S01.E10: Freeyond

[Quark]

I thought this was great. Robbie Amell and Andy Allo did a great job.

[akpedrob]

I think Nathan's memories have been altered. That is why the servers were sabotaged. His old corrupted files were replaced and hidden with fake files, in case someone inbestigayed or teied to rsstore them. Nora's dad even says something doesn't feel right.

[Catfi9ht]

On 5/25/2020 at 7:49 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

It was fun as a wacky, dark rom-com, but it did not do well with the sharp turn into violent action adventure, along with Nathan becoming a hacker extraordinaire. 
How did the murder of Fran Booth never come up? Her death was pretty public - Nathan should have heard about it. 

This first season was entertaining and mostly engaging .. but the idea of dragging out the status of Nathan and Nora's relationship is not appealing. 
(And having an 'uploaded' BFF might be nice, but why would anyone encourage an actual romantic relationship between the living and the dead?)

I agree on all points.

When I think about this season as a whole, I loved the world-building the most. We got to see a good mix of inside "Upload" and in the real world. Dystopian sci-fi is my jam, and I loved seeing a humorous take on it which doesn't really happen to the genre.

I thought Nora was a more interesting main character than Nathan, but maybe that was kind of the point. The supporting characters were interesting, the actors who portrayed them were excellent, and I think I enjoyed their stories more than Nathan's.

However story-wise, this season felt more like a prologue to a show than a fully-formed season to a show. I think it's because I was more interested in Nora's story than Nathan's. To me, Nathan's mystery served as the catalyst to change Nora's situation and outlook on life with Nora actually being the main character. That's probably not what's going to happen in season 2, but from a story-telling perspective, this was how I felt about the show's progression.

[Dobian]

On 7/30/2020 at 1:47 PM, Quark said:

I thought this was great. Robbie Amell and Andy Allo did a great job.

Just a general comment having finished the first season.  Really enjoyable show, and the chemistry between Amell and Allo is off the charts.  I am already missing this show and not looking forward to the long wait to season 2.  I do look forward to them delving into the whole conspiracy more, and the various moral issues that go along with the process of uploading and how it is owned and controlled.

[Perfect Xero]

So having finished the first season I've come to the rather crazy conclusion that the person who killed Nathan was ... Nathan.

Nathan was the one person shown to have the skills to hack machines and use them to kill people. Nathan is even shown hacking his own car and using a video game controller to drive it. He shuts down the AI and messes with its memory.

Why would Nathan kill Nathan? We get the impression that Nathan was on to something big. Someone else was after Nathan as we see the creepy guy looking in on him after his crash. What better way to get assassins off your back than them seeing you dead? Of course normally the downside to killing yourself is that you end up ... dead.

So how does Nathan plan to avoid ending up dead? The show introduces the concept of downloading into a clone. The show also mentions backing up your memories outside of the finale uploading process. We know that Nathan was working on a free version of afterlife, so the code behind uploading and downloading should be known to him.

So, in theory, Nathan creates a clone, copies his memories into it, corrupting key memories that he doesn't want the clone or anyone else to know. Nathan sends the clone out into his life for enough time to make sure whoever is out to get him is following the clone. Nathan hacks the car and kills the clone. There's a body, anyone tracking Nathan sees him die. Real Nathan is then in the clear. Except Ingrid screws this up by uploading the clone of Nathan (and possibly by changing the settings on the car to protect the driver). Now real Nathan tries to cover loose ends by deleting the corrupted memories.

[akiss]

3 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

So having finished the first season I've come to the rather crazy conclusion that the person who killed Nathan was ... Nathan.

Nathan was the one person shown to have the skills to hack machines and use them to kill people. Nathan is even shown hacking his own car and using a video game controller to drive it. He shuts down the AI and messes with its memory.

Why would Nathan kill Nathan? We get the impression that Nathan was on to something big. Someone else was after Nathan as we see the creepy guy looking in on him after his crash. What better way to get assassins off your back than them seeing you dead? Of course normally the downside to killing yourself is that you end up ... dead.

So how does Nathan plan to avoid ending up dead? The show introduces the concept of downloading into a clone. The show also mentions backing up your memories outside of the finale uploading process. We know that Nathan was working on a free version of afterlife, so the code behind uploading and downloading should be known to him.

So, in theory, Nathan creates a clone, copies his memories into it, corrupting key memories that he doesn't want the clone or anyone else to know. Nathan sends the clone out into his life for enough time to make sure whoever is out to get him is following the clone. Nathan hacks the car and kills the clone. There's a body, anyone tracking Nathan sees him die. Real Nathan is then in the clear. Except Ingrid screws this up by uploading the clone of Nathan (and possibly by changing the settings on the car to protect the driver). Now real Nathan tries to cover loose ends by deleting the corrupted memories.

Ohhh, interesting! I wouldn't rule it out.

[AnimeMania]

7 hours ago, Perfect Xero said:

So having finished the first season I've come to the rather crazy conclusion that the person who killed Nathan was ... Nathan.

Nathan was the one person shown to have the skills to hack machines and use them to kill people. Nathan is even shown hacking his own car and using a video game controller to drive it. He shuts down the AI and messes with its memory.

Why would Nathan kill Nathan? We get the impression that Nathan was on to something big. Someone else was after Nathan as we see the creepy guy looking in on him after his crash. What better way to get assassins off your back than them seeing you dead? Of course normally the downside to killing yourself is that you end up ... dead.

So how does Nathan plan to avoid ending up dead? The show introduces the concept of downloading into a clone. The show also mentions backing up your memories outside of the finale uploading process. We know that Nathan was working on a free version of afterlife, so the code behind uploading and downloading should be known to him.

So, in theory, Nathan creates a clone, copies his memories into it, corrupting key memories that he doesn't want the clone or anyone else to know. Nathan sends the clone out into his life for enough time to make sure whoever is out to get him is following the clone. Nathan hacks the car and kills the clone. There's a body, anyone tracking Nathan sees him die. Real Nathan is then in the clear. Except Ingrid screws this up by uploading the clone of Nathan (and possibly by changing the settings on the car to protect the driver). Now real Nathan tries to cover loose ends by deleting the corrupted memories.

That is a great theory except for the fact that nobody, including multi-billion dollar companies have ever successfully downloaded anyone's memory into a clone. 

[DrSpaceman73]

On 5/3/2020 at 3:33 AM, AnimeMania said:

I really enjoyed the show, I watched it all the way through without stopping. I liked the way they contrast the rich and the poor people's living situations, with the cramped spaces of poor people of New York against the wide open spaces of the rich people in Los Angeles and the Virtual Reality World. All that the people of the future seem to do is work and have meaningless sex.

Everybody was so pleasant, I didn't have any trouble staying engaged. One thing I found weird was the funeral, I didn't believe that people would gather together in 3 different States to come to a funeral. Especially if anybody anywhere could put on some VR googles and hang out and party with the dead person instead of just looking at them through a big window.  I know which one I would rather do. 

Another weird thing was that bomb that was slid under the door and exploded the computers. It didn't seem to cause any damage and there didn't seem to be any reason for them to do it.

I am a little disappointed that the story hadn't progressed farther by the end of the season. The stuff at the end with the magic coding seems very far fetched and was the weakest part of the series.

It seems strange to me that the VR people are no longer allowed to work or provide financial advice to the living. It must be hard to justify the expense of keeping them around indefinitely.

I wondered too why the VR people can't work.  May be a power retainment on the part of the living.  Otherwise eventually the VR people will outnumber the living and if you give them rights and money the world could be overtaken and rules by the VR .  It does seem a waste though.  

 

I'm late to the show.  Still not convinced it's as simple as Nathan selling out literally.   It doesn't explain why so wine was trying to kill him. Doesn't add up. 

This isn't the first show to explore uploaded post death VR people. Black mirror did single episodes around it a few times or more in different ways.  But it's one of the first to build a whole world and series around it. At least I know of. 

It strikes the right balance of drama and comedy.  An enjoyable show. Looks like season two filming started in January dont see a release date yet.  

 

I didn't see the twist either of the girlfriend uploading herself.  I could see that being a common decision though with the tech available. 

[Paloma]

On 8/31/2020 at 3:59 AM, Perfect Xero said:

There's a body, anyone tracking Nathan sees him die. Real Nathan is then in the clear. Except Ingrid screws this up by uploading the clone of Nathan (and possibly by changing the settings on the car to protect the driver). Now real Nathan tries to cover loose ends by deleting the corrupted memories.

But if this happened, where is the real (still alive) Nathan? How would he hide?

[Perfect Xero]

On 8/31/2020 at 11:50 AM, AnimeMania said:

That is a great theory except for the fact that nobody, including multi-billion dollar companies have ever successfully downloaded anyone's memory into a clone. 

Well, this would presumably be why someone is out to kill Nathan. It's a game changer.

4 hours ago, Paloma said:

But if this happened, where is the real (still alive) Nathan? How would he hide?

Good question, I assume that he's got a safe house/lab where he's able to do his work off the grid.

[CigarDoug]

On 5/3/2020 at 3:33 AM, AnimeMania said:

It seems strange to me that the VR people are no longer allowed to work or provide financial advice to the living. It must be hard to justify the expense of keeping them around indefinitely.

They do explain it in story, I think shortly into Season 2 (not a spoiler). It's not fair to living people to have to compete for jobs with Uploads. It makes sense, especially for older people who worked at a career for forty years. They would have a distinct advantage over someone with less experience, applying for the same job. Especially since they are not going to die or retire anytime soon.

[CigarDoug]

On 5/5/2020 at 12:21 AM, Ottis said:

The ending was dumb. Nora knows Nathan changed since uploading, and has realized he was an ass. Why would he suddenly revert? Also, I'm less interested in social messages and more wondering how anyone who is uploaded to such a boring existence doesn't kill themselves within a few months. The world building, and the story, seemed to focus on silly things and not more interesting ones. Great concept. Needs more thought.

Remember, this is a light-hearted comedy. You shouldn't overthink it. A serious sci-fi drama would be held to a higher standard, where they would need to account for the valid points you bring up. I wondered about the money aspect as well. Even the super-rich don't have unlimited funds.

[CigarDoug]

On 5/9/2020 at 9:49 PM, kieyra said:

This is the first new show that’s managed to capture my attention in the post-Pandemic world, so I’ll give it props for that. (How creepy was it that some people were wearing masks on the train in the pilot?)

A lot of it was down to the casting (and yes, I thought it was Cush Jumbo in the stills/artwork. Same haircut and huge eyes). She is very, very watchable. 

I did enjoy their vision of the logical extension of our current late-stage-capitalism dystopia. 

But yeah, the mystery arc did itself a disservice by trying to zag when we expected it to zig. And the holes in Nathan’s memory (meant to conceal the “reveal”) meant I spent a lot of the season not really understanding his character backstory at all.

And yeah, I thought I missed something with the bomb.

I want a ring drive. 

It's funny, I also remember Adriyan Rae from Vagrant Queen who was on Chicago Fire. It's like Chicago Fire is the next stop for sci-fi actresses after one-season shows (although Upload was renewed).

[CigarDoug]

On 5/25/2020 at 9:26 AM, AnimeMania said:

Was it though, where in the TV series did anybody realize Fran Booth was dead? I just figured somebody programmed the car not to exist anymore and nobody noticed that Fran Booth was gone with it.

She drove off of a pier in the middle of the day, there were people standing around when it happened. It didn't happen in the dark in a secluded place. I didn't even realize that until I saw you post, it certainly SHOULD have attracted some attention, but I guess it helped the plot to just have Nathan's family wonder what happened to Fran.

 

Spoiler

Fran's death is not addressed at all in Season 2. Based on the finale, there clearly is meant to be a Season 3, there are several loose ends.

 

[Ottis]

4 hours ago, CigarDoug said:

Remember, this is a light-hearted comedy. You shouldn't overthink it. A serious sci-fi drama would be held to a higher standard, where they would need to account for the valid points you bring up. I wondered about the money aspect as well. Even the super-rich don't have unlimited funds.

It has been so long since I watched that, I can't remember anymore what I was thinking. But I did watch the first ep of the new season (will comment there) and was disappointed to see that the show continues to focus on silly things.