Upload – Season 1 Review

Upload is what happens when a TV producer watches The Good Place and thinks, “I want to make that but even more cynical.” The two shows do share a lot in common, though I’ll just say it right now, Upload is the “Not as Good Place.” What bugged me most about Upload was its cheesiness. Yeah, The Good Place was cheesy, too, but it rectified that by being 1) actually funny and 2) surprisingly heartfelt. The acting in Upload just doesn’t feel genuine, and the dialogue is kind of silly throughout. Every attempt at direct humor falls absolutely flat, but the show isn’t without some merit. The background details and offhand comments about the state of the world are pretty amusing.

The best thing about Upload is its world building. This is a not-too-distant future straight out of an episode of Black Mirror where technology has advanced at a realistic pace to form a hellish society. Companies like Oscar Meyer and Intel have merged, there are delivery drones and self-driving cars everywhere, poor people have to eat 3D-printed food, and even in the afterlife you’re bombarded by ads. There are some really interesting ideas at play here, like how VR has trivialized death but also complicates relationships post-death. Alas, the story isn’t about the technology, it’s about the people, and the subpar acting and writing make it hard to get invested in that aspect of the show.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.