Upload – Season 2 Episode 5 “Mind Frisk” Recap & Review

Mind Frisk

Episode 5 of Upload Season 2 starts with an alarm waking Nathan up. Ingrid is completely out of it, given she’s in the real world. This is, apparently, just a new security system install and nothing to be alarmed about.

Meanwhile, Nora speaks to Matteo who remains dead-set on destroying Lakeview no matter what – and no matter who gets caught in the crossfire.

With a distance growing between them, Nora decides they need some time apart. So naturally, Nora heads back to work and vents to Aleesha about what’s happened. She quizzes whether Horizen is responsible for the murders, but Aleesha isn’t so sure they’re behind this.

Ingrid shows up to see Lucy, who’s fixated on getting her new real-fake baby. Lucy encourages her to start with an AI and work her way up but Ingrid is having none of it, deciding to scream until she gets what she wants.

Thankfully, there’s a meeting going on so Lucy has a valid excuse to skip out of this. Until late on of course, when Lucy returns, realizes Ingrid is still there and decides to give her the baby after all.

Thanks to the Ludd attack, Horizen decide to step up their security protocols under the guise of a new, invasive program called Mindfrisk. It’s exactly what you may think – this program allows the subject’s thoughts to be uploaded and monitored in real-time, cutting out free will completely.

Nora heads in to warn Nathan, warning him about what’s happened. Mindfrisk is due to go online soon but there’s no timeframe right now. So naturally, that gives them a window to work with, as Nathan worries that Kannerman could actually hear his thoughts about the murders.

Given Luke has been watched by Lucy for a while now, he’s paranoid and starts to lose it. Aleesha is sent in to play damage control but she hits him too hard and he flies out the window, running away. As fate would have it, Luke’s been dreaming about Aleesha and she’s now up on Dreamhub, which is a sort of adult site where sexual dreams are uploaded.

Aleesha naturally confronts him about this but instead of the forceful approach like before, she encourages him to get on the bed with her. Of course, this is all a ploy to get Luke to sleep faster – which works a treat. But then he ends up dreaming of her again anyway.

With a clear window of opportunity, Nora heads into Craig’s office and realizes the Mindfrisk program connects them across to Lakeview. Nora checks out the computer with Nathan, as the pair realize with horror (and fascination) that Nathan’s thoughts are read in real-time. Nathan tries to control his thoughts but he fails, of course, immediately diverting back to how beautiful Nora is.

Nathan turns it around and tries to find who’s thinking of Nathan. In doing so, he listens in to Mr Choak, who happens to be the one behind the murder. He’s in his living room, talking to the assassin who demands a spot in Lakeview.

Choak is having none of it though and eventually has his two goons take him away. Checking surveillance logs for additional proof, Nathan notices David Choak talking to Kannerman, who tells the guy to “get rid of him.” This is, of course, in direct reference to Nathan.

As the episode closes out, Craig realizes that he’s been hacked as Choak’s thoughts are broadcast out for everyone in Lakeview to hear. Now they’ve got no choice but to shut down Mindfrisk.

The Episode Review

So it seems like Choak and Kannerman are the ones responsible for murdering Nathan, which doesn’t really seem like much of a surprise to be honest. The show has continued to play with this mystery across the season but there hasn’t really been much urgency to it, so the big reveal is just sorta shrugged off as a bit obvious.

The subplot involving Ingrid and her ever-growing baby is a nice touch, showing that she’s not ready for parenthood, but again there’s really not a lot of substance to this, hence why its not really mentioned in the recap.

The story involving Nora is far more compelling though but this episode shows that her allegiance is with Horizen and keeping up pretenses with them for the foreseeable future. With Mindfrisk ending and Nathan one step closer to the truth, everything is left wide open for the final two episodes.