This UPLOAD review contains no spoilers and is based on all 10 episodes.
Greg Daniels, co-creator of NBC’s The Office and Parks and Recreation, is releasing one of the most anticipated new comedy series of 2020. That show is Netflix’s Space Force, his reunion with Office star Steve Carrell. His other new comedy series, Upload, hits Amazon Prime this Friday. With less anticipation comes less pressure and more of a chance to surprise, but Upload is going to have a hard time surprising anyone with a premise that’s been played out recently.
Telling a sci-fi heavy story that focuses on the recently deceased uploading themselves into a corporately owned digital afterlife, Upload immediately recalls Black Mirror’s “San Junipero.” It also shares similarities to The Good Place, from Daniels’ Parks collaborator Mike Schur. Oh, and it’s eerily similar to the premise of fellow Amazon Prime Original Series Forever. The point is, we’ve spent a lot of the time pondering the afterlife on television lately, and it’s inevitable that Upload is compared to these projects, projects that it simply can’t measure up against.
That’s unfortunate, because Daniels did such a fantastic job with Upload’s world building. Set in the year 2033, Upload is full of futuristic flourishes that are clever, realistic, and a little terrifying. Among the self-driving cars and completely automated supermarkets is the technology to upload consciousness at the time of death to a digital community, owned by earthbound businesses with profit goals to hit. Your digital avatar will enjoy the amenities of whatever afterlife you’re fortunate enough to afford, but you’ll be constantly bombarded by the worst aspects our current internet landscape: in-app purchases, annoying ads, and intrusive pop-ups.