Love, Death and Robots Season 2 - A ranking and review

Love, Death and Robots returned this week for a 2nd season after a 3-year hiatus from Netflix. Created by Tim Miller as a way of celebrating the work of various animation studios as well as to tell gory sci-fi stories, it seemed like a sure hit. And for many people, it was. Even if I think that the first season was quite inconsistent in quality, the episodes that were great were GREAT.

So I was looking forward to Season 2 somewhat, as I hoped that there would be a stronger focus on story and less on over-the-top violence with the arrival of new supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2). And it did deliver. This is a much more consistently high-quality and enjoyable series of shorts than the first, and none of the major problems from the first season come back to spoil this one.

So let’s start with what I thought was the worst instalment in the season...

8. Life Hutch – Directed by Alex Beaty

Continuing from the last season’s notable achievement of having the most famous people in the worst short (Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Ice Age), Life Hutch finds Michael B. Jordan crashed on an abandoned moon and finding a life hutch in which to wait for his crew. There, he has to compete with a rogue maintenance robot for a bit, while flashing back to the battle that put him there in the first place.

Unlike many of the other shorts in the series, there’s no dramatic twist or slight edge of comedy. The entire thing is Michael B. Jordan’s struggle with a weird dog robot, with no emotional attachment (he barely says a word) or ferocious edge. By comparison, other episodes of the show would have created a more interesting and detailed plot structure, or in the case of the very similar Black Mirror episode “Metalhead”, added more visual distinction to its environment and characters.

And that’s the other thing – this is one of the least interesting shorts visually despite looking almost photorealistic. Not only are almost all of the environments and props painted grey or black, but the lighting is often too dark to see what’s happening at all, a la Aliens vs Predator: Requiem. When I first saw Jordan in the short, I couldn’t tell it was him because the lighting was so dark – I almost thought he was John Boyega.

In spite of all this, I didn’t hate this episode. There were good moments of tension, and with a more interesting character and narrative, this could have been pretty entertaining. Alas, it’s not.

7. Snow in the Desert – Directed by Leon Berelle, Dominique Boidin, Remi Kozyra and Maxime Luere

The directing team behind last season’s Beyond the Aquila Rift (meh until final 2 minutes) return with what is arguably the most graphically refined short in the series. There were many points in this episode where I could not tell if they were shooting real actors or animating humans, it looks that good.

It also tells a reasonably cool story with pretty strong world-building and a focus on visual storytelling as well, especially the opening two minutes which made me anticipate that this was going to be the best short (it was the third in the season after Automated Customer Service and Ice). The opening was harsh and built the main character as a force to be reckoned with very well.

Unfortunately, the short takes a dive with its second half, forsaking great character work for ludicrous gore and a deus-ex-machina twist which was both extremely predictable and yet completely without any setup whatsoever. If the first act was for more adult fans who wanted a compelling story and world, the second was for the gross teenagers (including myself) who watch the show for gore and titillation. It didn’t quite work for me.

6. The Tall Grass – Directed by Simon Otto

Looking more like a storybook or a French art film than a Love, Death and Robots short (aided by the fact that it’s one of two episodes in the season that don’t have love, death or robots in the story), The Tall Grass is certainty visually stunning. The painterly character designs are reminiscent of the beautiful work of Disco Elysium, and the use of warm and cold light sources was also excellent.

It also helps that the audience is never quite sure in how the story and protagonist will end – will he be abandoned to these creatures, like previous episodes? Or will he escape in a melancholy and traumatised situation? There’s a neat balancing act in the story of tension and relief that constantly keeps the audience on their toes.

But then the short ends with a solid minute of needless exposition which would have been much better if given in silence. It would have allowed the audience to feel more invested, by giving them incentive to imagine the world and how these creatures came to be. But no – some mild philosophising and then boom. It’s done.

5. Automated Customer Service – Directed by Kevin Dan Ver Meiren, David Nicolas and Laurent Nicolas

Visually reminiscent of the first season episode The Dump, Automated Customer Service plays out like a violent Pixar short, with energetic animation and cartoonish character designs. In a world where robots take care of every aspect of life, the short shows the origins of the robot revolution through one poor woman who takes issue with how her vacuum cleans things.

Full of neat little tricks and surprises like an animated Home Alone, the short is also quite funny with a ton of visual gags and satire of the meaninglessness of conversations with customer service. It’s silly and one of the lighter episodes to digest as it’s neither bloody nor preoccupied with greater themes.

My main criticism is that the short goes full on with the lewder poop and masturbation jokes, which is distracting considering the generally pretty light tone of the episode. If they’d removed these and kept the momentum going with the main cat-and-mouse plot, then it would be pretty damn good.

4. The Drowned Giant – Directed by Tim Miller

Series creator and Deadpool director Tim Miller gives us this adaptation of a J.G. Ballard short, about a huge naked giant who washes up on a beach in England. In a remarkable departure of tone, The Drowned Giant is more documentary-esque and reflective, with a David Attenborough-esque narrator discussing his time studying and observing this mythic creature.

The Drowned Giant is also unique as it’s one of the only shorts which makes you rethink your perspective with the animation. As the scientist climbs up this giant, you see the miniscule pores of your hand amplified massively on the giant in a somewhat humbling viewpoint. Aided by the brilliant near-photorealistic animation, The Drowned Giant’s more contemplative and existential tone is aided by this design of perspective.

The introspection also helps to make this a particularly memorable episode, playing like a whimsical fairy-tale rather than a mean action fest like the previous shorts. It’s the kind of short you can relax to, which is why I loved shorts from the first season like Zima Blue, as they were colossal in scale yet gentle in approach.

Then they had to throw in a giant dick joke.

3. Ice – Directed by Robert Valley

The director of Zima Blue (still my favourite short of this series) and the Oscar-nominated short Pear Cider and Cigarettes returns to direct a weird cross between Mirror’s Edge and Gattaca. Set in a future where the majority of children are superpowered “modded” individuals, how do you compete when all you have is your own muscle and your will?

Once again, the most striking thing about Ice is the animation – the comic-book character designs and genius use of striking colour motifs make this one in particular a visual marvel. It also blends well with the computer animation used in the final part of the short, making this in my opinion the best-looking episode in the series so far.

The story is also strikingly resonant in this one, with a reliance on emotion and a central brotherly relationship that ends with a thankful note of ambiguity rather than just spelling it out for us. There’s a gravitas and love that beats at the core of this one much more than the other shorts, and while it may not have the emotional or thematic devastation of Zima Blue, it’s still worthy to stand amongst the canon.

2. Pop Squad – Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3 director Jennifer Yuh Nelson gets a certainly more adult update with this character study of a detective forced to commit horrid crimes to please his bosses in the belief that it will preserve his civilisation. Violent and blood-drenched yet still emotionally appealing and visually stunning, Pop Squad has a heart that most episodes of this show lack.

Most of it comes from Nolan North’s excellent performance in the lead role, but it’s a contribution of all factors – the stunning animation, the music, the beautiful environments, the thematic depth of the story, the requirement of audience imagination and engagement, a genuinely challenging story perspective – that makes this short the 2nd best in this season and (I think) the 4th best in this series overall.

I also think that this is the episode which would work the best as a full feature-length film. Most of the other shorts (except maybe Good Hunting and The Secret War from season 1) couldn’t go feature length, but a 90-minute version of this film would play out beautifully. It’s exceptional as a short, but the fact that I can picture so much more to the story as the short incentivises me to do speaks miles to its quality.

But my favourite short from this season was not the emotionally affecting or the brutally violent, but the quick, blackly hilarious…

1. All Through the House – Directed by Elliot Dear

The Santa myth hasn’t been played around that much from a darker perspective – I’m aware of a Norwegian movie called Live Exports which depicts him as essentially Satan, but aside from that, he’s either overly jolly or a cynical old man. But All Through the House changes that in a brutally funny way as two children wake up on Christmas to discover Santa…slightly different.

What makes All Through the House work is both the tension it sets up and the director’s intent to make you imagine the violence rather than see it. Nothing violent happens in the short, but Dear leaves a slight false note at the end, signifying that some crazy shit will happen and leaving the debauchery of the viewers imagination to overcome them with laughter.

Additionally, this episode is darkly funny, but also silly in a sense that the show never normally goes to. I laughed a lot during this episode, as it played out its Nightmare Before Christmas scenarios brilliantly. This is aided by the lovingly-homaging stop-motion animation, reminiscent of Rankin-Bass and Tim Burton works from yesteryear that add to the joy of such a short.

I think that overall, this season was a significant improvement from the first one. I think that Zima Blue from Season 1 was the best episode from the show overall, but that the episodes here show a much clearer focus on filmmaking craft.

This particular season gets a B+.

Guys, have you seen this season and do you agree with my ranking? Leave your answers in the comments below.