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You cant tell viewers how to watch something.
(Even though it frustrates me when someones out there watching, say,Mrs.
Americain a way that I think iswrong.)
Thats whats happening withUpload, the new Amazon afterlife series from Greg Daniels.
It looks like, sounds like, and often acts like a comedy.
Obviously its a comedy!
Thats not an especially funny premise, butUploaddoes quite a bit of tap-dancing to disguise how bleak everything is.
The show gets mileage out of the absurdity of trying to have a long-distance relationship with a dead person.
Watching a woman in an overinflated scuba suit act out a sexual encounter with empty air is funny!
In one scene, Ingrid has had a shoulder-blade-sharpening procedure, and she suddenly realizes theyre nowtoosharp.
Unwittingly, she leans back on a sofa and slices into the cushions.
None of the comedy is all that great, though.
But you cant escape the sense thatUploaddoesnt actually care about the comedy.
Theres no oomph to it!
The best way to approachUploadis not as a funny story about the afterlife.
It would be bleak as hell, is the answer!
Their existence is subject to data caps.
Theyd certainly be allowed to live more, but only if they can pony up for an unlimited plan.
But it never quite nails the synthesis between the two.
The show plays best as a nightmare.
