What Makes ‘Upload’ Season 3 Funny Is Also What Makes It Horrifying

Edtior’s note: The following contains spoilers from Season 3 of Upload.

Prime Video’s Upload is built around a seemingly simple premise: What if you could transcend death? The series follows Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell) as he’s transferred to Lakeview, a digital afterlife, following a car accident. There, Nathan has to deal with “Angels” who take the form of service customer representatives—particularly Nora (Andy Allo), whom he forms a bond with. In Lakeview, there are paid upgrades to get better living expenses including food, board, and other assorted perks, creating stark differences between residents who can afford these perks and those who can’t. Throughout Upload, the ways the future has advanced to service late-stage capitalism have served as fuel for most of the show’s humor. Whether it’s digital babies (yes, this is an actual plot point) or a VR suit that allows you to simulate movements for sex, there’s no shortage of funny, yet horrifying technological advancements in this digital hellscape.

That satire is pushed to a new level in Upload Season 3. At the conclusion of Upload Season 2, Nathan’s mind is downloaded into his repaired body (complete with a new head), allowing him to finally pursue a relationship with Nora. But, there’s a catch. His body is starting to break down and his head will soon explode. That’s not to mention the fact that his death wasn’t really an accident, or that a copy of his consciousness is still in Lakeview, living a life with Real Nathan’s ex-girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) without some of Real Nathan’s memories. The show intercuts between the relationships with Real Nathan and Nora, Backup Nathan and Ingrid, Nathan’s Upload friend Luke (Kevin Bigley) getting up to his various shenanigans, and Nora’s friend and co-worker Aleesha (Zainab Johnson) climbing the corporate ladder. In the process, Upload Season 3 takes some ridiculous steps when it comes to portraying future technology and the way it has affected society by the 2030s.

‘Upload’ Season 3 Presents Cyber Discount Day

A strong example of this is Upload Season 3, Episode 3, titled “Cyber Discount Day,” which feels like Upload taking its satire to the ultimate level. The bulk of the episode finds Nathan and Nora spending the national holiday with Nathan’s mother Viv (Jessica Tuck) while trying to scrape together enough money for a special dinner for the commune they’re living in. Meanwhile, Aleesha has to work in Lakeview while hosting her family for Cyber Discount Day, and Ingrid has to deal with her family cutting her off from her finances. Throughout the episode, the insanity of the “holiday” is put on full display. Instead of actually cooking people are using 3D printers to make their food, as we’ve seen throughout the series. Aleesha literally prints a ham that her family sprays ham flavoring onto. Nathan also manages to get his loved ones a printed turkey that tastes like ham. At the same time, Lakeview’s dining options vary from a lush buffet to “Penny Pincher” meals that wouldn’t look out of place at a school cafeteria.

Ultimately, Cyber Discount Day feels like the endpoint of an overly commercialized holiday season, and the Upload writers play into this. The idea of gathering together and eating has major Thanksgiving vibes; in fact, it’s all but outright stated that Cyber Discount Day has taken the place of Thanksgiving. The 3D-printed food and hustling for deals are also reminiscent of Black Friday, which in and of itself is an excess of capitalism. After all, why spend any time and care making food or hanging with your family when you can snap up the latest deals? Cyber Discount Day also feels like a thinly veiled satire of Prime Day, the day when Amazon Prime members can take advantage of various deals. There are even Amazon boxes on the Upload set (albeit stacked in a way that you can’t see the Amazon logo) and Lakeview’s residents are encouraged by the AI Guys (Owen Daniels) to purchase upgrades.

Nobody Is Safe From The Side Hustle In ‘Upload’

Perhaps the biggest way that Upload connects to the real world is through its depiction of side hustles, the extra jobs people take to supplement their income. Nathan and Nora find themselves taking up various side gigs to get by, whether it’s picking up trash or doing remote shifts in Lakeview. Aleesha finds herself torn between work and spending time with her family and friends, a divide that becomes more and more prominent with each passing episode in Season 3. Even Uploads, set to live forever in the digital world, aren’t exempt from this. In “Download Doctor” (Season 3, Episode 4), Luke finds out that Lakeview is discontinuing a program that allows army veterans like himself to stay there. In desperation, he tracks down a tip to the Grey Zone and becomes a telemarketer in order to afford his fancy lifestyle.

What makes this terrifying is the fact that Uploads are expressly forbidden from working. After all, what’s the point of making money if you’re dead? Luke’s predicament (as well as Nathan’s) is quite terrifying when you think about it. Your entire existence depends on monetary transactions whether it’s from the government or your family. If you can’t come up with the cash, then you can kiss any semblance of living goodbye. The fact that not even death can save you from capitalism’s grip is some sheer nightmare fuel, even if it makes for good jokes and stories.

This is not the first time that Upload has presented a take on the future of society that is both outrageously funny and horrifyingly plausible. Even the Uploads’ dreams in virtual reality aren’t safe—they can be downloaded and sold as entertainment. Aleesha learns this the hard way when she discovers her co-worker Lucy (Andrea Rosen) has been selling Luke’s erotic fantasies of her on the dark web, once again shattering the lines of consent as well as several ethical boundaries. The larger world implications of this future society also continue to raise some unsettling questions. If food is now printed, how many people, like Ingrid’s family, actually eat real food? If you’re alive, but a copy of your mind is residing in a virtual heaven, who’s to say that copy isn’t just as real as you are?

This is something Upload creator Greg Daniels has clearly been thinking about, particularly with how Season 3 is shaking up. “In Season 3, there’s a big storyline of Aleesha becoming responsible for taking the machine, learning AI, and giving it some kind of humanity and value system,” he said during an interview with Collider. Daniels couldn’t have been more on the money; as Aleesha gains more responsibilities with her new position, she is starting to see how far her co-workers are willing to go to make an extra buck and how little they think of the Uploads they are charged with helping. Daniels has also teased the possibility/probability of a fourth season, meaning that Upload‘s innate blend of humor and horror will probably continue for as long as the series is on the air.

New episodes of Upload Season 3 are released weekly on Fridays.

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