Season One of Netflix’s Love, Death and Robots was released in 2019, consisting of eighteen sci-fi short stories based loosely upon the themes of the series title. I’d read many of the stories before because they were by my favorite authors, such as John Scalzi and Alastair Reynolds. While it was exciting to see a sci-fi anthology flex its technical muscles to stunningly visualize some of those great shorts, as a whole I felt disappointed that many of the shorts focused on nudity and violence for the sake of rendering them in high-definition CGI glory. There’s a certain Mortal Kombat vibe that some video games emit where the focus is on the gory fatalities and this focus reduced many of Love, Death and Robot’s Season One’s episodes to video game status. There were still some great episodes in Season One, but as a whole they were the diamonds in the rough.
This week, Netflix released Season Two of Love, Death, and Robots. Where Season One’s eighteen episodes were more of a throw-spaghetti-on-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach, Season Two’s eight episodes feel more like a carefully-selected collection for your consumption. Similar to Season One, the stories are bingeable shorts that can each be watched in ten to fifteen minutes. The author roster isn’t as recognizable as the first season (other than John Scalzi and Paolo Bacigalupi), but this is a plus, as I hadn’t read any of these stories and it was enjoyable encountering them for the first time. The gratuitous nudity from the first season is gone. In fact, only two episodes contain any nudity, with Snow in the Desert showing a woman’s bare back before fading to black to imply a sex scene, and The Downed Giant taking a detached, clinical view of a giant naked man’s body awash on a beach. The violence has also been toned down with only one episode, Snow in the Desert, containing a high level of gore. I was happy to see these changes. I don’t have issues with stories that contain these elements, but I want the story to be the focus, not the elements.
When I wrote my review for Season One, I grouped the episodes into Best and Worst categories. Season Two doesn’t lend itself to this, in part because there are half as many episodes, but more so because all of the stories are done well and there are none that should be skipped. So, instead, I’ll present them in order with my thoughts on each (and I’ll try to avoid spoilers where possible):
Automated Customer Service - A women’s Roomba-like housekeeping robot turns murderous after she and her dog interfere with its tasks. Based upon a very short John Scalzi story (https://whatever.scalzi.com/2018/11/19/a-thanksgiving-week-gift-for-you-automated-customer-service/), the animation renders everyone in caricature and the tone rides the line between farce and horror. If you don’t know it’s a Scalzi story, you might be confused upon first viewing, wondering whether it’s meant to be funny or scary. It makes perfect sense once you realize that it’s Scalzi’s sense of humor (he is the author behind Red Shirts, after all). I will say that Scalzi’s written version is told entirely from the automated customer service bot’s voice and is funny because of its escalation and that you need to infer what’s going on from the responses. The animated version is from the perspective of the terrorized woman and this causes the automated voice’s snarkiness to seem out-of-place.
The animated version reminds me a bit of 1984’s Runaway with Tom Selleck, where a housekeeping robot goes on a murder spree in a family’s house before being stopped by Selleck.
Ice - On an alien world where most humans are modded with enhanced strength and agility, an unmodded teenager feels left out, trying to prove himself in a dangerous race. The episode is hand-drawn in an animated style that you will instantly recognize from the Zima Blue episode of Season One.
This story reminds me of 1997’s Gattaca, which also focused on two brothers, one of whom was genetically enhanced, and the normal brother’s willingness to risk his life to outdo his enhanced sibling.
Ethan Hawke in Gattaca, winning the race because he didn’t save anything for the swim back
Read Rich Larson’s original short story in Clarkesworld http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/larson_10_15/
Pop Squad - In a dark future where the rich are immortal, unregistered children are illegal, hunted and killed by the police. The protagonist is one of those police and faces a crisis of conscience. A dark, heavy story with some Blade Runner-like visuals and themes. The original short was written by Paolo Bacigalupi, author of the Windup Girl https://windupstories.com/2007/02/11/great-review-of-pop-squad/
Snow in the Desert - On a desert world at the galaxy’s outskirts, an ageless man is pursued by bounty hunters set on harvesting his body parts. Out of the Season Two episodes, Snow in the Desert is the most technically advanced, with CGI that had me questioning whether I was watching live action or animation. This episode makes me believe that you could make movies with entirely CGI actors. The setting is merciless and the violence follows suit, but it all makes sense in the context of the world. The feeling is that of Chronicles of Riddick without the campiness. The original short is by Neal Asher https://www.nealasher.co.uk.
The Tall Grass - When a train stops briefly in the middle of nowhere, a passenger investigates lights in the surrounding tall grass fields. The animation is intentionally low FPS and has a stop-motion feel to it. The story itself feels like something out of Cthulu. The original story is by Joe R Lansdale https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23626097-the-tall-grass-and-other-stories
All Through the House - When two children stay up late on Christmas Eve to spy on Santa, they find something terrifying. This episode looks like it is straight from Guillermo del Toro’s mind, but is written by Joachim Heijnderman (https://gallerycurious.com/2017/12/24/christmas-eve-extra-all-through-the-house-by-joachim-heindermans/) Dark humor done right.
Life Hutch - When a man’s starfighter is shot down, he must survive planetside in an emergency shelter until he is rescued. Unfortunately for him, his company is a malfunctioning murderous maintenance robot. Great visuals throughout this episode, from the military space battles to the cat-and-mouse game of the man and robot. There is almost no spoken dialogue, but the whole story is tense and tight. As a writer, I particularly appreciate how the director trusts the viewer to understand how the robot is reacting and what triggers it.
The original short is by Harlan Ellison, published in 1974’s Deep Space. Harlan Ellison is the writer behind countless classic sci-fi TV series episodes, notably including the 1960s Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” where Kirk, McCoy and Spock travel through a time portal to 1930s Earth, encountering Edith Keeler (Joan Collins).
The Downed Giant - When a giant man’s naked corpse washes up on the beach, a local scientist documents the fishing village’s reaction. The resulting story is a vignette of humanity. The story has a Gulliver’s Travels feel to it, and the narrator’s dialogue is nearly word-for-word from the original short by J.G. Ballard http://lucite.org/lucite/archive/fiction_-_ballard/ballard,%20j%20g%20-%20drowned%20giant.pdf, which is a good thing. A strong story to end the series.
My overall verdict: Recommended. The selection of stories is tighter and the quality better than Season One. An enjoyable way to spend a weekend night.
When I’m not flying the virtual skies, I’m the sci-fi author of the Hayden’s World series. If you love exploration and adventure, be sure to check it out.
Looking for Love, Death and Robots Season 3 review? Find it here.