Share All sharing options for: Breaking down Netflix’s Love, Death, and Robots by quantities of love, death, and robots

Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots promised a hardcore series for “mature, messed-up” adults. The first season, comprised of 18 short films, running anywhere from five to 20 minutes in length, would deal with topics ranging from sentient dairy and war.

Produced by Tim Miller (Deadpool) and David Fincher (Alien 3 delivers on the “mature, messed up” vibe with some shorts, while others explore more nuanced stories (that are still mature and a little messed up). But a pressing question remains: where exactly do the individual aspects of the title come in? What do you watch if you’re not into hardcore stuff, but just want some good old-fashioned love, death and robots?

After plowing through season 1, we’ve broken down each short film by the quantities love, death, robots, and general enjoyment. Beware: our takes are mediumcore and for mature, mildly messed-up adults (and contain a few spoilers).

“Sonnie’s Edge”

In the underground world of “beastie” fights, Sonnie is unbeatable — as long as she keeps her edge.

Love: After a gladiator-esque “beastie” fight, in which two monstrous creatures battle each other to the death while being controlled via mind link by their handlers, there’s a racy seduction between Sonnie and a younger woman. The scene is full of slightly uncomfortable lingering shots of each woman’s body that make it hyper-voyeuristic. There’s something resembling love between Sonnie and her “beastie.”

Death: There is lots of death in “Sonnie’s Edge.” Maybe not in quantity but in excruciating, close-up detail. In addition to the brutal “beastie” fight, where the monsters tear into each other and don’t hold back at all, someone gets their face essentially ripped off and stomped beyond recognition. Two more people die in equally gruesome ways.

Robots: Sonnie has a connection with her “beastie” and a bunch of biomedical enhancements, but that’s the closest thing we can count as robots.

Does it work? The series’ opening short functions much in the way that that first episode of Black Mirror (the one with the pig sex) does, shocking the viewer right away. Outside of those shocking moments, the handling of sensitive content (e.g. an overly-sensationalized gang rape revenge fantasy) is a little clunky.

“Three Robots”

Long after the fall of humanity, three robots embark on a sightseeing tour of a post-apocalyptic city.

Love: We don’t get much romantic love, so much as the love of three friends going on vacation together. We never learn why these three robots or friends, or what sort of occupations they are taking their PTO from, but they clearly have a bond.

Death: “Three Robots” takes place in a reality where humans are wiped out. The characters stumble across many dead bodies that have since rotted away to skeletons. Since they are tourists, the corpses make excellent destinations.

Robots: Yes! Three to be exact. They each have different functionalities, designs, and personalities, with an interesting relationship to the human world. It’s fun to see what they think about humanity and how the world has changed since mankind’s downfall.

Does it work? It’s hilarious to watch the three robots rationalize some of the more bizarre things about humanity. A light-hearted, welcome break if you decided to start with “Sonnie’s Edge.” Even though it’s humorous, the short still manages to make a commentary on the human condition. Also, there are cats. What more could you want?

“The Witness”

After seeing a brutal murder, a woman flees from the killer through the streets of a surreal city.

Love: Since there’s very little actual love in Love, Sex, and Robots, we’re also counting “sex and nudity” as love for the purposes of this survey. After fleeing from the murder scene, the main character of “The Witness” stumbles to her workplace, what appears to be a kinky club of leather-clad denizens. She’s a dancer, so in addition to the background characters in full-on fetish-wear, there is a very long scene of main character performing a sexy dance. Wrapped in a long blanket, she dances till it comes off eventually reveals her nude body. She spends the rest of the short running for her life with her boobs out, because as we know, this is for mature adults.

Death: There isn’t a lot of it, but the main character witnessing a particularly brutal murder through her window — a gunshot followed by a beating — is what kickstarts the plot. She runs away from the scene, but the murderer is on her tail.

Robots: None!

Does it work? The storyline is enthralling, grabbing you immediately and never letting go (well, except in the really long sexy dance scene where the grip loosens a bit) until the final shot. “The Witness” has one of the best twists of the whole batch.

“Suits”

A community of farmers use their homemade mechs to defend their families from an alien invasion.

Love: There’s camaraderie and love between the farmers, as they ban together to protect their land and animals from aliens. Out of these farmers, there are two couples, showcasing the first instances of romantic love in this anthology.

Death: The farmers kill a bunch of aliens, of course, and see a few casualties as they hold off the swarm of aliens threatening to destroy the farms.

Robots: Do you consider mechs to be robots? Well get ready for MECHS USED BY FARMERS TO STOP ALIEN INVASIONS! HECK YEAH! Three mechs in total. One piloted by a middle-aged farmer named Hank, one piloted by a younger man, and one by a badass old lady who doesn’t take shit. Hank’s wife serves as their mission control.

Does it work? The whole concept of farmers piloting giant mechs is the sort of offbeat, zany idea that really shines in an anthology. The butt-kicking action has as much fun as it is heart and tension.

“Sucker of Souls”

Unleashed by an archaeological dig, a bloodthirsty demon battles a team of mercenaries armed with... cats?

Love: Perhaps the older archaeologist has a love for ... ancient history? The mercenaries tagging along on the dig are just in it for the money. The bloodthirsty demon they accidentally awaken has a love for blood and gore.

Death: There is, indeed, death! Particularly gory and body-horror-filled death, not super surprising given the fact that the murderer is an ancient demon. All in all, a person’s skin ripping off his body and his skull exploding is pretty shocking. The death prompts the rest of the characters to appropriately freak out and try to defend themselves.

Robots: None. But there are cats. Much like The Mummy, this unholy creature is quite shocked by felines.

Does it work? The creepy monster combined with the claustrophobic setting of the tombs makes for a chilling experience. The animation is one of few 2D-animated films of the bunch and is quite lovely — while being scary as hell.

“When the Yogurt Took Over”

After scientists accidentally breed super-intelligent yogurt, it soon hungers for world domination.

Love: Not particularly. Does a sentient yogurt’s love for world domination count?

Death: Alluded to as world leaders ignore the yogurt’s warnings and the world crumbles.

Robots: No, but the sentient yogurt that may or may not want to take over the world and destroy humanity is something of its own.

Does it work? This is perhaps the shortest and most bizarre of all the Love, Death, and Robots installments. It’s moderately funny, and ultimately gets quite bonkers. Extra scary if you’re lactose intolerant.

“Beyond the Aquila Rift”

Awakening after traveling light years off course, a ship’s crew struggles to discover just how far they’ve come.

Love: This is a love story. One of the travelers who awakens from his light-speed induced coma reunites with an old flame of his on the desolate space station. As they rekindle their romance, they launch into avery long sex scene that goes on for about two minutes and involves champagne, multiple surfaces, and a whole lot of grunting.

Death: In a certain way. No one explicitly dies, but death might be better than what does happen...

Robots: Briefly, there is an AI dispatcher. It’s this dispatcher’s error that catapults the crew off course and veers them to the isolated space station.

Does it work? “Beyond the Aquila Rift” is hard sci-fi comfort food, coupled with overly long CG sex. It doesn’t necessarily rock the boat on its concept, but it has a well-structured, engaging narrative.

“Good Hunting”

The son of a spirit hunter forges a bond with a shape-shifting huli jing.

Love: There is a powerful, pure bond between the two main characters, which is easy to forgot as the short pelts you with nudity. The huli jing shifts from a fox to a human, and spends a lot of time in her half-transformed nude form (where, for the record, she’s the same age as the narrator and a young teen at the oldest), as well as her human nude form when she is eventually forced to resort to prostitution after Britain eradicates the magic from Hong Kong. We also get a glimpse of the naked man who has bought her services.

Death: In addition to a few deaths — causes include sword impalement and ripped limbs —the huli jing also recounts the trauma she’s faced. We get a scene where she’s naked and strapped down, subjected to forced body modification without any anesthesia in order to turn her into a perfect cyborg sex machine.

Robots: “Good Hunting” offers a refreshing steampunk take amongst the more cyberpunk aesthetic of the rest of the series. As the British arrive in China, the industry (and robots) they bring wrecks the natural landscape and magic, forcing change upon all the people. Though his father’s way of life is dying, the main character discovers that he’s pretty handy at fixing up these steam-powered contraptions.

Does it work? This one really emphasizes violence towards female characters, bordering on “torture porn” when we have to watch the female lead writhe naked as a man saws off her leg, and ultimately that detracts from the overall tone and message. Like with “Sonnie’s Edge” before it, the short muddles a message of revenge by homing in on the heroine’s pain and naked body.

The animation, though, is particularly captivating, partly because it encapsulates a different genre than the rest of the shorts. The Industrial Revolution slowly destroying what makes a land magical and speeding up to where steam-powered robots are possible is fascinating. If you’re one of the more hardcore, messed up adults out there, perhaps you can witness the stunning word-building and animation and ignore the more brutal elements.

“The Dump”

Ugly Dave calls the garbage dump home, and he’s not about to let some city slicker take it away from him.

Love: There’s familial love between Ugly Dave and the creature in the junkyard. Dave also loves his dump.

Death: The creature in the dump ends up killing a few people.

Robots: We’re not sure what the junkyard creature is, but probably none.

Does it work? Take the basic plot of Up — mean city developer wants to move a grumpy old man off his property — add a lotta swearing and a smidgen of death and supernatural creatures, and you get a fun breather between some of the heavier episodes.

“Shape-Shifters”

Deep in Afghanistan, two Marines with supernatural powers face a threat from one of their own kind.

Love: The two marines at the heart of the story, both werewolves, share a connection, as they’re ostracized from the rest of their unit. They make crude jokes, but they’re always there for each other. They share several long glances, which made me want them to kiss. But they don’t. Still, maybe love.

Death: Werewolf Marine #1 stumbles across a brutally massacred unit, and swears revenge against the wolves responsible. The whole thing culminates in a gory fight to the death.

Robots: No.

Does it work? “Shape-Shifters” felt very anticlimactic and drawn out. Pitting werewolves against werewolves undermined the sense of fantastic racism that Werewolf Marine #1 felt at the hands of the normal humans in his unit. You’re never really sure who the bad guy is — are we mad at the humans for being racist against werewolves? Are we mad at the other werewolves for killing Werewolf Marine #2? Are we just mad at everyone? Why are we still cheering for the United States military if they’re mean to Werewolf Marine #1?

It’s long, the animation is not particularly captivating, and there isn’t anything unique about the narrative besides the fantastic racism of the U.S. military towards werewolves.

“Helping Hand”

Stranded in orbit, an astronaut must choose between life and limb before her oxygen runs out.

Love: Respect and friendliness between co-workers, I guess? Alex, the astronaut in question, communicates with another co-worker over the comms as she handles her solo mission. They gripe about how corporate is cutting their funding and only sending one person up at a time. Might be dangerous.

Death: This side of “Helping Hand,” more so than the other shorts, feels like it is a spoiler, so all I will say is that it is an intense life-or-death situation as Alex floats in orbit, with her suit damaged, and makes some drastic decisions.

Robots: None!

Does it work? The high-stakes, life-or-death scenario is gut-wrenching. Think Gravity meets 127 Hours. The narrative is tight and tense. Alex faces pretty intense choices as her oxygen starts to run out and watching it all unfold is very stressful.

“Fish Night”

After their car breaks down in the desert, two salesmen take a dreamlike voyage to the dawn of time.

Love: Just friendliness between co-workers who find themselves stranded in the desert. One is older and more world-winded, the other is younger and brash. They bond as they figure out what the heck to do. One of them gets naked as the dreamlike voyage commences, a primordial sea sweeping around them. We won’t say which one.

Death: Yes. The dreamlike voyage gets a little too immersive — and there are consequences.

Robots: Again, none!

Does it work? “Fish Night” is one of the most beautiful works of animation in the anthology, starting from the golden-swathed desert landscape to the moments when night falls and the dreamlike descent into the dawn of time begins. The final scenes are transcendent. Plotwise, it all kind of drags, but looking at it is anything but.

“Lucky 13”

After the drop-ship Lucky 13 lost two crews, no pilot would fly her... but rookies don’t get a choice.

Love: The ultimate bond ... between a pilot and her ship. The rookie pilot is given the unwanted ship, but she pays it special attention. The ship, then, grows to care for her and her crew. It’s actually pretty emotional! She refuses to trade it for a new, sleeker one because she trusts that good ol’ Lucky 13 will take care of them. Each time a soldier gets on the ship, they pat 13’s nameplate.

Death: “Lucky 13” does take place during a war, so there are battlefield casualties. The enemies die more often than the protagonists’ side.

Robots: Depends on how you regard Lucky 13. Draw your own conclusions by the end.

Does it work? “Lucky 13” might make you tear up a little thanks to the most captivating love story out of the whole anthology: a pilot who grows to care for her unloved ship and the ship who grows to care for her crew. Instead of focusing on the brutality of the war at hand — which a lot of these shorts set in a military environment did — “Lucky 13” observes something more specific, and it pays off.

“Zima Blue”

The renowned artist Zima recounts his mysterious past and rise to fame before unveiling his final work.

Love: The love between ... the enigmatic Zima and his art. According to the tale, Zima spent over a century creating art, starting with large landscapes to giant murals, then shifting to massive blue works of art. Zima details to the reporter narrator later on that, at one point in the past, he had love for a little girl and the robots she created.

Death: “Zima Blue” plays with this in a most masterful way. Saying more would be too much.

Robots: Zima has undergone intense cyborg modification so he can create art on distant planets and in extreme environments; he recounts the story of a girl and her robots.

Does it work? Absolutely, 100 percent. If you watch one short from this collection, it should be this one. “Zima Blue”’s evocative, yet succinct storytelling, coupled with its unique animation style is the standard I hoped the entire anthology would be. The story of Zima is a fascinating one and it ends with a specific elegiac quality to it that will stick with you for some time.

“Blindspot”

A gang of cyborg thieves stage a high-speed heist of a heavily armored convoy.

Love: The gang of cyborg thieves have sharp-tongued repartee that can only come from years of friendship. They clearly care for, maybe even love, their newest recruit.

Death: A high-speed heist, unfortunately, warrants casualties. Since they are cyborgs and they are battling other robots, these casualties come in different ways, involving a lot of metal shattering and explosions.

Robots: Yes! The main crew are all cyborgs and they have a robot buddy who handles their missions from afar.

Does it work? “Blindspot” is probably the least “adult” of the batch, save for some swearing, but that doesn’t detract from it at all — it has the feel of the earlier Samurai Jack seasons, revelling in the action without being overly gory, which means the focus can be more on the character dynamics instead of sensational blood and guts. The action is pretty tight and taken up to the next level, considering all the characters are cyborgs. Unlike some of the other more depressing twists in this anthology, the little aha! moment in “Blindspot” turns the mood positive.

“Ice Age”

A young couple moves into an apartment and finds a lost civilization inside their antique freezer.

Love: The main characters — played photorealistically by Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead — are a couple moving in together. One makes a bad joke about having a lot of sex now that they live together. They celebrate their move with a bottle of wine, which prompts them to open the old ice box left by their landlord, where they find the tiny civilization inside.

Death: As the day goes on, the freezer civilization rapidly progresses through time, which implies lives are lost along the way. Then there’s the cataclysm.

Robots: Not officially, but it’s safe to assume the freezer civilization develops robots as it reaches an advanced technological age.

Does it work? The interaction between the main couple is a little stiff, but this is one of the shorts with a zany concept that you just want to see through. It takes a sec to get going, but once it does get going, it’s intriguing to see just where the freezer civilization goes and what happens with it.

“Alternate Histories”

Want to see Hitler die in a variety of comically fantastic ways? Now you can. Welcome to Multiversity!

Love: The multiple universe application — in which you can see how history would’ve unfolded if different events happened — shows Hitler dying in multiple deranged ways. One involves overstimulation by orgy. This prompts a sexual revolution by a band of sexy aliens and a whole lotta sex and nudity.

Death: Six alternate deaths of Adolf Hitler! They range from the mundane (getting run over by a carriage) to the ridiculous (aforementioned overstimulation in an orgy) and each catapults a different set of grandiose situations, culminating in the most ridiculous of them all.

Robots: Surprisingly, yes. One of the deaths involves time-traveling robots.

Does it work? “Alternate Histories” has a very over-the-top and ridiculous sort of humor that might not hit with all audiences. If you’re the type of person to find a race of squids taking over the world at the consequence of Hitler’s death hilarious, it’ll be hilarious. If that’s making you raise your eyebrows, you might find the whole thing a bit cringey.

“The Secret War”

Elite units of the Red Army fight an unholy evil deep in the ancient forests of Siberia.

Love: The soldiers of the Red Army connect on the deepest level as they venture deeper into Siberia. They come upon villages destroyed by demonic ghouls and must band together in order to defeat the ancient evil.

Death: A hell of a lot of it. The ghouls they’re attempting to eliminate have wreaked death and destruction across Siberia, leaving bodies in their wake. Some of the army takes the fall. Some of the demons do. There’s a flashback to the intense dark magic ritual that awakened these demons, which involves a naked woman being sliced open. (She’s already sliced in the flashback, but we see her guts). The entire short takes place in World War I, so there’s references to other bloodshed as well.

Robots: Nyet.

Does it work? The historical Russian setting makes “The Secret War” click, as is the focus on the supernatural instead of aliens (nothing wrong with aliens; there’s just a lot of aliens in this anthology, some better than others). But ultimately, the short drags on, the battles go on a bit too long. The best scene involves the unit resting by the fire and sharing a quiet moment. Whenever the script focuses on them and the evil they face — instead of the mature, messed up violence — the short’s absorbing.