I’ll admit that I didn’t even remember that Upload, the intriguing if uneven, Prime Video comedy series had been granted a four-episode final season to wrap up the pretty intense cliffhanger we were left with at the end of season three. After all, it’s been nearly two years since season three dropped on the streamer. But, as someone who genuinely enjoyed the series – especially when we didn’t have to deal with the always annoying System AI character – I was happy to get to see how the series ends, especially in a TV landscape where shows are constantly unceremoniously canceled with little regard for their audiences. And while this final trip to Lakeview definitely felt rushed (four episodes – three of which clock in at a half hour with a 45-minute finale – is not a lot of time), if you’re a fan of the series it’s well worth a watch.
When we last saw our characters, two Nathans (Robbie Amell, who is really great as both versions of Nathan throughout the series) were created – one in Lakeview, from his original upload who was still in love with Ingrid (the always great Allegra Edwards), and one in the real world (“Real Nathan” who we spent the last three seasons watching grow) who was in love with Nora (Andy Allo, the heart and soul of the series). In the cliffhanger, we were shown that after a showdown with the villainous billionaires running the afterlife only a single Nathan had survived. However, neither us nor the characters (outside that Nathan) knew which version of him it was and just what happened to leave only one Nathan standing.
Of course, I can’t get into the specifics of what unfolds this season – or just which Nathan made it out in one piece – but I can say that the story picks up right away (after a quick recap), so you might want to watch a bit of season three to really get yourself back into the swing of things (I didn’t, and I regret not doing so). I can tell you that the AI continues to be the weakest part of the series and far too much time in the early goings is wasted on it and its own story arc when we could be spending that precious time with some of our key human characters (while Kevin Bigley’s Luke gets a good amount to do, Zainab Johnson’s Aleesha suffers from the truncated storytelling, which is a major disappointment).
I’m not sure where people will fall in terms of whether or not the series sticks the landing – again, four episodes is not enough to really give the story the runway it needs to get everything tied up as well as it could be – but I was mostly happy with how the story played out. I would have loved an extra couple of episodes to spend more time with some of the show’s more interesting character pairings – we get some time with Nora and Ingrid hanging out, but those two are always a hoot and I would have loved to see them bounce off each other a bit more. And the brief snippets of time we spend with Ingrid and Aleesha are some of the funniest of the episodes – where the AI’s dumb slapstick is grating, Ingrid’s continued inability to get out of her own way can read as funny or endearing depending on the circumstances (plus, Edwards is a much stronger comedic actor than Owen Daniels, who plays the AIs – although I will say, when tasked with more grounded, dramatic work, Daniels is very effective).
But most importantly, this is a chance to send off some truly exceptional characters in a way that most streaming services wouldn’t let happen. It’s a chance to watch Allo, Edwards, Amell, and the rest of this deep cast perform one more time. It’s a chance to see the Nathan-Luke bromance bro-out one last time. And I, for one, am pretty happy we got to see it all wrapped up. It’s not perfect, but it’s still a lovely farewell.
The final season of Upload drops on Prime Video on August 25. All four episode were provided for review.
-
Writing
-
Acting
-
Direction
