Upload and The Good Place both tell the stories of people experiencing the afterlife and trying to navigate through the trials and tribulations they are faced with after death. While both series tackle the human experience of death and unknowns about the afterlife with humor, there are certainly some differences between them.
While The Good Place involves a lot of sentiment and themes of personal development and morality, Upload‘s version of the afterlife is futuristic, full of conspiracy and significantly darker. Despite this, fan have been able to identify similar characters in both series.
Lucy – Vicky
Both Lucy and Vicky play career-driven women in their respective stories. Although both characters care very much about excelling at work and climbing the ladder, they have a tendency to rub others up the wrong way. While Lucy is despised by her employees and gives her employees false hope by joking about a pay rise, Vicky frequently irritates Michael with her constant questioning and desire to be the main character.
However, whilst Vicky eventually finds a way to use her skills for good, Lucy shows little positive character development.
Byron – Brent Norwalk
Both love interest of Nora, Byron, and resident of the new Bad Place, Brent, share a lot of qualities. Neither character is truly evil like Choak in Upload or the demons in The Good Place, but they are intolerable, ‘normal’ people. They both frequently say controversial things and have unpopular opinions. Additionally, they display an unwarranted arrogance, both believing in themselves and their abilities far more than their beliefs or actions permit.
However, whereas Byron does show some redeeming qualities when he begins to have feelings for Nora, Brent is consistently unable to learn the error of his ways.
David Choak – Shawn
Shawn and Choak are the evil characters of their series. Shawn’s literal purpose is to cause human suffering and Choak demonstrates his villainous nature by organizing Nathan’s murder. However, both character’s evil personalities are shown with some humor – they are both over the top and caricatured in their villainy. Equally, both Shawn and Choak exhibit rare moments of kindness and humility.
Despite their similarities, there is one obvious difference: Shawn is literally a demon (although it could be argued that Choak is more evil than Shawn).
Ingrid Cannerman – Tahani Al-Jamil
Both Ingrid and Tahani are spoiled, self-obsessed and vain. Both characters come from money, however, they are not valued within their respective families. Ingrid’s family are horrible to one another and Tahani spends most of her life trying to beat her sister, in an effort to win her parent’s affection. They can both be seen engaging in ridiculous beauty treatments; Tahani has nightly orchid baths and Ingrid gets her shoulders sharpened.
While the characters do have a whole lot in common, Tahani embarks on a journey to become good and Ingrid spirals further and further into her obsession with Nathan.
Tinsley – Chidi Anagonye
Whereas Chidi is one of the best main characters in The Good Place, Tinsley is introduced in the second series of Upload and is involved relatively few story lines. Despite the discrepancy between the character’s time on screen, the pair have some key similarities. Both characters are unwavering kind and patient with others. However, most importantly, the two characters are both extremely anxious and worrisome – Tinsley is nervous about doing the wrong thing in her new job and Chidi worries about literally everything.
A.I. Guy – Janet
Janet and the A.I. Guy are both informational or virtual assistants in their respective afterlives. Neither character is human and both characters are programmed to help the residents and improve the quality of their afterlives.
Despite the obvious similarities between the two characters, Janet is much more advanced than the A.I. Guy. Having been rebooted so many times, Janet eventually has human experiences – she begins to feel emotions and falls in love with Jason. However, even the A.I. Guy does have a couple of human moments, like when he consoles Ingrid when she is feeling sad.
Luke – Jason Mendoza
While Luke is a resident of Lakeview, Jason is a resident of The Good Place (which transpires to actually be the Bad Place). Although Jason is significantly less intelligent than Luke, both characters come across as endearingly clueless and naive. They are sources of comic relief in their respective series, and both Jason and Luke do and say ridiculous things regularly.
However, despite their cluelessness, they are both one of the kindest and gentlest characters in their series, surprising others with their rare moments of sincerity and insight.
Aleesha – Mindy St. Clair
The best character in Upload, Aleesha, and Mindy blur the lines between good and bad in their respective series, so much so for Mindy that they are forced to create a Medium Place for her. Both characters seem to have massive potential that has not yet been realized – Mindy died before she could start her charitable organization and Aleesha often under performs at work despite being more capable than most of her colleagues. Additionally, both characters are very funny and are forever making fans laugh with their sassy and likable personalities.
Nathan Brown – Eleanor Shellstrop
As the protagonists of their respective series, both Eleanor and Nathan go through massive character development. They both come into the afterlife having been relatively bad people on earth, both selfish and not considering the consequences of their actions on others.
However, when both characters arrive in the afterlife, they begin to learn the errors of their ways and commit to learning how to be better. Whereas for Nathan, this takes the form of introspection, for Eleanor, this takes the form of philosophy lessons conducted by Chidi.
Nora Anthony – Michael
Both Nora and Michael play an official role in the afterlife – Nora is an ‘angel’ and Michael is an architect. Both characters end up helping afterlife residents with their transition and take a personal interest in their humans or uploads. With their roles comes a wisdom with death and the afterlife that the other characters do not seem to have.
However, the nature of Michael’s role is more complex than that of Nora’s, being a demon at first and then transitioning to good. Nonetheless, Nora also blurs the line between good and bad when she briefly joins rebellion group, the LUDS, and joins in with some morally questionable activity.
