone and visits Nathan. Nathan tells Nora that Ingrid knows something, and he broke up with her. Nora suggests that Nathan stays awake during the update to restore his damaged memories. He also gives Nora a handmade gift—a brooch made from Lakeview materials. She also gives him an icon that she stole from one of the I.T. guy’s, a device that would allow him to view Lakeview’s computer code.
Meanwhile, a depressed Ingrid goes to the kitchen to get comfort food, angrily banging the packed food on the counter while her father, Oliver is on the phone discussing the Freeyond launch. When she tells Oliver that Nathan dumped her, he remarks that he predicted it and she drops pasta on the floor in anger. She tells him that she heard what he and someone else were planning and changed Nathan’s car setting to prioritise occupant. It’s then revealed that David Choak found the egg, even though Aleesha tried to help Luke find it, although she gets the money anyway as she’s also David’s angel. The angels then put everyone to sleep just before Lucy starts the update. Meanwhile as the party ends, Byron asks Nora if they are going back to his place, but Nora says no and that they aren’t right for each other. Byron somewhat refuses to accept this, although he says goodbye anyway and holds onto hope that they’ll get together someday.
Everyone leaves the office, including Nora, although she sneaks back in using pigs-in-a-blanket that weren’t served at the winter party as doorstops. Nora goes back into Lakeview to wake Nathan up, they end up kissing passionately on his balcony and the AI Guys catch them. Nathan uses the icon to make them invisible and the AI Guys lay down on the grass to be updated. Nora leaves so Nathan can be updated, however at the last minute she realises that the update could mean that he might lose his memories of his time at Lakeview so far. He doesn’t want to go through with it after she tells him this, but she updates him anyway, and leaves the office.
The penultimate episode is usually a springboard for the finale. Overall I felt that this episode did its job in that a new suspect in Nathan’s murder is provided in the form of Oliver, the update raises the stakes of Nathan and Nora’s relationship, and Nathan’s choice to break up with Ingrid and move to the 2Gigs floor will change his life completely. I appreciated the cliffhanger of not knowing whether the update worked properly in restoring Nathan’s damaged memories and if his memories of Nora would be erased.
On a smaller note, I enjoyed the scenes between Luke and Aleesha as Aleesha tries to assist Luke in finding the golden egg to no avail. I also appreciated that Nora finally decided that her and Byron shouldn’t be together.
Stray Observations:
-Mr. Caputo’s hard drive, which Aleesha had to look for in an earlier episode, can be seen on top of the office’s hanging lights.
-Luke offers to be Nathan’s “sugar daddy” and pay for his accommodation if he finds the hidden egg at Lakeview.
-A unicorn appears during the update.
-Aleesha is also David Choak’s and Mildred’s angel.
Loveday Writing 