Loveday Writing

Meanwhile, Lucy is showing Aleesha a low-level luxury apartment to rent as she has been promoted to VP. Lucy tells her as that as a Horizen VP, she can buy new food, make new friends and live in a new world. In Lakeview, Ingrid is getting her hair done by the AI Guy ahead of her appointment with the digital baby doctor. She confides in the AI Guy that she wants Nathan to at least agree to a digital baby, with the aim of eventually having a baby with him in real life. Meanwhile, Nathan expresses his guilt to Luke about wanting to break-up with Ingrid, and his code being sold to Freeyond as a way to exploit the poor.

At the digital baby doctor appointment, Ingrid makes it clear she wants Nathan to carry the baby but Nathan admits that he can’t do this for her and leaves. Ingrid tries to convince him to stay but he breaks up with her. Ingrid begs him not to leave, telling him that his clone body is nearly complete, so he can finally download and come home, and he can hold his family and her in his arms again. When he points out she’s dead, she reveals the truth about being in a VR suit. He tells her he owes her nothing and leaves, filled with joy that his guilt and his relationship are finally over.

Meanwhile, Nora and Ivan are making their way back to the Ludd village. After they stop the car, Nathan calls Nora and he tells her about Ingrid, the break-up, and her keeping his body. He tells her that he needs to try downloading in the clone body, as the experiments on downloading into pigeons have shown that most of them made it at least 24 hours, and that’s all he needs to break into Freeyond and shut it down. They decide they have to steal his clone body, which is being kept in Los Angeles, as Ingrid wouldn’t give it to them willingly. Ivan tells them that there are Ludds in LA that can help them and they need to get Pastor Rob on their side.

When Nora talks to Pastor Rob, she points out that Nathan is willing to risk his head exploding to put a stop to Freeyond, this brings Pastor Rob and a few other Ludds on board, including Matteo. While they make their way to LA via a hyperloop train, Viv is shown in line at Freeyond, about to get uploaded herself. Meanwhile, Nathan says goodbye to Luke before going to the Grey Zone so he can be downloaded.

Nathan makes his way to the Grey Zone, while Nora, Matteo, Ivan and the Ludds tie up the biomedical lab’s receptionist. While Nora and Nathan try to find his body, they hear Ingrid. Ingrid is about to move Nathan to another facility so no-one can find him until Nora comes up to her. Ingrid threatens to pull the tubes out of the tub and Matteo pulls his gun on her, telling Nora that the tub and tubes are keeping Nathan’s body alive until he downloads. Nora talks her down, telling her that she’s worked hard for her wealth and beauty, and Nathan should come back to the real her, not this version of her. Ingrid lets go of the tubes, and Nora, Matteo and the Ludds prepare Nathan’s body for download.

While it’s not exactly smooth sailing, Matteo successfully downloads Nathan. Nathan apologises to a tied-up Ingrid and thanks her for everything. Nathan, Nora, Matteo and the Ludds leave the facility before the police arrive. They get back on the hyperloop train to make their way to back to New York, and Nathan and Nora have sex for the first time.

Meanwhile, Aleesha tells Lucy she’ll take the apartment and promotions, and Lucy tells her this means that she’s on Horizen’s golden leash now, proving Nora’s theory in the previous episode was right. Tinsley tries to find Nathan in the system and asks Batia for help, Batia tells her that he fell into a glitch and restart him from the auto-backup, and not to tell anyone. Back at her apartment, Ingrid digs into a box of Nathan’s stuff and gets a hair from his hairbrush and puts it in a Ziploc bag, so she can use his DNA to have a baby.

The episode and season ends with Nathan looking in the hyperloop compartment mirror and discovering that his nose is bleeding, signalling to him and the audience that he is not going to last much longer.

I said at the beginning of my review that I felt that the finale did half its job, I felt it did half its job as it established plenty of story arcs for the next season, which would be fine if we knew it was being renewed, but as of today, there has been no news of neither the show’s renewal nor cancellation. I generally hate it both as a viewer/fan and a reviewer when shows end their seasons on a cliffhanger, especially if they haven’t been renewed and/or if they don’t get renewed because the writers are essentially shooting the show in the foot. If the show is cancelled, the fans don’t get any closure or return on their, so far, two-year investment. I also felt it only did half the job because none of the season’s story arcs were closed off.

I also found it interesting, and at times off-putting, that there were a lot of cutaways in this episode that haven’t been seen in previous episodes, such as the cutaway to a downloaded pigeon exploding in front of Aleesha and Luke’s G-rated dreams. I found it off-putting as it threw off the pacing in the episode and they weren’t really needed for what they were referencing. I also found Aleesha climbing the Horizen corporate ladder and becoming more like Lucy interesting, and if there is a third season, I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out, especially with Nora, as this season ended with the two of them already drifting apart and experiencing conflict. Another slightly off-putting change in this episode was the slapstick humour in Matteo trying to get Nathan’s body out of the tub, however it wasn’t as bad as the cutaways as the slapstick of that situation was believable in the story.

In terms of the season as a whole, I felt it was a lot darker in comparison to the previous season. The first season was all about establishing the show’s premise and characters, showing the benefits and fun sides of the cushy digital afterlife Lakeview offered, and then establishing the murder mystery, with its surface barely scratched. This season kicked off with Nora’s life in hiding with the Ludds, and Nathan trying to figure out who murdered him, the Ludds trying to take Horizen and Lakeview down in extreme ways, and it ended with Nathan being downloaded and starting to die, Aleesha and Nora drifting apart, and Ingrid becoming completely unhinged.

There were a few disappointing things about this season. For me, what came in first place, disappointment-wise, was Ingrid’s inconsistent character arc, which I mentioned in my previous review. I really thought the writers would have Ingrid’s character finally moving on, but in this episode, she fell right over the edge. Second place in my disappointment was Dylan’s one-time appearance with only two lines of dialogue, considering how much of a source of humour he was in the previous season, and he seemed to be replaced with Yang, who I loved, but she didn’t make enough appearances for my liking either. Third place, the fact that Fran’s murder wasn’t addressed and no-one, both the writers and characters, cared that she was murdered. There was no mention of her, her murder, nothing, the writers really shouldn’t have written her in at all if they weren’t going to bother with any follow up.

Despite the comments above, I have enjoyed watching and reviewing Upload’s second season, I really hope it is renewed, both as a fan and a reviewer, and that it doesn’t become another fantastic show that is cancelled and ends on a cliffhanger.

Stray Observations:

Running gag – Luke wanting to have a sleepover with Nathan.

-Aleesha makes $38,000 at both Horizen and Falafel Halal, answering the questions of how much money she makes and why she is having trouble affording a decent, spacious apartment.

-It appears that food printers have replaced stoves in the future, especially when Lucy shows Aleesha the low-level luxury apartment, and a food printer but not a stove can be seen in the background.  

-Nora confirms that Matteo is now her ex-boyfriend.

-The AI Guy in hairdressing mode was hilarious, especially when he was spraying Ingrid’s hair for no reason, as all he needed to do was snap his fingers to style her hair perfectly.

-Ingrid’s middle name is Bambi

-Luke points out to Nathan that if he has a baby with Ingrid, it would be his great-great grandson. It hasn’t been made clear if Luke married Mildred in Lakeview, or whether he just views his relationship with her as serious enough to make that kind of comment.

-Apparently when a water breaks for an upload carrying a digital baby it doesn’t have to be “water”, it can be Gatorade, merlot or chocolate milk, whatever is comfortable, and as he’s male, it would come out of his anus.

-Apparently Ivan isn’t attracted to people he respects.

-Apparently the name of Ivan’s Roomba is Monique.

-Nora initially planned on becoming a lawyer.

-Aleesha set Luke to G-Dream, so he can only dream about kittens and cotton candy, a throwback to previous episodes where Luke was having sex dreams about her.

-Luke says without actually saying how he feels about Nathan by playing the Mariah Carey song, Without You. I also found it hilarious and interesting that he had that song ready to go via a clap-on command.

-Jennifer Garner is the voice of 911’s answering service.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Is this seriously your first time in a low-level luxury apartment?” “This is low-level?” (Lucy-Aleesha on the apartment Lucy shows her, which has a massage wall)
• “Come on Nora, I know you don’t have a sister, I stalk you on social media.” (Ivan to Nora)
• “A bunch of these are upside down. Look, Nathan, help me find which arse is yours.” “Well, it’s very tight. Pretty toned. At least it was, the last time I saw it. Probably still is right?” (Nora-Nathan on finding his clone body in the biomedical lab)