UPLOAD: A REAL LOOK AT A VIRTUAL AFTERLIFE

Amazon created quite a stir when it made the decision to release episodes of “The Boys” on a weekly basis. If you find yourself looking for a show on Prime Video to properly binge during the gap, and haven’t yet had the pleasure, I highly recommend watching “Upload.”

The series, which originally debuted May 1, is, on its surface, a simple romantic comedy featuring a love triangle between Nora Antony (Andy Allo), Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell) and Ingrid Kannerman (Allegra Edwards). Truly, the series goes much further than this, however, with satirical undertones focusing on the concept of a digital afterlife plagued by the woes of capitalism.

Nathan finds himself encouraged by his girlfriend, Ingrid, to undergo a procedure called “uploading” after being injured by an accident in his self-driving car. Nathan is unable to afford the procedure and finds himself beholden to Ingrid, who holds the power to delete him from digital existence in the costly Lakeview Resort.

Nora, meanwhile, acts as Nathan’s technical support agent and is the one responsible for managing the upload of the digital files that comprise his memory. These support agents are supposed to be personally referred to by clients of Lakeview simply as “Angel,”but Nathan wheedlesNora into revealing her name, despite the policies of her corporation against doing so.

As the show progresses, Nathan and Nora find themselves growing closer while Nathan and Ingrid discover that one of them living in a virtual existence and the other in the real world might be more than their relationship can handle. Additionally, Nathan and Nora discover that some of Nathan’s memories are missing – something that shouldn’t be any more possible than a self-driving car impacting a stationary truck, as Nathan’s did.

Lakeview is one of many virtual reality afterlife options in the futuristic setting of Upload, and is typically reserved for the elite. Despite this, it is filled with as many “in app” purchases as any modern free-to-play phone game.

There is also a class divide evident between residents of Lakeview as only the wealthiest can afford the unlimited data plan, while the less wealthy find themselves in a much less appealing “2 Gig” version. If a resident’s data runs out during a monthly cycle, they find themselves frozen in place until the next month begins.

The chemistry between Amell and Allo really makes this show for me. Watching their budding romance, playful byplay, and reactions to situations humanizes the show. It’s worth noting that Robbie Amell is the brother of Steve Amell, who is famous for his role in the CW TV show “Arrow”. To be frank, I feel that in many ways, Robbie is the stronger actor and find his character in “Upload” to be much more relatable. Of course, Steve Amell’s character is a superhero and thus perhaps not meant to be relatable, exactly.

The first season of “Upload” ends with a huge cliffhanger, and many unanswered questions. How did Nathan’s memories go missing? Was Nathan’s injury an accident, or not? Unfortunately, filming for a second season has been forestalled by the coronavirus pandemic. I still found Upload to be a complex and pleasant show, and hope that the showrunners are able to continue the story.