Upon your death, what if you could upload yourself into a virtual afterlife to continue “living” in a digital heaven?
That’s the fascinating premise of the new sci-fi comedy series “Upload,” which was a great pandemic binge when it premiered in May 2020, returned for a second season in March 2022 and now drops its Season 3 finale Friday on Amazon Prime Video.
Created by Greg Daniels, who adapted the U.S. version of “The Office” and co-created “Parks and Recreation,” “Upload” opens in 2033 with the untimely death of 27-year-old computer programmer Nathan Brown. Tech company Horizen uploads him into the virtual afterlife Lakeview, where he chats remotely with his living girlfriend Ingrid Kannerman but falls in love with his digital assistant Nora Antony, a customer service agent alive on Earth.
Robbie Amell (“The Tomorrow People”) is a charming lead, guiding us through the joyful surprises and bittersweet drawbacks of this new afterlife, simultaneously grateful to still exist but still mourning his death. This most recent season, he’s had to play two versions of himself: a copy made of himself in the digital world and his real self downloaded into a clone body on Earth that gets nosebleeds as a warning sign that his head might explode.
He creates believable romantic chemistry with Nora, endearingly played by Andy Allo (“Pitch Perfect 3”), the Cameroonian-American musician from Prince’s band The New Power Generation. Her role is a comforting force, at first trying to not overstep her bounds but quickly developing feelings for him. She is clearly the one we root for in a unique love triangle featuring Nathan’s snobby, controlling, earthbound girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards).
In Season 1, Edwards played Ingrid antagonistically, trying to have it both ways by keeping her dead boyfriend alive in a cloud but still living her daily life on Earth. In Season 2, she lied that she died to upload with him but was really in a bath tub wearing a VR scuba suit, while secretly growing a clone body for him to download back into. By Season 3, she’s much more sympathetic, admitting her flaws as a human and actually becoming quite comedic.
Rounding out the cast are a memorable bunch: Owen Daniels as Horizen’s A.I. Guy, who provides zany comic relief in a multiplicity of roles from concierge to bellhop; Kevin Bigley as Luke Crossly, a former army corporal who befriends Nathan as a fellow resident at Lakeview; Zainab Johnson as Nora’s reliable colleague Aleesha Morrison; Josh Banday as hyper co-worker Ivan Spelich; and Andrea Rosen as their domineering boss Lucy Slack.
Their afterlife antics navigate similar territory as “The Good Place,” created by Daniels’ “Parks & Rec” cohort Michael Schur. We’ve also seen VR headsets before in Amazon’s “The Peripheral” (2022), a drama canceled after one season due to its confusing complexities. “Upload” is more accessible, while still showcasing cool sci-fi tech like a digital force field around the resort or phone-call holograms between your thumb and index finger.
The series also admirably explores the social themes of this virtual afterlife as Nathan insists that Lakeview is too expensive for average folks, making it his mission to build the new digital afterlife Freeyond for those who can’t afford it. This divide between the “haves and have nots” is not only timely, it also allows the writers to explore the corrupt shadow figures operating Horizen with extreme “data mining,” even to the point of murder mysteries.
Ultimately, the first season remains the best, introducing the creative premise and meeting the characters. The second season was more critically acclaimed, but audience appeal waned. The third season continues this drop-off (the first episode is hard to get back into), but once it gets going, it recaptures the magic. I don’t know how long they can keep it going, but the Season 3 cliffhanger will keep us coming back — at least for one more upload.
Let’s just hope Jeff Bezos doesn’t get any ideas.
