Upload
Greg Daniels ("The Office," "Parks and Recreation") has a new show on Amazon Prime, "Upload," that's part futuristic noir and part rom-com. "Upload" is an interesting and witty hybrid with some cutting social commentary but, more overtly, plenty of charm — some of it dark. It's also got some violence — heads explode or are burned off of people, hackers sabotage everyday means of conveyance like cars and elevators to lethal effect, and if you think the dark web only hosts terrifying and lurid temptations in some electronic netherworld, think again: In Daniels' vision, the real and the virtual have never been more closely aligned, and never separated by so thin a line. Neither have life and death.
The premise is juicy from the first bite: In the not-so-distant year of 2033, self-driving cars whisk commuters from place to place and the rich enjoy ever-scarcer real food, while those who are less well off resort to hanging vegetable gardens and "printed" food (that is, edible foodlike substances stamped out by 3D printers). Big data and big corporations are more firmly entrenched than ever, but the little guy can still dream big, as does Nathan (Robbie Amell, "The X Files"), a talented programmer with an idea that will change the world. Nathan wants to provide a digital afterlife service that average people can afford to use.
Before he can see his dream come to fruition, though, Nathan ends up getting mangled in an accident. Panicked by what she fears is his impending demise, Nathan's girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards), who comes from a wealthy family, convinces him to get brain-scanned and archived into a luxurious and expensive digital afterlife service. Arriving in Lakeview — a tiny, resort-like virtual reality populated mostly by dead one percenters — Nathan soon begins wondering whether old-fashioned death might not have been preferable. For one thing, having been added to Ingrid's grandmother's plan changes his status from reluctant boyfriend to sentient Gigapet; as Nathan tells a couples therapist a few episodes in, "She literally owns me now."
It's not that Ingrid is cruel or controlling. But she's certainly not Nora (Andy Allo), the bright and charming service rep who sees to Nathan's day to day needs. Nora is literally the "angel" that guys dream of: Smart, fun, and — even as a VR avatar — sexy. It's not long before Nathan falls head over heels. The real problem isn't his feelings for Nora — who is, after all, a lifeline of genuine connection in an utterly fake world — but rather Nora's feelings for him in return. Falling in love with a client is a firable offense — as Nora's petty boss glories in pointing out, just as sinister forces are starting to close in. (If so, it's one of only a few; employees at Norah's sweatshop-like corporate office seem to get away with things that no one in real life could hope to get caught doing and keep their career on track.)
But the triangle of Nathan, Nora, and Ingrid aren't the show's only lively characters. Lakeview is filled with stock characters, most of them VR re-creations of rich, entitled people like industrialist David Choke, played with evil relish by William B. Davis, the "Smoking Man" of "The X Files" fame, who is the first to suggest to Nathan that maybe his death wasn't accidental: "You got murdered," he chuckles, upon hearing about Nathan's ambition to crate a free, or at least cheap, version of afterlife technology. It's instantly obvious to Choke, whereas to Nathan and his friends the thought crystallizes only slowly, goosed along by intermittent appearances of what seems to be a hit man still looking to eradicate Nathan.
Other recurring characters have more nuance, or at least seem grounded in more inventiveness, including a centenarian whose avatar is in black and white (because the photo it's based on is from the mid-20th century), an 18-year-old guy named Dylan (Rhys Slack) who's trapped in the body of his eight-year-old self, and a bumbling concierge (Owen Daniels) who's given to pratfalls and socially inappropriate behavior. Then there's Luke (Kevin Bigley), a perpetually horny bro who, true to form, combines the social ineptness and immature conduct of the concierge and Dylan. Somehow, he ends up becoming Nathan's best friend, and a chaotic plot-driving device for a couple of the more sitcom-feeling episodes.
The tone darkens, however, as the ten-episode first season winds along and the plot thickens. It takes a few episodes for "Upload" to hit the right balance between all the genres it's playing with, and a few intriguing plot threads are left trailing (one involving Nathan's cousin, who assigns herself the role of private investigator in looking into his death is unaccountably dropped, at least for the time being, just as it seems that storyline should take on some major significance).
"Upload" enjoys top-notch production values, from its visual effects to capable — sometimes superb — direction that serves Daniels' vision by keeping the comic notes in place while creating a surprisingly real-world feel — surely no easy task for a show that takes place as much in a virtual realm, where intuitive laws of physics don't necessarily always hold sway. Harder still are the moments when "Upload" ventures into serious reflection. What is the soul, assuming such a thing exists? Is digital "heaven" the only afterlife we might look forward to — a polished and heightened version of corporeal life, where maple bacon donuts are on the menu every morning — or could something more spiritual await, if only we have faith? These ruminations have a little weight behind them with the addition of Norah's father, who's dying of a terminal condition and who is more interested in joining his late wife in the heaven of his Christian faith than in learning the details of data plans and employee discounts. (One of Nora's dilemmas — and a chief reason she doesn't want to end up getting fired despite her attraction to Nathan — is that she can get her dad into Lakeview if she maintains a high enough service rating from her clients.)
Do you need still another show to keep track of, in today's oversaturated market? If you're looking for something that appreciates familiar tropes and genres, but edges away from them with smart writing and the occasional dive into deep philosophical waters, then yes, you do — and this is the show you're looking for.
"Upload" streams on Amazon Prime starting May 1.