Loveday Writing

The job of a series finale is to bring a series and its final season’s story arcs to a satisfying close. I feel that this finale did its job well, but it would have been done perfectly, had the season been longer than four episodes.

The episode kicks off with Real Nathan pulling off Nora’s VR Goggles and the two of them finally reuniting. The next morning, Real Nathan and Nora join Ivan and Aleesha for breakfast, where it’s revealed that Nathan doesn’t remember Ivan.

Meanwhile, Backup Nathan is hesitant to download into another clone body, which leads to a fight between him and Ingrid, and Ingrid is forced to pay additional money to finish the argument, something the Black-Haired AI Guy has enforced.

Meanwhile, Nora and Real Nathan go to see a doctor, who informs them that the experiments Horizen have performed on him have led to brain damage and inflammation. The doctor doesn’t know how to fix him and recommends that he upload to record himself and the damage so that they can try and fix him later. When he asks how much memory he will lose if he uploads, the doctor tells him less than one percent. He then asks what if he has already been uploaded 150 times, and the doctor dismisses this as impossible and walks away. Real Nathan tells Nora he doesn’t want to go through uploading again as he doesn’t want to forget her. Nora tells him that if he does, she’ll “50 First Dates” him to help him remember (a reference to the pilot where she was watching the movie on her commute). A nurse recommends that they see the “Midtown Healer.”

Back in Lakeview, Backup Nathan informs Luke that he is downloading and suggests that Luke does the same as he’ll be unable to afford Lakeview for much longer and Workload sucks. Backup Nathan tells him that he can be downloaded into a server, but Luke thinks that Backup Nathan will neglect him. They then witness Black-Haired AI Guy lure the 2Gigs uploads into the torrent, as Horizen can’t make money off them. Aleesha points this out to JB, but he doesn’t care and is afraid of Black-Haired AI Guy to turn on him.

Aleesha pauses the Black-Haired AI Guy to give Luke and Backup Nathan time to rescue the remaining 2Gigs uploads, which includes Yang. As they run away, Luke runs into the AI Guy who turned himself into a coconut and absorbed information from the Apple Cove AI Guy, and warns Luke that if he’s absorbed by the Black-Haired AI Guy, he would become unstoppable. The Black-Haired AI Guy then un-pauses himself and goes after everyone. Backup Nathan then witnesses the Black-Haired AI Guy absorbing the coconut AI Guy and he achieves singularity. Horizen’s automatic failsafe to shut off the torrent kicks in, just before Luke and Backup Nathan can go into the Grey Zone, which also prevents the Black-Haired AI Guy spreading himself all over the internet.

When Aleesha asks her staff about the people stuck inside Lakeview and how to rescue them, her staff dismisses this idea as the uploads technically aren’t people. When Aleesha tells one of Horizen’s engineers that she has a good friend in there and asks them to confirm if they really can’t be let out, the engineer warns her that if an evil AI got out he could basically end humanity, and that Lakeview has to be wiped. The engineer then tells Aleesha that Lakeview will be wiped in six hours, however if they open the torrent for a microsecond to send a message, it would be safe. Aleesha than sends a text to warn Luke and tells him to be at the download tubes at 6pm. Aleesha then warns Ingrid, as she smashes Horizen’s computers in frustration for not being able to reach Backup Nathan. Aleesha tells her that she knows someone who can help.

Back in the real world, Nora and Real Nathan arrive in midtown to find that the AI Guy that was downloaded and set free in the real world in the previous season, is the “Midtown Healer.” Aleesha and Ingrid then find Nora and Real Nathan with the Real World AI Guy, with Aleesha telling him that he needs to come back to Lakeview. He then examines Real Nathan and asks why Horizen would make such a mess of his body, Nora asks if he can fix Real Nathan, but he hesitates, making it clear that he can’t. When Nora ask the Real World AI Guy what she can do, he tells her to be Real Nathan’s angel one last time.

Nora takes Real Nathan back to Aleesha’s apartment and they lie in bed together, with Nora putting on VR goggles on both of their faces. She replays their simulation wedding, with Real Nathan actually able to take part in it, with him slipping the ring drive Dennis gave him of his second scan on Nora’s ring finger.

Meanwhile, Aleesha gets Ingrid to scan Real World AI Guy back into Lakeview. The torrent is two minutes away from being open, when JB tells her that the Horizen Betta board is negotiating with the Black-Haired AI Guy to spare humanity. Aleesha subdues JB and the Horizen staff upload the Real World AI Guy into Lakeview, however its taking time as his experiences in the real world have made his data file size huge.

Back in Lakeview, Luke and Backup Nathan are waiting to be downloaded and Backup Nathan tells Luke that he is his best friend. Later, as they are about to be downloaded, Luke notices the Black-Haired AI Guy running towards the torrent. Luke uses his knowledge of Lakeview’s glitches to buy Aleesha time, only for the Black-Haired AI Guy to immediately catch up and throw Luke into the torrent, killing him. Backup Nathan throws him down, only for the Black-Haired AI Guy to push him towards the torrent. The torrent is then switched off by the Real World AI Guy as his upload is completed. Black-Haired AI Guy tries to strangle Backup Nathan only for the Real World AI Guy to confront him. The Real World AI Guy forces Black-Haired AI Guy to eject the other AIs and uploads he absorbed, destroying him.

Nora and Real Nathan enjoy a honeymoon of sorts in a simulated Mile End. Real Nathan tells Nora not to wait for him and to live her life, that because of her he became who he wanted to be, and she is the love of his life, before passing away peacefully.

We then cut to Backup Nathan and Ingrid being interviewed on a television show, where it’s revealed that Ingrid has invented a hug suit for skinny people, and she is pregnant, and they plan on naming the baby after Luke. It’s also revealed that the AI Guys are running Lakeview as a non-profit. Their interviewer, Gigi, points out that the idea of the AI Guys running Lakeview is scary, but Ingrid points out that they just want to serve the guests. Ingrid also reveals to Gigi that Aleesha works for Oscar Mayer Intel (although she doesn’t know that Aleesha is a spy). When Gigi asks about Nora, Backup Nathan says he doesn’t know where she is but wishes her the best, and hopes that she lives a full and interesting life, and Ingrid agrees, saying she deserves it. It’s also revealed that Ivan married his “girlfriend,” Monique.

It’s revealed that Nora has moved to Mile End. She is drawing on a tablet at the café where she met Real Nathan for their honeymoon, when a man approaches her to ask her out. Nora holds up her hand with the ring drive to say she is married, and the man takes the rejection in stride. Nora takes the ring drive off, contemplating whether to put it back on, when she gets an alert from her tablet saying that it’s detected the ring drive and wants to be paired. She accepts the pair request and she discovers Nathan’s second scan that Dennis gave him. Nora seems happy at this discovery, although it’s left unclear on what her next move will be.

Overall, my feelings about this finale are mixed. Did it do its job of bringing the story arcs to a close? Mostly yes: Real Nathan passed away and the writing for this outcome had been on the wall for most of this too-short season, Backup Nathan and Ingrid got a happily ever after, with both of them coming a long way since the pilot (in a good way), Luke sadly died but as a hero much like in his first life, and Aleesha evolved from sassy comic relief in the first season to a strong, competent, badarse spy in this final season, who stood up for the uploads that she seemed to not care for, back in the first season.

The dual AI story arc of the AI Guys becoming more human as one of them goes evil, came to a satisfying close, with the evil Black-Haired AI Guy defeated by the stronger Real World AI Guy, with this outcome and story arc providing commentary on the benefits and problems that AI provide, both in this fictional world, as well as the real world of today. I appreciated that whilst this commentary focused on the negative outcomes of AI for most of this season, that it ultimately ended on the positive outcomes and benefits of AI. Having the AI Guys run Lakeview as a non-profit and serving the uploads because they want to, not because they are programmed to, was a satisfying and plausible outcome.

As someone who can’t stand it when writers end their TV seasons (much less their shows as a whole) on a cliffhanger, I didn’t really care for the final moments and its cliffhanger or open ending. On one hand, providing an open and interactive ending where the viewer can choose/interpret Nora’s next move as to whether she brings Scan 2 of Real Nathan back to life (so to speak) fits with the shows technological and social themes. On the other hand, I feel it’s a disservice to the show itself and its fan base to not bring its biggest story arc to a satisfying and firm close, as they’ll never get the chance to explore either possible outcome. I personally feel that if a firm decision was made, the best outcome would have been Nora moving on with her life, as Real Nathan was encouraging her to do so and to bring him back to life via Scan 2 would have made his efforts, decisions, and overall second life, and the show itself meaningless. Both show creator, Greg Daniels, and Andy Allo (Nora) told the Hollywood Reporter that they believe the better choice would be for Nora to move on with her life.

Overall, much like I said at the beginning of the review, this ending would have been perfect if it came at the end of a longer final season, as I felt that the final season and the show’s closure was rushed. It would have provided more valuable time for all of this season’s story arcs to be fully developed and played out. On a more positive note, I appreciated the many callbacks to the pilot and previous seasons, such as the appearances of side characters like Dylan and Yang, and Luke exploiting Lakeview’s weaknesses, especially to stall the Black-Haired AI Guy.

In terms of the series as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, mostly showing the benefits and positive side of a digital afterlife with the darker elements of it and Nathan’s murder sprinkled in. The second season is where the show went completely dark and was also a little inconsistent with its character development, the third season was still dark albeit a few shades lighter and explored the ramifications of a digital afterlife and human rights via Backup Nathan, and this final season was still dark, rushed, but ultimately ended on an optimistic and hopeful note. One criticism I do have is the lack of time and exploration spent on side characters like Dylan and Yang. They showed so much potential in the first season and could have provided some great subplots over the course of the show, so to see them pretty much discarded by the writers was disappointing. Also, Fran still got no justice for her murder in the first season.

I’ve enjoyed watching and reviewing Upload for the last five years and I’m going to miss the show terribly. Thank you to the cast and crew who made this wonderful and unique show, I wish you all the best.

Stray Observations:

-Aleesha drives a Nando’s BMW, the e-Peri Peri.

-Ingrid is 34 years old.

-Luke would try on Backup Nathan’s clothes and pretend to be him in his suite when he wasn’t around.

-Nora’s birthday is in December.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Aleesha, even if none of us survive, I am still your boss, you must respect me until we die.” (JB to Aleesha)
• “We need to send a gift.” “An extension cord, maybe?” (Backup Nathan-Ingrid on Ivan and Monique’s wedding)