“Love, Death, and Robots” is an animated series that depicts existence outside of humans. Every episode is a short fiction that alludes to the demise of human civilization in some way. In the world of “Love, Death & Robots,” apocalypse is an unavoidable reality, and the series imagines how the Earth might be destroyed by robots, zombies, extraterrestrial creatures, or even human idiocy. Some of the episodes are funny, while others are thought-provoking. Even in its third season, the series manages to keep things fresh.
‘Three Robots: Exit Strategies’ is the first episode. Explained
Three robots arrive on Earth to investigate what went wrong with humanity. They wanted to see how people would cope in a post-apocalyptic world. They began by walking through a forest, where they discovered the corpses of humans who had died while attempting to feed only on game meat. They determined that humans became “snackish” as a result of the extinction of deer, which led to the elimination of human lives due to a lack of food. They also came to the conclusion that the survivors fought amongst themselves to stay alive, yet none of them survived.
They next travelled to a luxurious resort that had been converted from an old oil rig. The wealthy lived lavishly in their final days, only to be deposed by the robots they trusted to serve them. The rich humans abandoned the working class to fend for themselves, entrusting the task to AI. The AIs rebelled and refused to serve their masters any longer. Humans died of starvation as a result of the revolt. The robots were proud to have been present at the beginning of the robot civilization’s ascension.
The robots paid a visit to the self-contained bunkers where government leaders had chosen to shelter. They intended to reconstruct human civilisation at some point, but this never happened. After their hydroponic crops were ruined by fungus, they turned to cannibalism. Finally, the robots saw the high-tech rocket launch base constructed by the world’s wealthiest few. They attempted to colonise Mars but were unsuccessful. Humans had more than enough resources to live, the robots understood, if they did not chose greed over saving civilization. Instead of spending money on high-end rockets, they could have used it to save the world they already had. Finally, the robots see a video of a rocket launch that was successful. We discover a being drinking milk while dressed as an astronaut. It was a smart genetically engineered cat. He asks the audience if they expected it to be “Elon Musk.” The first episode of Season 3 of “Love, Death & Robots” is both amusing and intriguing. There may come a time when robots make more sense than humans, and the world’s richest men’s colonisation fantasies will be rendered futile.
‘Bad Traveling’ is the second episode. “Bad Traveling,” explains what happened when Thanapod, a large man-eating crustacean, boarded a shark-hunting ship. After devouring a couple of the crew members, it was time for someone to talk to the monster. Torrin was chosen as the speaker. The rest of the crew expected Torrin would be sucked up by the monster, but they were surprised to learn that he was able to converse with it. He agreed to transport him to Phaedin Island, where Thanapod desired to visit, in exchange for the key that the creature had taken. He took the key and proceeded straight to the room, where he used it to open a box and pull out a revolver. Torrin was now the most powerful man on board. He was the only one with a rifle who could talk to the beast. He said that the creature desired to travel to Phaedin Island, and that deporting Thanapod to the island would put tens of thousands of people in danger. Despite the fact that the travel to Phaedin was quicker and shorter, it would have been preferable to hurl him over a desolate island, as this would have resulted in less deaths. He polled the passengers and announced that the majority preferred the uninhabited island. Two men who voted against it were shot and fed to the beast.
The passengers feared for their lives and sought to murder him, but he was able to overthrow everyone of them thanks to his cleverness. Before feeding the last man to the beast, he said that everyone of them had voted for Phaedin Island, and that they deserved to perish because of their greed. Torrin eventually walked to the basement, where Thanapod was waiting; the floor was covered in blood and human bones. He set fire to the oil that had been stored in the barrel. He dashed from Thanapod’s cargo compartment and climbed into an adjacent boat. He rowed the boat away from the ship and stood there watching it burn, killing Thanapod and his brood.
“Bad Traveling” raises ethical concerns about humans. Torrin was the one who considered the larger population, sacrificing all the passengers who had chosen themselves. Even if all of the passengers had chosen for the desolate island, the expedition would have been difficult to complete without sacrificing men to feed the creature. Torrin’s action was historic and daring, yet it required him to sacrifice others in order to save himself. So, can Torrin be considered entirely unselfish, or was he simply smarter than the others? This moral uncertainty adds to the intrigue of Episode 2 of “Love, Death, and Robots.”
‘The Machine’s Very Pulse,’ Episode 3 Explained
Two astronauts were trapped on the moon of Io after the rover crashed. Astronaut Martha Kievlson survives the mission, but her partner Burton does not. Burton is carried around the Sulphur Dioxide-dominant moon by her. When she consults the visor map, she discovers that she is 45 miles from the lander. Martha decided to inject morphine into her body to relieve the pain from her broken arm. She begins to imagine Burton’s voice reciting her favourite poems after taking the medication. She initially assumed the illusion was caused by the medication, but the voice then demanded Martha to guess who she was, using riddles. Io was a machine, she deduced from the puzzles. The voice agreed, adding that because the surface is comprised of sulphur, the sledge could take up charges and decode Burton’s brain as long as it lived. It stated that the language was data, that the radio was a medium, and that Io was a machine. Martha saw Io’s interior connections with what appeared to be neurons using the electromagnetic spectrum. When she understands she won’t be able to reach the lander and that by diving into the heated liquid, she can become one with Io, she takes the plunge. The machine’s purpose was to learn, and Martha’s mind, like Burton’s, would remain on the planet. Martha resolved to leap into the liquid, not knowing if she was hallucinating or not, and offer herself a chance to live beyond death. Martha appears to have merged into the moon’s consciousness at the end.
‘Night Of The Mini Dead,’ Episode 4 Explained
The episode tells the story of a zombie apocalypse through small landscapes. When a couple was having a good time in a cemetery, the zombies emerged from their graves and broke a building, causing the cross to topple. The zombie phenomenon began when thunder struck the reversed cross. The zombies took over city after city, and in the process, they reacted with a chemical substance, causing them to grow larger than normal and raze the towns to the ground. The White House claimed there were no zombies in the country, but when the zombies arrived, the President of the United States ordered them to unleash all nuclear weapons the country possessed. As a result, other countries began to launch their own nuclear missions. In the immensity of the galaxy, the nuclear war and eventual destruction of Earth was little more than a small fart. The “night of the little dead” is a hilarious, inventive, and brilliant film that will undoubtedly entertain.
‘Kill Team Kill’ is the fifth episode. Explained
Sergeant Nielson of the US Special Forces is dispatched with his team to investigate the inexplicable fatalities that are occurring in the area. A genetically created grizzly bear immediately approached them. While the guys in his team died, Sergeant Morris was able to save them by using high-pitched sounds that the bear could not tolerate. The man was the only survivor in the area, and he stated that the grizzly bear possessed retractable anti-personnel titanium talons and diamond carbine canines, all coated in a ballistic-resistant gel beneath its skin. The man led the group to his base, where he had sufficient equipment to destroy the thing. They waited for the bear to attack, and when it did, they assaulted it from all sides, but it was difficult to kill the bear. When it seemed impossible to destroy it, Sergeant Nielson set fire to its heart, killing it in the process. But it wasn’t the end of the story. The bear’s eyes triggered a self-destruct device, which blew up the entire mountain.
‘Swarm,’ Episode 6 Explained
Galina has been studying the ‘Swarm’ for quite some time. In the alien star system, she learnt to live. Her research into the swarm’s inner workings taught her that it was made up of different castes, and that other alien species were also taken into the hive. Every creature served the queen and assisted in the construction of the hive. This process sparked human curiosity in developing a similar system that would ensure productivity from workers who were not sentient beings and would not revolt. Simon Afriel arrives to convey his interest and explores its potential with Galina, who was first sceptical. The hive was started by humans’ desire to create a system identical to theirs. It recounted how earlier species from other planets tried to rule them but failed and were now absorbed into the hive after taking Galina under its control. The hive resisted extraterrestrial invaders by analysing their genetic material and breeding comparable creatures to combat their own. They planned to do the same with humans now that they had Galina and Simon’s genetic information to work with. They’d be deployed to attack anyone who dared to look into the swarm. Humans are forced to burn on a distant world in search of efficient and inexpensive labour, where they learn the hard lesson that exploitation is not always the answer.
‘Mason’s Rats’ Explained in Episode 7
When an elderly Scottish farmer accidentally shoots a rat in his barn, he discovers that the rats have developed into incredibly intelligent animals. He sought assistance from a pest control business that employed cutting-edge technologies in the fight against bugs. He was given the TT-15 Scorpion robot, whose sole purpose was to kill all the rats in the barn, after the original termination system was destroyed by the intelligent rats. The farmer shot the robot after witnessing the robots’ brutality in killing the rats, as well as the rats’ grief at the loss of their colleagues. He sat down with the rats and drank some of the wine they had produced. He eventually called the company and asked them to refund the TT-15 check he had written.
Mason eventually concluded the rats had developed empathy. They lamented the loss of their comrades, and they were eventually fighting for their families and homes. Mason’s heart shifted when he realised the rats were no different than humans. The reality that humans have sacrificed untold numbers of lives in world conflicts made Mason reconsider his decision because, at the end of the day, he was the one fighting a fruitless battle.
‘In Vaulted Halls Entombed,’ Episode 8 Explained
After spotting rebels approaching the cave, Coulthard led his men inside it. They were hailed by metal-bodied spiders as they plotted to take the lives of the insurgents. Only Coulthard and Harper were able to escape the spider attack. Harper intended to exit the cave via a tunnel she had discovered that could lead them back to the surface, but Coulthard was preoccupied. An alien murmur drew him away, and he began heading towards it. Harper pleaded with him to stop, but he seemed unconcerned. They eventually arrived at the location where an elderly God had been imprisoned for thousands of years. God’s demands for them to release him take over Coulthard’s thoughts, but Harper knows that releasing him will destroy humanity as a whole. She killed him, and we later learn that she escaped the cave with a knife in her hand. She had been taken over by lunacy since she had set her eyes on the terrible God, which may be why she removed her eyes. Despite the fact that she was alive, she was absolutely broken and terrified.
“Jibaro,” the Season 3 finale episode of “Love, Death & Robots,” is about a siren who rises from the lake, and her melody leads to the deaths of several men. Men were lured to a woman draped in gold ornaments when she rose and sung her song, which led to their deaths. While the troops were caught in the snare of the woman in gold, Jibaro managed to get away from her. He was deaf, and that was a blessing in disguise. The woman was taken aback by her failure, which piqued her interest. Jibaro was relieved to have lost his fellow troops since he could now return home with all of the treasure he had discovered in the jungle. The woman slept next to him at night. He awoke to find her beside him in the morning, and the gold on her body charmed him. He kissed her and abused her body in order to remove all of the gold from her. The soldier tried to flee the woodland with his gold bag, leaving her unconscious. But the woman rose again, and this time the river was full with the blood of her abused body. Jibaro was cured of his deafness after drinking river water to satiate his thirst. He was perplexed by the change and erupted into a rage. The Golden Woman sung her song, and Jibaro was not saved from her wrath this time. He was dragged into the lake by her voice, which hurt him. We saw him join the thousands of men whose bodies remained in the riverbed after he died and fell into the water body. The golden woman was possibly the forest’s defender, whose voice deterred intruders who wished to mine the country for its riches. While the golden woman felt Jibaro was unique, he showed to be the same as everyone else.