Upload Season 2 Review: The Virtual Paradise Of Lakeview Returns And The Mysteries Of Its Guests Return
Cast: Robbie Amell, Andy Allo, Allegra Edwards
Director: Dee Rees, Jeffrey Blitz
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime (click to watch)
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and half star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
On March 11, the Upload Season 2 of the inaugurated Greg Daniels’ s collaboration with the platform returns to Amazon Prime Video. With the second cycle of episodes, however, the author puts aside the social aspect of the series, to focus mainly on the mystery, which was clearly evident in the second part of the first season and which here becomes the driving force of the story.
Upload Season 2 Review: The Story
In the second season of Upload Nathan finds himself at a crossroads in his afterlife… Ingrid, his girlfriend, has arrived unexpectedly in Lakeview in hopes of strengthening their relationship, but his heart still secretly longs for Nora, his “angel. “Of customer service. Meanwhile, Nora has exited the system and is involved in the activities of a rebel and anti-tech group, the “Ludds”, who are secretly working to destroy the upload program in the afterlife. But in all of this, Nathan will still be grappling with the causes of her death and trying to investigate what or who led him to die so young in what at first appeared to be an accident.
We are back in Lakeview, but Upload Season 2 seems aware that it has exhausted the surprise effect of that overwhelming driver from two years ago. The series in fact focuses much more on the plot, on the details, on old and new characters who try to capture the viewer’s attention. There is no lack of the satirical aspect, linked to the capitalist society that the series makes a fool of this time above all with the digital parenting program, thanks to which one can think of artificially creating an avatar of a child, a child, even for those who are already dead and residing in Lakeview.
Upload Season 2 Review And Analysis
Upload 2 seems to think, however, on easier and simplistic directives compared to what was done with the first season, thus pushing the accelerator on the story, and on the investigations of Nathan (Robbie Amell) to discover the true causes of his death. A small stroke of genius was to bring to Lakeview what actually appears to be responsible for the murder of our hero, the blonde and apparently dizzy girlfriend Ingrid, played by Allegra Edwards, which does a great job of confusing both Nathan and the viewer. What is its real purpose? On the other hand, however, Nora, the “angel” who had breached the heart of the deceased protagonist and who still occupies a special place for him, seems to have changed her life, finding a new story in the world of the living.
The first season was very effective due to its simplicity, with a sci-fi premise that organically blended romantic comedy and social satire, with a bit of mystery to fuel the horizontal plot. The second maintains the same characteristics but becomes even more ambitious with the storyline of the anti-capitalist plot, a theoretically interesting but actually rather insipid addition, because on the one hand it leads to a certain tonal imbalance (and on the other it smacks of hypocrisy given that the show is from Amazon, a company that is not innocent of certain things that the Luds – the anti-tech militants – contest against companies fictional that are part of the world of the series. The Simpsons (from which Greg Daniels also comes ) who in the golden years sent their network to that country with simple and glaring ferocity.
In this sense, the series is a bit of a victim of its own success, wanting to go further without stopping to understand what the strength of the first ten episodes was. Or rather, he identified some of these, promoting the amazing Edwards as a permanent cast member and adding new details to the satirical component linked to the world of Lakeview (the gag about digital children is phenomenal), but integrating them in a narrative context that, perhaps also due to the small number of episodes, it has become a bit confusing, with many elements that intersect in a hasty way. It’s like an update that would like to improve the functionality of the product, but in this case it just ends up weighing it down. And so this Upload 2.0, which obviously leaves the door open for a third season, gives more the impression of a pale photocopy of a true evolution. He still makes you laugh, but not as forcefully as two years ago.
The central theme remains the “money divide”: if the first season showed the insane excesses that could be encountered in a virtual world, today the story focuses on how this world virtual can influence the real one, to the point of creating real social distortions and new methods of exploitation. A last topic dealt with in a much lighter way (and which lends itself well to the comedy element of the series) is that of privacy and how in reality the line that divides the confidentiality of personal thoughts is very thin when you are a virtual subject. inside a virtual infrastructure belonging to someone else.
Both the first and second seasons dedicate ample space, in a more or less didactic way, to showing how a world with such technology could digest and integrate the fact that death can be avoided.If you think about it, the last two years have unintentionally allowed us to feel the reality described in the Prime Video series: we spent weeks confined to the house, where the only contacts were through telephones, skype calls, videocalls and chats. Here, now imagine that the people on the other side are actually dead, “loaded” into a simulation. What would really change? Do you want to give a book to one of them? You order it on Amazon, paying with real money, and in the simulation comes the virtual version. If you then consider that the Uploads have access to the web, the reverse process can also take place. The only things Uploads can’t do in the show are work and vote.
What results is therefore a rather homogeneous continuation of the story, both in terms of content and form , but which is not afraid to take that extra step so that the qualitative bar never ends by lowering. And if Upload 2 does not focus so much on the entry of new faces and elements in the series (which still exist and have their own relevance), as on the further development of the pre-existing ones (once again the MVP of the show is the character played by Allegra Edwards , thanks also to the excellent script work and the memorable performance of an actress who deserves much more attention from the media), we can only praise this choice,
Here, however, with only 7 episodes of about half an hour (compared to 10 last year), it is possible to come up with a credible story that is never boring, and that indeed leads us to be even more curious about the fate of this fantasy world. which nevertheless seems so real in its structure, in its charms and in its idiosyncrasies, and that a bit like Black Mirror did , but with decidedly less dramatic tones, leads us to reflect on what is really right or wrong , and how many nuances there may be these two concepts and their applications. Now we only await the renewal for a third season of Upload (which if it were the last one could represent a worthy conclusion to the story), because with an ending like this.
Upload Season 2 Review: The Last Words
Upload Season 2 does not betray expectations and retains that mocking and irreverent tone that characterized the first ten episodes, while also retaining the elements of surprise and ruthless criticism. The sit-com format with episodes of about 20-25 minutes, combined with the comedy tone, help to keep the vision light, allowing a vision without too much effort despite the topics covered. Definitely a mandatory viewing for season one fans; one more choice for those who have never seen even one of the titles.
