Pros: Amusingly played out trends in the development of modern IT; mild satire; charming main character; sweet romantic story Cons: Some logical glitches and inconsistencies; general predictability of the plot; at times the series becomes overly cloying Upload / “Loaded”
Genre fantasy, comedy
Creator Greg Daniels
Starring Robbie Amell (Nathan Brown), Andy Allo (Nora), Kevin Bigley (Luke), Allegra Rose Edwards (Ingrid), Owen Daniels (AI), Andrea Rosen (Lucy), Jordan Johnson-Hinds (Jimmy), etc.
Amazon Prime Video Channel
Year of release 2020
Episodes 10
Site IMDb
Nathan Brown is a young ambitious programmer and entrepreneur. He has a stunningly beautiful girlfriend from a wealthy family; he is working on an interesting project that is about to bring good dividends, and also solve a serious social problem. Suddenly, Nathan gets into an accident in what is considered an ultra-safe and ultra-reliable autonomous car. To save a dying young man, his consciousness is digitized and placed in a highly detailed virtual reality, which in the world of the near future will become the main option for life after death for many earthlings.
The only problem is that Nathan’s account on the very expensive and prestigious Lake View afterlife server is owned by his girlfriend, who in case of a quarrel can simply erase his identity. Moreover, not everything is in order with Nathan’s memory files; some of the memories are clearly damaged. This is noticed by Nora, a Lake View customer service employee and Nathan’s personal “Angel” in the “afterlife” world.
Already by the beginning of the series, you can understand what awaits you in Upload. Naturally, the flesh-and-blood girl and the digital ghost will become attached to each other and begin to build a strange “long-distance” relationship. And, of course, with Nathan’s death, not everything is so simple.
However, Upload is not a dark dystopia with a detective plot, but rather a light romantic comedy with elements of social satire. Sometimes moderately caustic, but mostly quite mild. Yes, the series identifies some serious social problems, including, say, the problem of digital inequality, but it only indicates, preferring to reduce everything to harmless, but I must say, generally good jokes.
Intrusive online advertising, in-app purchases, software glitches, and careless attitude towards users’ personal data come under fire; irresponsible behavior of the users themselves, AI and bots; the obsession of online service owners and ordinary users with five-star ratings; ultra-low-cost air travel, etc.
Upload creator Greg Daniels is known for his work on Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, The Office (American adaptation), Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill, the latter three of which he served as producer, director and writer. In addition, another Daniels series, Space Force with Steve Carell, will be released on Netflix at the end of May. If you like the style and humor of the shows above, you’ll probably like Upload too.
Another reason to watch Upload is Andy Hallo as Nora. This American guitarist and singer with Cameroonian roots, who once performed in Prince’s band The New Power Generation, has literally transformed herself for her new role. Modest sweaters and a boy’s hairstyle instead of outrageous stage costumes and a mop of Afro-style hair – her Nora turned out to be a very vulnerable and romantic girl, who is really easy to fall in love with.
Upload there are not enough stars from heaven. In addition to the completely predictable plot, the series can be blamed for the lack of logic in some episodes, and a couple of outright inconsistencies and glitches. However, I don’t want to criticize the series at all. Thirty-minute episodes are literally devoured one by one, and the cliffhanger at the end of the season makes you wait for a sequel. However, it will not appear soon – although Amazon has renewed the series for a second season, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, it is still not clear when film companies will be allowed to start filming.
Conclusion:
Funny fantasy comedy with a charming main character
