LATEST ‘LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS’ EPISODES DON’T LIVE UP TO FIRST SEASON

NETFLIX’S animated anthology series ‘Love, Death & Robots’ has returned with eight new episodes, promising more love, death, and robots than before.
But how does this season stack up compared to the first?
All in all, not too well.
It appears the second stack of episodes from Tim Miller and David Fincher were unable to reach the bar that the first 18 episodes set. Where the first season brought about artistic animation, gripping narratives, and thought-provoking twist endings, the latest episodes just… don’t.
First, let’s discuss the animation. With the original volume’s impressive assortment of 18 episodes, audiences were treated to a wide range of animation styles. The neon excitement of The Witness, the cyberpunk anime-esque technique of Good Hunting, and the expressive intrigue of Zima Blue, all kept viewers glued to their screens.
Unfortunately, the second season just doesn’t hold onto the audience’s animation anticipation. With merely eight episodes in this season, only two or three of them feature a unique sense of animation, leaving me to wonder whether artistic expression had been sidelined for photorealism. Life Hutch, starring Michael B. Jordan who plays a space pilot trapped inside a futuristic shelter, looks almost entirely real. Instead of animating him, why not just film the actor and CGI his robot aggressor into those scenes, like Ice Age in the first season?
What sets ‘Love, Death & Robots’ apart from similar anthological programs like ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘Inside No. 9’ is its unique animated style. In saying that, the narrative still must pack a punch. For a series that prides itself on its “wicked surprises”, at least according to the show’s Netflix description, this season seemed tame in comparison to its predecessor. Nearly all the episodes are based off short stories, but the science fiction anthology brings its own unique twist to each narrative. Unfortunately, some of the twists in the latest season contained neither love nor death nor robots.
Take the episode All Through The House as an example. The shortest of the second volume, this episode follows two siblings on Christmas Eve as they try to catch a glimpse of Santa Clause. While the ending is a shock, there is no trademark punch that the series is known for, nor any titular references. One of the slower episodes of the season is The Drowned Giant, which just feels like a metaphor for how society has evolved into a need for instant gratification. Ironic, coming from a show filled with bite-sized anthological episodes.
This season seems like a steep drop off in comparison to the first. One can only hope that a potential third season will kick the series back into gear.