Upload, Season 1 (2020) TV Series Review

 Upload, the newcomer, well, was the newcomer when this review was writter, to Amazon Prime Video is an amusing afterlife show brought to us by the very own of "The Office", Greg Daniels. Upload is an Amazon original. Upload, at the time of writing this review, has 10 episodes aired on the platform. This review was written after screening all 10.

The second I started watching Upload, I started comparing it to some other shows on the afterlife concept. Now I see that this wasn't a healthy judgement, since Upload is not like most of them. But I can also say, after finishing the first season that it also is a pretty similar plot. Let me explain. Well, the afterlife concept is a bit different than others, since this afterlife is not a heaven/hell concept, like in "The Good Place" but it's a virtual reality, a kind of digital reincarnation. Yet, the digital afterlife is literally a digital heaven created by earthlings. The customer service reps are called angels for example, and all you have to reach to them is calling them. Or, the place literally has no crime, no deaths, and no sins. Still, the place gives people in it earthly needs still, like eating, sleeping, urinating (they make that clear) which was explained by our lead, Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell) in early episodes by claiming that this place (LakeView) is much better than heaven, because it's more real, a closer reality to the real.. reality. Well, the guy is dead, cut him some slack would you?

Nathan is a guy, who was creating an app. No, not like Tinder. They already have a Tinder, and everyone, even in digital heaven, talks about it. His app is basically a pirating software for the Horizen software, which makes it free to use. What is Horizen you say? Horizen is the software that created LakeView, the digital afterlife. So the guy then dies in a car crash, and gets hospitalized. In the hospital, since he doesn't have a Horizen account, he uses his girlfriend's to get himself... well, uploaded. Anyways, he gets uploaded to the Horizen system and in that moment, we meet Nora Anthony (Andy Allo). Nora is an angel. Well, she is a customer service employee at Horizen, but the dead people uploads call them angels. 

So Nora, while creating an avatar for Nathan (yes, like in Sims) decides to be friends with him, for some reason. I'm saying "for some reason" because this is where my review really starts. Alright so Nathan... Nathan is a guy, a dead guy, who made some app, then died, then became digital. Oh, and he's kinda handsome. That's Nathan for me after watching the all 10 episodes, not just the first 10 minutes. And that, is exactly what's wrong with him. He doesn't exists, well both literally and as a character in the story. Nathan is a lead character, but he doesn't develop in any way, he just becomes more and more talkative. Nora somehow gets to know him better emotionally, somehow, since they just talk about their daily routines and Nora's office in the actual reality, which makes no sense because of that. Let alone, let's face it, the thought of dating a dead guy is a bit weird, the story, even without it, makes little to no sense to me. The digital afterlife concept is amazing, stunning really. But what good does it make if there's no character development to back it up? Nathan is a blend character with no development yes, but he's not alone. His friends at the place, Lakeview, are all ghosts. Well, they kind of are ghosts actually, but you know what I mean.. They don't have anything to say. Even the show says it, they're stuck at the days they died, they don't evolve, they don't change. Characters like Luke are there, just to be there. Nathan's girlfriend, the account holder, she sometimes gets so close to changing, yet somehow the show makes her lap arround and come back to the exact same spot she was all season long. (Finally a bit of a change in the finale though!) So long story short, character development arround the story is a con, which was unexpected from Daniels honestly.

The scenery is lovely, no problems there. Soundtracks, just ok, didn't expect a musical out of this concept anyway. Lighting is surely amazing, this actually may be the best lit TV show I watched in a while. Dialogues seemed empty in general as I stated above, but they were, I guess, funny, so that's a check. I loved both Amell and Allo, no problem with acting for me. So what's my problem? My problem with Upload is simple really. I love afterlife concepts and Upload created a magnificent one yes, but I didn't see anything valuable in it to keep me hooked. You see, I like the concept yeah, but without the connection to characters, TV shows are a dead end. Movies, yeah you can watch just for the concept, but TV, that's something evolved arround the characters. Upload's leading roles have a weak development process and that makes it a hard pick to watch for me. In the end, the first season, for me, was holding a potential and not using it. With a better character development, maybe with better dialogues, Upload might be the next big thing on Amazon, but it needs more, much more.

Reviewed By : Batu

CineMortals Rating : 5/10