A lot has changed since Upload’s first season premiered in May 2020. The pandemic has become an uneasy fixture of our daily life, and things have become even direr with a new war and the prospects of nuclear armageddon becoming non-zero after a few decades of relief. Upload, too, tries to change with the times, by incorporating more serious elements, such as an anti-capitalist group of Luddites (non-technology users) who are looking to hurt Horizen and other tech monoliths. This does take some time away from the lighter nature of the overall show, but thankfully, the character dynamics are still there.
Season one ended with Nathan (Robbie Amell) trapped in the 2 gig room after his girlfriend, Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) just told him that she had uploaded herself to Lakeview for him. Meanwhile, Nora (Andy Allo) has taken refuge in an anti-technology hidden commune to hide from people who might still be looking to kill her. As Nathan is brought back to his regular afterlife by Ingrid, who tries her best to deepen their relationship, to the point of wanting a digital baby, he becomes more aware of the injustices of the digital afterlife as he continues to investigate his suspicious death. When Nora comes back to Lakeview to spy on behalf of the Luddites, she has to navigate the awkwardness between her and Nathan.
Upload had a lot to prove coming not only from The Office and Parks and Recreation co-creator, Greg Daniels, but also being the second show about the afterlife coming from an Office co-creator (the first one being The Good Place by Michael Schur).
It doesn’t quite stand up to the highs of those projects, but it’s still a good show in its own regard.
The strong chemistry between Amell and Allo is still there, though this season, it’s Zainab Johnson (who plays Aleesha, Nora’s coworker) and Allegra Edwards who steal the show. Edwards, in particular, gets an engaging arc as the insecure girlfriend who’s scared of slowly losing Nathan, and who’s also hiding a pretty big secret from him (and the rest of Lakeview).
Upload’s shift towards a more serious tone is well-intentioned, but it does feel disingenuous coming from the production house of a monolithic tech company that has drawn a lot of fire over the years for how it treats its employees. The concerns it raises about issues such as data privacy feel moot, since Amazon itself collects expansive data on its customers.
Still, the future satire isn’t entirely toothless. There are funny segments involving Luke’s (Kevin Bigley) sex dreams about Aleesha becoming viral on the Internet because Horizen is secretly hoarding all residents’ dreams. Then there’s the prospect of the digital babies, which is explored in horrifying detail in a trial run where a baby grows up into an adult and dies in record time while Ingrid tries in vain to save him.
This season of Upload is just seven episodes, and it ends just when things are kicking into second gear. It will be interesting to see how the show deals with Nathan’s new circumstances going forward, and the ticking clock nature of the plot can add a sense of urgency that we haven’t yet seen from the show.
If you haven’t seen Upload yet, give it a try! It’s improving with each season, and it might just surprise you.