Loveday Writing

Throughout the pilot, the pros and cons of Nathan’s virtual afterlife in Lakeview are shown, such as meeting other residents whose avatars are old black-and-white photos, him being able to call Ingrid from the afterlife, and minor glitches that another resident, Luke, knows about and exploits. Overwhelmed, Nathan tries to commit “virtucide” only for his human handler, Nora, stopping him. The pilot ends with someone deleting some of Nathan’s digital memories from Nora’s work computer.

The first season explores other futuristic aspects both in the living and afterlife worlds, such as the dead being able to attend their own funerals via video call, an upload trying to download back to Earth only for the procedure to fail and result in the upload permanently dying, the power Ingrid has over Nathan as she essentially owns his avatar, the grey market essentially being the afterlife black market, and the class system of the afterlife shown through the “2Gigs” floor and Viv having to shop for alternative afterlives for Nathan when he plans to break up with Ingrid.

The first season also reveals that Nathan was murdered, due to being a threat in the afterlife industry with his free afterlife software. His wealthy Lakeview neighbour, David Choak, is the first person to suggest this, and as the season progresses it becomes more obvious that his guess is correct. Nathan’s cousin, Fran, tries to investigate the accident only for someone to hack her self-driving car so it drives off a pier. It’s also revealed that Ingrid tampered with Nathan’s car but only as an attempt to save his life, and an assassin tried to destroy Nathan’s hard drive and kill Nora.

The season ends with the launch of Nathan and Jamie’s free virtual afterlife, Freeyond, Nathan breaking up with Ingrid and moving to the 2Gigs floor only for Ingrid to upload herself, the reveal that Ingrid’s father, Oliver, was involved in Nathan’s murder, and Nora going off the grid after narrowly escaping the assassin.

The second season was shorter with seven episodes but managed to pack a lot into it. It kicked off with Nora in hiding with the Ludds, and Nathan and Ingrid staying together, with Nathan going back to his original Lakeview room, the NYPD opening up a homicide investigation on the assassin that tried to kill Nora, and the reveal that Ingrid is in a VR suit pretending to be uploaded.

The second season goes on to re-explore class by having Nathan act like ‘Robin Hood’ by giving data from the rich uploads to uploads on the 2Gigs floor, the introduction of a new Lakeview employee, Tinsley, who develops a crush on Nathan, and Nora getting a job in design at Horizen to do the Ludds’ work from the inside.

In the second half of the season, Nora decides not to be the Ludds’ inside woman anymore after she sees the damage they try to do to innocent uploads with a virus, we see where uploads’ human bodies are stored, and it’s revealed that David Choak orchestrated Nathan’s murder with Oliver. It’s revealed in the final two episodes that David and Oliver hired the assassin that went after Nora and had Nathan murdered so they could open Freeyond in key swing voting locations to influence elections. I felt this was an interesting but logical motive as Nathan’s net worth would be pocket change to someone like David Choak, but a political change is beneficial for both him and Oliver’s interests.

The season ends with Nora and Aleesha’s friendship deteriorating when Nora judges Aleesha for wanting a promotion at Horizen and lies to Aleesha about the day they spend in New York. It also ends with Nathan breaking up with Ingrid for good when she reveals she didn’t actually upload, and Nathan downloading into his clone body (which Ingrid almost kills after the break-up) to access Freeyond’s code and prevent it from being used. Whilst all of this is going on, Tinsley is reloading a back-up of Nathan’s avatar, and Ingrid has found a hair of Nathan’s on an old hairbrush to use, presumably, to make a baby as she’s been trying to get a digital baby in Lakeview all season.

The final moments of the second season show Nathan noticing his nose is bleeding, indicating that he won’t last much longer in the clone body.

I felt that the second season of Upload was a lot darker than the first. The first season was all about establishing the show’s premise and characters, and the benefits of the cushy virtual afterlife that Lakeview offered. This season was all about figuring out who murdered Nathan, what the murderer’s motives were, and Ingrid becoming unhinged. I was also disappointed with this season for a number of reasons, which included Fran’s murder not being addressed, Dylan only making one brief appearance, and Ingrid’s inconsistent character development.

I was also highly disappointed with the writers’ choice to end the season of a cliffhanger, especially as the show hadn’t been renewed for a third season at the time. If the show hadn’t been renewed, the cliffhanger ending would be unsatisfying for fans, and it’s just good sense to semi-close out a show if its future is unknown. I was so happy both as a fan and a reviewer to hear of its renewal and I’m looking forward to reviewing the third season when it’s released.

Behind the Reviews – Edition #32 will be released next week and will focus on web series I’ve reviewed.