How to ruin your story

The first season of Amazon Prime’s Upload launched in 2020. And I was hooked from the start. It’s the story of a man named Nathan who is uploaded to a virtual afterlife after his death. He is, we’ll say, less than pleased with this.

The show was funny, thought-provoking, and touching. It had a lot to say about class disparity and how artificial our lives are becoming. And every season left us with a killer cliffhanger.

The last season was released in August of this year. And it was just, just terrible. It was a slap in the face of fans. And while I don’t think it’s the worst series ending ever, it was pretty damned close.

Of course, there is no great loss without some small gain. As writers, we can learn from bad writing as easily as good writing. And the last season of Upload is a perfect example of almost every single way you can screw up your ending and leave fans feeling ripped off and betrayed. So let’s see exactly how you ruin a series.

Spoiler alert! There is no way I can talk about this ending without spoilers. So if you haven’t seen the season yet and somehow still want to after that intro, you’ll probably want to do that before reading more. I will also be giving some spoilers for the show Shitt’s Creek. It will make sense when we get there.

Add in stupid, unrealistic storylines

Upload has always been about one thing above all. Class disparity. How far companies will go to make a buck off the backs of anyone.

Well, that seems to have been scrapped this season. Instead, we got a story about the AI guys becoming sentient and taking on lives of their own. And, for some reason, corporate espionage that led to Aleesha becoming a super spy. At least I think that’s what happened there. It’s actually kind of hard to follow, since they only had four episodes to introduce this concept, then bring it to a conclusion.

Scrap your main antagonists and replace them with much worse ones

For the first three seasons, the main antagonists of Upload were David Choak, played by the incomparable William B. Davis, and Oliver Kannerman, played by Barclay Hope. They were two grossly wealthy white men who killed people without qualms because the people in question were poor. Choak at least doesn’t seem like a bad guy at first. Then you learn more about him.

These were good antagonists. We wanted to see them fall. What ended up happening to them was not satisfying. It was not significant. Both antagonists were just sort of pushed aside to make room for the evil AI Guy. Who was, by the way, a boring and lazy antagonist.

I do not care that an AI assistant became sentient. I do not think it’s believable that evil AI Guy was going to destroy the world in some mysterious way. It wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t scary, it wasn’t compelling. And maybe it could have been if the storyline had been given time to grow or evolve. But it sure as hell didn’t have that time.

Drop a bunch of storylines and characters

I ended this series with a lot of questions. Maybe you’ve had some of the same questions.

What happened to Nora’s dad? Didn’t he have a fatal disease?

What happened with the Luds? Are they still trying to fight against modern tech? Did they just scatter?

What happened to Jamie? We know he’s dead, and that’s all we know.

What happened to Byron? Is he doing okay? Is he still pining after Nora?

Did anyone even care that Fran died? Justice for Fran!

And where the hell were Navaya’s parents this whole time?

Now, there are some stories that left us with good questions. Hunger Games is a good example. But bad questions are a death sentence. These are questions that should have been answered a while ago. And it feels like if the show had had more time, it would have answered these. But that’s not an excuse. This felt less like an ending and more like a bleeding wound of a story.

Give your main characters a bad ending that wasn’t deserved

Some stories don’t have happy endings. Some characters get bad deaths they don’t deserve. Some good relationships end.

Let’s use Shitt’s Creek as an example. Specifically, the relationship between Alexis and Ted.

They were so good together. They loved each other. But in the end, they loved each other enough to let each other go.

I cry every time I watch this. When Ted says, “Can’t say we didn’t try,” I just lose it.

This ending, sad as it was, made sense for Alexis. She had spent her entire life doing dumb shit for men. She was running all over the world, getting into dangerous situations, and ignoring her own identity for men who did not care for her.

She needed to choose herself. That was sad, but it made sense for her character.

Now, let’s talk about the ending between Nora and Nathan.

It was Goddamned mean.

Nathan’s personal arch was never about needing to let go of his mortal life. That was, for some reason, never a story arc for any of the characters. His arch was about making good changes in the world.

As far as main characters go, Nathan was a perfect foil for the antagonists. He was a good-looking white man. And while he didn’t have money, he had the talent and ability to make money. A lot of money. He could have been the next Choak or Kannerman. Hell, he might have married Ingrid and taken the Kannerman name.

If Nathan had died saving someone, that would have made sense. If he’d died like Luke did, that would have been a satisfying but sad ending. Instead, he’s only a victim. He dies because of senseless abuse.

Give up on everyone’s story arcs

This actually leads me to my last issue. Not a single character had a satisfying personal arc. Except maybe the AI Guy.

Dylan never got to grow up.

Luke was erased and never learned to love himself.

Ingrid got everything she thought she wanted, instead of learning that she can be a whole well well-rounded person without Nathan.

Aleesha achieved all the safety she deserved, then gave it up to become a corporate spy.

And Nora, our main character, really got shafted. She wanted to find someone to know her, but she had trouble letting people in. And she finally does. She trusts Nathan and loves him. And he dies senselessly.

There’s nothing there. Yes, I saw the ending. It’s bullshit. It’s not enough. Which honestly sums up my whole opinion about this final season.

In the end, the failure of this last season of Upload lies firmly with the writers. Yes, I am sure there was pressure from higher-ups. There always is. This was put out by Amazon, after all. But the writers could have done more.

The actors did a fantastic job. The effects were as good as ever. But the story is what we’re here for. And the story failed in every way possible. So learn from this, writers. Don’t make these same mistakes. Write better.

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Spooky season is coming, and it’s time for some creepy reads. Check out my horror novel Quiet Apocalypse, about a witch trapped in her apartment during a dark winter storm with a demon devoted to ending the world.

Or check out my horror short, The Man In The Woods. A man tries desperately to protect his granddaughter from the mysterious man in the woods. But his fear only grows when a new housing complex is built too close to the woods.