Upload season 4’s ending centers mostly around the two big questions. Firstly, what exactly was on that ring-shaped drive that Nora Antony’s lover, Nathan Brown, had given to her during the last moments of his life? And secondly, what was Nora going to do with the memories inside that drive? [Spoiler Alert] To answer these questions, let me take you back to the third episode, where the good scientist, Dennis, who was quite moved by Nora and Nathan’s sweet memories, transferred Nathan’s brain scan to a ring drive so that Nathan could preserve those memories forever. But why couldn’t he remember them by himself? You see, Nathan was dying. After Betta, formerly known as Horizen, kidnapped him, they took him to their wellness center, Elysium Med Spa, where they used him as a lab rat to test their new MRI tech through which people could scan their brains without burning off their heads. Basically, they had developed the tech for one of their new initiatives through which they wanted to charge people to keep a backup of their brain with them, just like people freeze their eggs in real life. But this brain scan machine was still in beta testing, and one of the main concerns was how the subject lost a percentage of their “real” memory after every brain scan. They had scanned Nathan’s brain almost 127 times, and with each upload, his memories started to fade. They had inflamed his entire nervous system and, who knows, if they had continued running their experiment, Nathan might have died on that machine instead of in Nora’s arms, right? So yes, the machine and the people running it were pure evil, but I don’t think they got what they truly deserved, because the show was cut short, and they had to wrap up everything very quickly. In short, Upload season 4’s ending was a mess, but I’ll try my best to clear it up for you and tell you what Nora is going to do with Nathan’s second scan. So let’s jump straight into it.
The Ring Drive Is Symbolic
I guess it was kind of cute the way Nathan took the ring out of his pocket while he and Nora were in a simulation that Nora had designed, because Nathan had always wanted to visit Montreal and get married to her there. So while they were putting the rings on in the simulation, Nathan put the ring drive on Nora’s finger, metaphorically implying that he was, in a way, not only sharing the memories he made with her, but also his entire life. The reason I say “his life” is because there’s a possibility that Nora may use Nathan’s second brain scan to reupload him and download him into a new body again. But that’s really up to her, because the dying Nathan had asked Nora not to put her life on hold or lock herself in a room to grieve for him after he was gone. But you see, this dying Nathan’s head was so cooked that he totally forgot about the ring drive, or what was inside it, which I guess is a big hint that Nora is definitely going to create another Nathan. The way she refused the guy who offered to buy her coffee and showed him her wedding ring, I think these things were suggestive that she still yearned for Nathan and would do anything to bring him back. But that’s just what I believe, and I would love to know what you think about it. Also, it’s a nice little detail that when Nathan came back, Nora, while caressing his hair, noticed the cowlick on his head, which digital Nathan had always complained about. It was Nora who had designed Nathan’s digital body; maybe when she redownloads him, she’ll fix his hair in order to make him feel complete or closer to his original self? Furthermore, it will make him different and more perfect than Ingrid’s Nathan, if that counts for anything.
The Evil AI Is Gone
Okay, full disclaimer, this one was quite difficult for me to grasp. I watched the scene twice but still couldn’t understand where this evil AI wearing the black shirt came from. Maybe it was a bug, or it was a female-shaped AI who had an effect on the bartender AI, who became all slick and cool to impress her and, in the process, turned evil. I still cannot make sense of it, but do let me know. Well, whatever the case might be, this evil AI started absorbing all the other AIs in Lakeview and became so strong that he could even rewrite his own codes and override commands. Things went too far when he finally absorbed the Gardener AI, who had exchanged a ton of information with the Apple Cove AI, when Luke took the Gardener AI to the beach. And the moment the black-haired freak absorbed this information, he became a singularity, a self-aware AI who wanted to bend the humans to his will. Luke tried to stop him but lost his life a second time. He was erased from the system, which meant he couldn’t be revived. This was the moment when Aleesha realized that only human experience can beat an artificial intelligence, and therefore brought back the AI human clone, the secret project Aleesha’s ex, Karina, was working on in season 3, episode 5. Karina had asked Aleesha to teach the AI clone how to adapt to the real world, but during the experiment, the AI clone gave his tracking device to a vagabond as an act of kindness and disappeared into the streets. The fourth season revealed that he had become a healer in Midtown, and Aleesha approached him to ask for his help to save Lakeview. Through his real-life experience, the AI clone had gathered billions, or even trillions of gigs of information, which made him much more powerful than the black-haired evil AI. And as soon as the Healer AI uploaded himself to the system, he not only brought back the other AIs the evil had absorbed, but also terminated the corrupted code from the system.
Lakeview Is Nonprofit Now
One of the things that Upload season 4’s ending didn’t bother explaining was what was going to happen to the evil corporation, Horizen. In the finale, most of the key players, that is, the board members, either died or were arrested, but we still didn’t know what actually happened to them. Just to make it clear, David Choak, the greedy mastermind behind the whole idea of Workload, died a symbolic death. He had ordered Ingrid’s father, Oliver Kannerman, to get rid of Nathan so he could steal his tech, Freeyond, and rig the elections. And in the end, it was Nathan who crushed Choak’s only uploaded copy under his wheels twice, so he could never be retrieved. Hence, it’s safe to assume that Choak is gone for good. Speaking of Oliver, he was arrested by the officer who had hired Aleesha to bring evidence against the Horizen board of directors so he could keep them behind bars for as long as he could. I am not sure how much evidence the authorities had against Oliver and the others, or how long they will be able to keep them in prison, but maybe we can just assume that they won’t come back to cast their dark shadow on Lakeview again. I have a feeling that Oscar Mayer Intel will take over Horizen in the near future, but if I have learned something from this show, then it is, “Never trust a corporation.” They seek only profit, and I understand profits are important, but they can’t come at the expense of a human life. Thankfully, Lakeview is in safe hands. The Healer AI is running the show, and has turned Lakeview into a nonprofit. He’s catering to the needs of the 300 million uploads Horizen has, but once again, I am not sure how long Healer AI will be able to continue doing so without the interference of the corporation that owns Lakeview.
On second thought, I think Oscar Mayer Intel isn’t a real company, it might just be a front for a government spy agency which has branded itself as a computer company in order to keep these IT corporations in check.
Ingrid Starts a Family
Well, at least one person got what they really wanted. From the very beginning of the series, Ingrid had been dying to marry the love of her life, and was willing to do anything for him. She was the one who uploaded Nathan to Lakeview so she could bring him back one day, and in Upload season 4’s ending, Ingrid finally downloaded the backup Nathan, the one who loved her and only her. Together, they had lots and lots of real-life exchanges of fluids, and Ingrid is going to be a mother now.
Upload season 4’s ending revealed that Ingrid, who had spent a major chunk of her romantic life inside a hug suit so she could be with her Nathan in Lakeview, had designed a better version of the device for the “skinny girls.” I think it served the same purpose, which is to upload your consciousness to Lakeview, but Ingrid made the suit look better when someone sees you wearing it in the tub. Well, she’s popular now and even wrote a book about her experience with a dead Nathan, a digital Nathan, two Nathans, and now a downloaded copy of Nathan. Her journey so far, in a nutshell. Together, they went to Gigi’s talk show, Le Journal Gigi, to tell us what happened to everybody else. However, I have questions, which I believe will never be addressed. To begin with, if the download technology isn’t dangerous anymore, then why is no one talking about it? I mean, it was a big thing in the previous season, so shouldn’t it have created some buzz in the final season? Why are there still 300 million people stuck in Lakeview if they can simply download themselves? What is even the point of Lakeview? But like I said, these questions will never be answered because the show has been wrapped up. Additionally, if Ingrid’s pregnant with the child of a downloaded Nathan, then doesn’t that make him the first download to become a father? That kid is going to be special, right? But still no one talked about it. Disappointing.
Aleesha Is A Spy Now
Aleesha’s character arc is actually the most messed up. Both her lovers are either dead or have disappeared, and I still don’t know how she was so chill about it. Luke Crossley made a heroic sacrifice and died a martyr trying to save his best friend, Nathan, and the girl he liked, Aleesha. And to some extent, he even saved the world. The evil AI wanted to leave Lakeview so he could take over the world, but Luke tried to stop him, which was when the evil AI pushed Luke into the torrent, and got him completely erased from the system. However, Nathan intends to remember his lost friend by naming his baby after him. Well, wherever Luke is right now, I am sure he’ll be touched by that gesture. He always wanted Nathan to accept him as a friend, and in the end, he did.
Speaking of Aleesha’s other lover, Karina, the fourth season didn’t answer what happened to her: whether she’s dead or alive. The guy who hired Aleesha to gather intelligence against Horizen told her that Karina was their top agent, whom they had planted into the corporation, but Aleesha suspected she was evil like the rest of the company, and therefore exposed her. In the previous season, Aleesha hacked into Karina’s laptop and leaked her emails with the top executives of Horizen, which helped Nora and Nathan win the case against the greedy corporation. After the fiasco, the agency had no option but to pull Karina out and send her scuba diving. I guess Aleesha’s handler was lying. Karina wasn’t dead or scuba diving on a beach. I think she’s on a covert mission in some other corner of the world, which presents the possibility that maybe Karina and Aleesha will meet again in the future? I hope so. Meanwhile, Aleesha left the job at Horizen, or maybe she was fired for attacking her senior, Jitendra, and started working for Oscar Mayer Intel. Well, actually, that’s just a cover. Aleesha is a full-time spy now, and in Upload season 4’s ending, we saw her on a mission in Siberia, trying to procure some highly advanced tech from Mister Safarali. And yes, she speaks in Ukrainian, but I am not going to comment on that. So, to wrap up, that’s all that happened in the final season of Upload, but if you still have any questions, feel free to use the comment box below.
