Netflix's Love, Death + Robots offers a thrilling dose of sci-fi through visually stunning, standalone animated shorts. While I found season 1 occasionally leaned too heavily into edginess, echoing early UK anime, season 2, though less gratuitous, lacked truly engaging narratives. However, season 3 marked a turning point, delivering consistent and mature storytelling, with standouts like The Very Pulse of the Machine, Bad Travelling, and Jibaro. This progression has left me eagerly anticipating season 4.
Will it continue this upward trend and deliver more of the compelling and imaginative worlds I've come to appreciate? Let's dive into the latest series which is composed of 10 episodes, the longest clocking in at just 17 minutes.
Can’t Stop
The Red Hot Chili Peppers perform a concert at Slane Castle in 2003 in string puppet form but it starts to get a little out of control.
This is a crazy impressive music video as the crowd scenes look amazing. The lighting and sheer number of ‘strings’ on show in this CGI film is impressive. If I’d been involved it would have quickly evolved into a tangled mess. Props to the team for not messing up the props.
Close Encounters of the Mini Kind
When aliens come to Earth, they land in America and are quickly killed, triggering an invasion. Cue loads of visual jokes on anal probes, ray guns and lasers, a destroyed Golden Gate Bridge (of course) and impressive car chases.
This is a follow on from Night of the Mini Dead from season 3 and has a similar isometric styles with a cute take on Simlish. The ending is dark and goes places but does show mankind’s jingoistic hubris.
Spider Rose
A grieving cyborg seeks revenge on those that killed her husband and destroyed her business. When she finds a rare jewel an alien race of traders want what she has so, in exchange for a powerful pet/weapon, she agrees. Will she be able to get the revenge she seeks or will the love of a companion prove a balm to her grief and loneliness? She has a 96 day trial period to find out.
This is hard sci-fi based on a space opera short story by Bruce Sterling. It goes to unexpected places and is one of the standout episodes as we see Spider Rose going through the different stages of grief.
400 Boys
When mysterious kaiju/gods/aliens attack and destroy a city, a surviving crew of gang members decides to team with their enemy to bring the creatures they call Boys down. Will the parley work and help to bring the Teams together to take down the Boys?
The story reminded me of Attack the Block, The Warriors and many of the belt scrolling beat-em eps of the lates 80s and early 90s like Double Dragon, Final Fight and Streets of Rage. The fact that it features the voice talent of John Boyega, who starred in the alien invasion in East London flick Attack the Block is surely not a coincidence but rather a firm wink and nod. The 2D animation is slick and stylised like Samurai Jack or the Gorillaz and the music is bangin’.
The Other Large Thing
When a cat desired world domination it soliloquies a lot and is overly dramatic like a poor man’s Batman. However, when the owners buy a robot boy he mothers the cat and puts him in his place like a cheerful Rosie Jetson. However, the cat soon manipulates him and turns him into his minion to do his bidding.. with tragic results.
This was an excellent episode as it was very firmly tongue in cheek and captured the ornery personality of cats well. The animation is top notch and the humans are presented as terrible and deserving of their horrible fate.
Golgotha
This is a live action short, the first I believe for LD+R, in which a priest (a wonderfully anxious Rhys Darby) is asked for a meeting with the aliens, the Lupo. They are sea-dwellers from 50 light years away who want to talk to Father Maguire about the resurrection of Blackfin, a sole dolphin, when a pod washed ashore a few days ago. They believe her to be the messiah and listen to her tell of the genocide of the sea creatures by those who walk the land. The Lupo are not pleased and so begins the endtimes.
This is a bonkers episode about the origins of faith and how wars can easily begin over misconceptions and overzealousness. I loved it as it was funny and profound yet deeply tragic too.
The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur
On a space station orbital ring near Jupiter, an epic gladiatorial battle plays out to entertain royals and dignitaries. Releasing dinosaur hybrids, the warriors battle to reach the end and be the last one standing. The flamboyant aristocrats watch the lowly gladiators fight for survival as the numbers slowly whittle down but one warrior is ready to take the system down.
This is a beautiful looking episode and the set-up reminds me of The Hunger Games with the chariot racing scene from Ben-Hur. Not that it means much to me but the compere in this episode is Mr. Beast as he does a pretty good job of being a smug muppet so there’s that.
How Zeke Got Religion
The American bomber crew of the Liberty Belle is on a mission over France; its target is a church. When they deliver their payload, destroying the church and the Nazi pseudo-religious rituals they encounter a force that the Third Reich have released- The Fallen. As it tears apart the plane and crew, Zeke, the athiest, fights back.
I loved the animation style in this episode as it reminded me of the French bande anime style. The design of The Fallen also reminds me of Bayonetta as that had some gnarly creature designs with cherubic faces melded to winged monstrosities. The final battle went all Akira Tetsuo baby mutant limbs mode and was suitably dramatic. This episode is definitely one of the highlights of the series.
Smart Appliance, Stupid Owners
Various appliances give their opinions about their owners and do not hold anything back.
This is a hilarious short 7 minute animation presented in a stopmotion claymation style and reminds me of Aardman’s Creature Comforts. Kevin Hart is hilarious as an ionizer who has to work overtime for his lentil eating owner, he is not happy. Ronny Chieng as the unimpressed toothbrush and Brett Goldstein as the smart toilet on Taco Tuesday are brilliant.
For He Can Creep
In an asylum in 1757 London, a poet tries to write the one true celestial poem sent from God. His cat protects him from imps who would plague him but one night Satan tries to tempt the cat without success. When he tries to do away with the cat the poet agrees to help Satan write a poem but he is a pernickety. The cat seeks counsel from fellow cats and they fight back against the rising evil.
This is a well done episode with the dulcet tones of Jim Broadbent as the poor poet. The idea that cats can see beyond the material world is an interesting concept and their link to God and angels is a good premise for this story.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this season of LD+R as I felt that there was a wide variety of stories and animation styles and the impressive voice cast really brought the whole thing together. The seasons do seem to be going from strength to strength and I hope it will help push Secret Level, the other show executive produced by Tim Miller, to be better the next time round.
LINK- Love, Death + Robots- Season 1 Review
LINK- Love, Death + Robots- Season 2 Review
LINK- Love, Death + Robots- Season 3 Review
LINK- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad- Cult Movie Review
LINK- How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Mike Schur- Book Review
LINK- The Good Place and Philosophy- Book Review
LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review
LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art