Love, Death, and Robots is by far one of the most interesting original series Netflix has going for itself. The anthology series comprising entirely of animated shorts depicting various darkly funny or gory scenarios, pertaining more often than not to the themes of love, death, and robots, is consistently great and always ingenious. Season Three was announced not very long ago and dropped last weekend, so now that I’ve sat down to watch its nine episodes, do showrunner Tim Miller and his various accomplices match the same great quality material they’ve been producing before?
The first episode is the shows first ever (and only) ‘sequel’, continuing the Three Robots storyline from Season One. Three Robots: Exit Strategies sees the eponymous robot pals exploring more of the post-human earth to learn about how humans across the globe coped with their impending doom. From setting up small outposts, to cities at sea, and even leaving Earth behind, Exit Strategies pokes fun at both redneck America and billionaires for their short-sightedness, selfishness, and general stupidity. It was great to return to this world and it gives me hope that we might see a return of some of my other favourites in time.
The first episode is the shows first ever (and only) ‘sequel’, continuing the Three Robots storyline from Season One. Three Robots: Exit Strategies sees the eponymous robot pals exploring more of the post-human earth to learn about how humans across the globe coped with their impending doom. From setting up small outposts, to cities at sea, and even leaving Earth behind, Exit Strategies pokes fun at both redneck America and billionaires for their short-sightedness, selfishness, and general stupidity. It was great to return to this world and it gives me hope that we might see a return of some of my other favourites in time.
Bad Travelling meanwhile, for me, was a bit disappointing. First off, it’s the longest episode across all three seasons, coming in at around twenty-three minutes. Secondly, I didn’t feel it used that extra time particularly well. A story about a ship that is attacked by a giant crustacean which then dwells in the cargo hold and eats the crew. It just felt a little light on ideas and didn’t properly use the nature of a short effectively. Animated by Blur, the short did look incredible, particularly the start of the episode that took place during a thunderstorm. But good looks aren’t everything if you can’t back it up with a compelling narrative which I found a shame as it was directed by one of my favourite directors, David Fincher.
The Very Pulse of the Machine was perhaps the most visually striking of all the episodes with its cel-shaded appearance. Following an astronaut dragging the body of their dead colleague to a rendezvous point and hallucinating along the way, The Very Pulse of the Machine is an episode for contemplating deeply about life and death. Whilst narratively it wasn’t my favourite, its unique design and deep philosophical ponderings made it a short I’ll likely return to over and over again.
Night of the Mini Dead was probably my favourite episode of the season. Depicting a zombie apocalypse from outbreak to world destruction is nothing new, but Mini Dead zooms right out and shows the whole thing using what I’m sure was stop motion miniatures. It could have been computer generated, but to me it looked like stop motion. Hilariously funny, and extremely inventive with its visuals, Mini Dead exemplifies what Love, Death, and Robots is all about.
The next three episodes, Kill Team Kill, Swarm, and Mason’s Rats were all kind of unremarkable. Kill Team Kill and Mason’s Rats were gory fun but lacked any narrative depth to really allow you to sink your teeth into and weren’t visually striking enough to earn praise there either. Swarm was just kind of boring, and I found the ending to lack any kind of answers for what we were shown. Mason’s Rats was my favourite of the three, but I’ll probably forget about all of them by the time I’ve finished writing this review.
The Very Pulse of the Machine was perhaps the most visually striking of all the episodes with its cel-shaded appearance. Following an astronaut dragging the body of their dead colleague to a rendezvous point and hallucinating along the way, The Very Pulse of the Machine is an episode for contemplating deeply about life and death. Whilst narratively it wasn’t my favourite, its unique design and deep philosophical ponderings made it a short I’ll likely return to over and over again.
Night of the Mini Dead was probably my favourite episode of the season. Depicting a zombie apocalypse from outbreak to world destruction is nothing new, but Mini Dead zooms right out and shows the whole thing using what I’m sure was stop motion miniatures. It could have been computer generated, but to me it looked like stop motion. Hilariously funny, and extremely inventive with its visuals, Mini Dead exemplifies what Love, Death, and Robots is all about.
The next three episodes, Kill Team Kill, Swarm, and Mason’s Rats were all kind of unremarkable. Kill Team Kill and Mason’s Rats were gory fun but lacked any narrative depth to really allow you to sink your teeth into and weren’t visually striking enough to earn praise there either. Swarm was just kind of boring, and I found the ending to lack any kind of answers for what we were shown. Mason’s Rats was my favourite of the three, but I’ll probably forget about all of them by the time I’ve finished writing this review.
In the Vaulted Halls Entombed is probably the most disturbing episode of the entire series, depicting what I can only understand as a group of soldiers discovering Cthulhu. Animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, this episode was borderline realistic at times with its 3D animation. But it’s extremely dark and disturbing imagery may put off some viewers, particularly the harrowing ending. Up there with Season One's 'Beyond the Aquilla Rift' for creepiness.
Then finally there’s Jibaro which I wasn’t entirely sure was animated. In all honesty it looked live action the majority of the time…I mean, I’m sure it was animated because otherwise it wouldn’t be in this anthology, but I spent a lot of the episode unsure as to whether I was watching live-action actors or just extremely high-quality motion capture animation. Either way, Jibaro, from what I could gather, was about rape and how destructive it can be to a person. But the ambiguity of the episode could lead to vast speculation on that. In all honesty I really didn’t like the episode because of how visually uncomfortable it was, lots of rapid cuts and the screen kept flashing with a green and red filter on, it was extremely disorientating and uncomfortable to view. But there was some dancing in it and the choreography was awesome so that tickled my fancy a little bit there. Whilst I didn’t really like the episode, I appreciate that it was something so radically different from anything else in all three seasons, so I’m sure it’ll have its fans.
Season Three of Love, Death, and Robots does continue the high watermark for animation quality, though on the whole the story quality seems to have dipped. I loved Three Robots and Mini Dead, and Pulse of the Machine gave me plenty to ponder over. I also enjoyed Vaulted Halls as a horror short. But I did feel that this season was a little lacking in comparison to the previous two.
It's still great, and absolutely a must watch, but potentially the weakest season yet. Very much looking forward to Season Four if and when that drops.
Then finally there’s Jibaro which I wasn’t entirely sure was animated. In all honesty it looked live action the majority of the time…I mean, I’m sure it was animated because otherwise it wouldn’t be in this anthology, but I spent a lot of the episode unsure as to whether I was watching live-action actors or just extremely high-quality motion capture animation. Either way, Jibaro, from what I could gather, was about rape and how destructive it can be to a person. But the ambiguity of the episode could lead to vast speculation on that. In all honesty I really didn’t like the episode because of how visually uncomfortable it was, lots of rapid cuts and the screen kept flashing with a green and red filter on, it was extremely disorientating and uncomfortable to view. But there was some dancing in it and the choreography was awesome so that tickled my fancy a little bit there. Whilst I didn’t really like the episode, I appreciate that it was something so radically different from anything else in all three seasons, so I’m sure it’ll have its fans.
Season Three of Love, Death, and Robots does continue the high watermark for animation quality, though on the whole the story quality seems to have dipped. I loved Three Robots and Mini Dead, and Pulse of the Machine gave me plenty to ponder over. I also enjoyed Vaulted Halls as a horror short. But I did feel that this season was a little lacking in comparison to the previous two.
It's still great, and absolutely a must watch, but potentially the weakest season yet. Very much looking forward to Season Four if and when that drops.