Loveday Writing

The job of a season finale is to wrap up the season’s story arcs and establish new ones for the next season (if there is another one). This finale did most of its job and this season was another one that ended on a cliffhanger.

The episode kicks off with the lawsuit underway, with Lucy on the stand and Holden asking her about her idea to try and appeal to children. Karina and Aleesha are watching the trial broadcast from Karina’s bedroom, with Karina finding Lucy’s divorce hilarious and suggesting that they upload her kid. Meanwhile in the real world, Nathan tells Nora he wants to be legally valid as a person so he can work, make money and go on a “trip to Montreal,” which Nora identifies as him wanting to get married and honeymoon there. Later, Real Nathan calls Luke and tells him about his plans to marry Nora and asks him to be his best man. After Luke hangs up, Aleesha is revealed to be there and asks for his advice on dealing with Karina, he tells her that they need to take her down in the same way that Karina would take them down.

Back in the real world, Holden informs Nora and Real Nathan that they need Ingrid to testify against Horizen. Holden offers to fly Nora and Real Nathan to LA to wine and dine Ingrid into testifying. Meanwhile, Aleesha and Luke ask Tinsley and the AI Guy for help in taking Karina down.

When Real Nathan and Nora go to the restaurant and wait for Ingrid to arrive, Backup Nathan calls and asks them not to keep Ingrid out too late as he is planning on proposing to her. Ingrid arrives and is reluctant to talk about testifying against Horizen, Nora asks Nathan to give her a moment alone with Ingrid. Nora tells Ingrid that things are going really well between her and Real Nathan, and that both of their relationships with their respective Nathans are at stake as they belong to Horizen, not them and they don’t have a future without legal rights, and she plans on embarrassing upload companies on the record and in a court of law. Nora then tells Nathan that Ingrid has agreed to testify.

Back in Lakeview, Backup Nathan surprises Ingrid with a romantic proposal but she immediately turns him down as it’s not the proposal she wanted. The next day, Backup Nathan calls Real Nathan and asks why Ingrid’s testifying for them but breaking up with him, and Aleesha pretends to be sick to get Karina’s Horizen login details, whilst Luke gets access to the Lakeview elevator to go to the 2Gigs floor, so he and the 2Gig uploads can storm the lobby. Aleesha tells Karina so she goes into the office, however their plan goes awry when Karina takes her laptop with her.

When Ingrid goes to Holden’s office, Nora tells her to be emotional with her testimony, however Holden tells her not to, as her testimony is to purely link Choak with Freeyond. When Holden leaves, Ingrid tells Nora that she doesn’t know where she stands with Backup Nathan, as she’s been chasing him for so long that when he turned around, she panicked. When Ingrid dissolves into tears, Nora comforts her and admits that her relationship with Real Nathan is good and she’s ready for more, but “Montreal” seems a little disappointing.

Whilst Ingrid is on the stand, she tells the court that Choak got Horizen to block memory files of Nathan after he was uploaded. However, things go awry when she inadvertently reveals that there are two Nathans roaming around during her heartfelt testimony. Meanwhile, Luke has to distract Karina in Lakeview, whilst Aleesha downloads files from Karina’s computer in her office and sneaks past her before she takes her goggles off. Aleesha thanks Luke and looks at Karina’s files in the real world. She calls Nora and tells her she’ll be sending the files, emphasising that it needs to be made clear they came from Karina.

When Ingrid returns to Lakeview, she finds Backup Nathan lying on his bed waiting for her with a note telling her to wake him up with a kiss when she’s ready. She kisses him and he tells her that she was sweet, brave and strong in court. She then accepts his marriage proposal and excitedly goes off to start planning their wedding.

The next morning in court, Holden enters the documents from Karina’s laptop into evidence, under the guise of calling Karina a Horizen whistleblower, the upload companies’ lawyers then ask for a recess. Later, Holden tells the plaintiffs that they won and each family that lost a member to the Freeyond scam will be awarded one million dollars. However, Nathan and Nora’s good mood about the outcome is ruined when Holden tells them that the incriminating documents Aleesha found will be sealed, and nothing has changed for uploads in terms of their legal rights. When Nora tells Holden that the outcome is a disaster, Holden tells her that if she feels this way she won’t make a great lawyer, and Nora agrees. Nora lets Aleesha know, and she calls Luke, just as she is being called into Karina’s office to be fired. Luke tells her that if she’s fired, they’ll never see each other again.

Lucy informs the Horizen staff that due to the lawsuit, Horizen is going to make a greater effort at compliance with the three regulations and asks how many staff have illegally copied their uploads, and multiple staff raise their hands. Back in the real world, Nathan is arrested.

Towards the end of the episode, an advertisement of Betta (a dig at Facebook’s name change and the new Lakeview) and uploads being able to work is interspersed with a montage of police entering Lakeview and firing at duplicate uploads. Ingrid tells Backup Nathan to flee to the Grey Zone, and the AI Guys protect him from fire as he leaves. Tinsley cheers him on as Monsour takes over her computer. Monsour captures Backup Nathan before he can get to the Grey Zone.

The episode ends with the reveal that Viv, Ingrid and Nora were watching the advertisement from the Reduced Circumstance Housing. Ingrid tells them that she received a message from Horizen informing her that the duplicate error was resolved but didn’t say how. They then receive a call from Nathan, who informs them that he’s been reduced to one person and he saw the other Nathan being destroyed. The episode and season ends with Nora asking him which Nathan he is but the answer is not revealed.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid season finale, both Real Nathan and Backup Nathan solidified their relationships with Nora and Ingrid respectively, and the upload companies lost in court, however it’s not over for Nathan or the uploads as they still don’t have any legal rights, the companies weren’t held totally accountable, and Nathan has been reduced to one person. Aleesha’s troubles also aren’t over as whether she was fired from Horizen wasn’t made entirely clear, as was the fate of her friendship with Luke. However as I mentioned in the beginning of my review, this was another season to end on a cliffhanger.  As I mentioned in my review of the second season finale, I generally hate it as both a viewer/fan and 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 won’t get any closure or return on their investment.

In terms of this season as a whole, I felt it was an improvement over the previous season. In terms of tone, it was still dark but a shade or two lighter than the previous season. Nora and Nathan got to the bottom of why he was murdered and what the upload companies were well and truly up to (I didn’t see Freeyond being corrupted into a total scam coming but it was brilliant), but the growth in the relationships between Real Nathan and Nora, Backup Nathan and Ingrid, and Luke and Aleesha in their friendship provided some comedic and heartfelt moments. I also felt that the AI Guys becoming more humanised throughout the season provided some great character development and much needed comic relief. I also appreciated the use of Backup Nathan throughout the season, whilst jokes were made at his and Real Nathan’s expense, he provided another layer to his character, the Freeyond story arc, and enabled Ingrid to become a better and more developed character.

I also appreciated Ingrid’s overdue character development. In my review of the second season finale I complained about her character arc being inconsistent and that she had become completely unhinged, this season she did a complete-180 becoming a more honest, open, vulnerable and likeable person, as she ends the season on good terms with both Nora and Nathan’s family. On the flipside, I felt that Aleesha and Luke’s friendship and borderline burgeoning romantic relationship was inconsistent.

I also still feel some carryover disappointments from the second season finale – Dylan only made one brief appearance with hardly any dialogue, Yang only made one appearance where she asks Luke out only to be stopped when she runs out of data which seemed out of character for her, and Fran’s murder was once again not addressed.

Overall, I enjoyed watching and reviewing this season of Upload, and I hope it’s renewed for a fourth.

Stray Observations:

-Aleesha has dated DJs and a magician.

-Ingrid offers Real Nathan and Nora the chance at a threesome, albeit with Nora watching and perhaps for his birthday.

-Ingrid thinks “Deep Throat” is called “GoodHead.”

-Why the AI Guy is dressed as a teddy bear whilst he’s playing the harp for Backup Nathan’s proposal is never explained.

-Whether Luke’s one-man show is real or just made up to distract Karina is never made clear.

-Horizen has 48,000 employees.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “It’s not an awards show.” “For you it’s not.” (Real Nathan-Luke on Nathan and Nora’s possible wedding)