Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Upload’ On Amazon Prime Video, Greg Daniels’ Take On A Futuristic Digital Afterlife

Opening Shot: The beginnings of an ad for what looks like a retirement community. “What is the reward for a life well-lived, and an upload well planned for?” asks the soothing voice on the ad. “The most perfect natural beauty man can design. The best days of your life could be after it’s over. You did well… You deserve… Lakeview, by Horizon.”

The Gist: The ad plays in a New York subway, as Nora Antony (Andy Allo) commutes to work. She’s tired and disillusioned but smiles a bit as she watches a scene from her favorite movie, 50 First Dates, on the holographic phone of a stranger next to her. When she gets to work, she uses her middle finger on the biometric scanner at the entrance so she can give work the finger every morning.

Nora works at Horizon, as an “angel” to recently departed people who have chosen to upload their consciousnesses to Lakeview. It’s a luxury upload that models its world after the greatest resorts in America. The ads make it look like a massive hotel in Vermont, but it could be anywhere. She helps the departed come back online and soothes them while their memories and beings are reassembled, then helps them along the way. She wants to use her employee discount to get her sick father Dave (Chris Williams) uploaded to Lakeview, but he’d rather take his chances on if there’s an old-fashioned Christian heaven, where he can join Nora’s mom.

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