'Love, Death and Robots' season 2 paves way for more animation, eclecticism, sexuality and evil cyborgs
A fan of sci-fi and fantasy world? 'Love, Death and Robots' is the funkiest show that will take you into the depths of dark tales revolving around robots and animated characters. The first season of the 18-episode adult-animated anthology opened its doors to a unique style of storytelling with crisp and short anecdotes—all ranging barely from six to 17 minutes.
With a slight semblance to the universe of techgeeks in 'Black Mirror' and the old 1981 animated film 'Heavy Metal', the series boasts of a brilliant photorealistic CG animation that etches out the characters and action scenes close to perfection. Beautifully blended farcical elements make it a fascinating watch and the credit goes to VFX expert Tim Miller and a pinch of magical realism from the adapted works of Phillip Gelatt.
However, not all episodic plots have the same pace, flair or finesse. The show is a mixed blessing, with an assortment of exceptional and mediocre scoops. With a mix of punk and ultra-eclectic themes, episodes like 'Sonnie's Edge', 'Three Robots,' 'The Witness', 'Suits', 'Good Hunting', 'Lucky 13', 'Fish Night', 'Zima Blue' and 'Ice Age' stood out. A few selected ones were simply mind-boggling, sprinkled with just the right amount of goth, romance, history, mystery, and horror.
It was quite refreshing to see how 'When the Yogurt Took Over' humorously answers the question, "What if humanity created an artificial intelligence greater than its own?" 'The Dump' was another one packed with dollops of wit, suspense, and revenge. The plots and performances of the rest, however, could have gone one notch higher, especially 'Beyond the Aquila Rift', 'Sucker of Souls', 'Blindspot' and 'Helping Hand'.
From hyper-realistic neo-cyberpunk pitfights to the violent pop-culturesque narratives, the show is definitely not for the faint-hearted. One complaint that we feel should be resolved is: At times, the ending of the episodes were a tad bit disappointing as it was open-ended, leaving more to the imagination.
In the new season, there could be a mix of more idiosyncratic and varied tones in the message of the plot. However, there's a strong hope that the endings are managed better than the last time with a proper culmination. “Love, Death & Robots is my dream project, it combines my love of animation and amazing stories,” co-creator Miller said in January. “Midnight movies, comics, books and magazines of fantastic fiction have inspired me for decades, but they were relegated to the fringe culture of geeks and nerds of which I was a part. I’m so excited that the creative landscape has finally changed enough for adult-themed animation to become part of a larger cultural conversation.”
In June 2019, Netflix announced that the series will be renewed for season two and Jennifer Yuh Nelson is now onboard as the supervising director, best known for her work as a director on the 'Kung Fu Panda' franchise. 'Love, Death and Robots' may hit the streaming service sometime in March 2020. The show was produced by Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Jennifer Miller, and Tim Miller.
