Love Death and Robots (season 2)
For some reason I forgot to do a review of the second season of the phenomenal anthology mini-series “Love Death and Robots” (hereafter: LDR). And just when I was thinking about reviewing it, Netflix unexpectedly served me the third season too! 😀
For those who don’t know, this paragraph from my review of the first season basically covers what LDR is:
“Love, Death and Robots” is an anthology animated series for adults. Don’t let this “animated” confuse you, this is truly a series for adults. The themes/episodes are quite adult, heavily inspired by the “Heavy Metal” series, and are of different genres (from science fiction, through fantasy, to horror and comedy)
In other words, good and unusual things await you.
Automated Customer Service – In a futuristic retirement settlement, where robots perform almost all jobs, an elderly lady has a problem with a Vacuubot machine (cleans, washes, irons and vacuums around the house), which suddenly malfunctioned and started terrorizing the house. Will the lady be saved sooner by useless technical support or the weird old man neighbor… if they can save her at all?
Ice – A family moved to a colonized planet, completely covered in ice, where everyone is genetically modified and has (moderate) superpowers. Sedgwick, unlike his younger brother Fletcher, isn’t “modified,” so he’s quite ostracized from society (and often pejoratively called extro). However, one evening he joins his younger brother and his friends in one dangerous adventure… was that a smart decision?
Pop Squad – in a dystopian future, humanity has developed a cure/product that enables, let’s say, a type of biological immortality. This leads to overpopulation of the planet, which is why a ban on having children was imposed. In case some couple has a child, that’s when the police come on the scene and immediately kill the child, and bring the parents in through summary proceedings. Detective Briggs, who normally does this cruel job, gradually begins to crack psychologically under the pressure of such tasks. Moreover, after a (semi) joking comment from his mistress that she would, if it were possible, let herself get pregnant by him, great unease arose in him. Because of this he decided to conduct his private investigation, and thus came across a woman hiding her child from the world, intending to find out why people are willing to give up their immortality for children… will he understand the message?
Snow in the Desert – A man named Snow lives on some godforsaken/wasteland of a planet. He possesses a unique regeneration ability, making him effectively immortal. During a confrontation in a bar with three mercenaries (because someone offered big money for Snow’s testicles… I mean, literally his testicles), he’s saved by a woman named Hirald. He later invites her to his home as a guest… what are Hirald’s motives?
The Tall Grass – Unexpectedly, a train had to, due to a malfunction, stop in the middle of the night halfway, surrounded on all sides by tall (at least over 2.5m) green grass (and no, it doesn’t appear to be corn). One of the passengers, despite the conductor’s warning, decided to use the unexpected smoke break and take a walk through the unusual field… was that a good idea?
All Through the House – on Christmas Eve, twins Leah and Billy are awakened by the sound of footsteps. That must be Santa Claus. They quietly went down to the living room where the Christmas tree is and saw Santa Claus… but what kind of Santa Claus was that?
Life Hutch – during a space battle with a hostile alien race, pilot Terrence’s fighter craft crashed on a nearby planet. Terrence manages to find a nearby shelter, but, to his misfortune, the robot maintaining the shelter malfunctioned and shows hostile tendencies toward the wounded pilot… is there hope for Terrence?
The Drowned Giant – a giant corpse of a man washed up on the shore and one of the academics is the narrator of his internal monologue about the significance of this corpse for the local residents… this is something like a philosophical version of Gulliver and the Lilliputians… except dead Gulliver washed up on shore?
Visual progress is visible compared to the first season, there’s no doubt about that.
But the quality of the episodes themselves and their concept… well, it seems to me much weaker compared to the first season. Not that the second season is bad in itself… but the first one set quite high standards. That rawer, more aggressive, more sexual element is missing, which gave a certain “darkness” to the series.
On the other hand, the themes these episodes cover seem much more serious. For example, would you be willing to give up the possibility of having heirs in favor of immortality, how to deal with being different from your surroundings, what’s the meaning in life’s transience… as well as do you really want to know what Santa Claus looks like and whether maybe a pee break while traveling by bus (or in the case of this episode, train) to Greece should still be spent near the bus?
In principle, the second season of LDR isn’t bad. Moreover, it’s good, just a bit weaker compared to the first season. But you should still watch it, so you can continue with perhaps the best season of the series… the third! 😀
Of famous actors who lent their voices, it’s only worth mentioning Michael B. Jordan and Elodie Yung.
For my favorite episodes of the second season I choose “Ice,” “Pop Squad” and “Snow in the Desert”
And you, dear reader, which is your favorite episode of the second season? 🙂
Trailer
IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic
Format: Series
Number of Seasons: 3 (8 episodes in the second season)
Average Episode Duration: Under 20 minutes
