Mild spoilers below.

Three Robots: Exit Strategies

My overall feelings about LDR’s second season were lukewarm…so seeing the three ‘bots from the very first episode of the series return for more darkly humorous adventures was a good sign. A bit of the intrinsic humor of the situation naturally wears off in a second installment, but most of the individual jokes still landed. It was a little disappointing that pyramid-bot’s[1] monologue toward the end got cut off, given that her speech at the end of the first Three Robots is one of my all-time favorite LDR moments. (Also – I 100% called that twist at the ending. Where’s my prize?)

Bad Traveling

I really enjoyed this one, despite not being very excited by the episode description (“Release the Thanapod! A ship’s crew member sailing an alien ocean strikes a deal with a ravenous monster of the deep”). I figured, oh boy, someone tries to trick an evil creature out of some treasure and gets murdered at the end. Thankfully, I was wrong!

I’m a sucker for vaguely-Lovecraftian tales of nautical horrors, so this was right up my alley. It made me even less likely to buy an 18^th-Century galleon.

I don’t want to discuss the plot too much for fear of spoiling what happens, but I can say I was ghoulishly delighted by some of the double- and triple- crossing that took place during the crew’s various dealings with the gigantic crab monster. It didn’t hurt that the art style is highly reminiscent of Pop Squad’s, despite the dramatically distinct settings of the two. My favorite episode of the season.

The Very Pulse of the Machine

Or: the dangers of getting high while also being an astronaut.

The animation style reminded me of Sable, because the settings and presentation are vaguely similar and I played Sable recently. I like it.[2] The setup reminded me of No Man’s Sky, as well…and, according to my notes, I was going to say that before the main character’s suit started chirping about critical oxygen levels.[3] 

As long as we’re drawing comparisons, I got some minor Death Stranding vibes here too. Dragging a body across a blasted, lifeless landscape while avoiding environmental hazards? All this episode is missing is a baby in a jar on the main character’s chest that helps them detect ghosts.[4]

My notes also indicate that this episode had excellent voice acting, especially given that the episode centers primarily around one character’s travails. Very Pulse also hits you with an engaging – if generic – soundtrack that works well with the trippy developments of the story.

At the end of the day, it’s a good episode – but it didn’t quite click with me for some reason, much like Fish Night (Season 1) and Ice (Season 2). Maybe people who are smarter than I am will like it more? It’s worth giving a chance, at least.

Night of the Mini Dead

If I ever had the privilege of directing a short for this series, I think I would want to do something like this – fucking around with expensive miniatures to tell a funny story sounds like my dream job. I was initially worried that the whole thing would be one long joke about people fucking in a graveyard and getting eaten by zombies, but it moves along from there at a brisk clip, steadily escalating the zombie invasion in ways that would be horrifying if they weren’t cheerfully rendered with miniature scenery and high-pitched voices.

It’s short enough to watch while you take a dump, too, if you’re into that.[5]

Kill Team Kill

This one’s reminiscent of Sucker of Souls, a violent, cartoonish, demon-slaying romp that was fun but not very memorable, if that episode also contained a cybernetic murder bear.

I liked Kill Team Kill, and wouldn’t mind a rewatch or two, but I’m not sure it’ll join the ranks of the LDR greats. It just doesn’t have a ton going for it besides fun banter between the main characters and the aforementioned murderous cybernetic bear – which is a bit one-note as far as villains go, despite the cool design. A good episode, but not great.

Swarm

A pair of scientists interact with an alien swarm, one intending to enslave it and one to understand it. Straightforward enough, apart from the plot twists, which are almost required in this specific subgenre of what I like to call “grimfucked sci-fi.”[6]

This one would be annoyingly preachy if it didn’t also have some good horror elements. Humans are bad, mmmmkay? Yes, modern television, we get it. We are the baddies. Now would you kindly move the fuck on.

This episode felt like a spin on Beyond the Aquila Rift (Season 1) that just…wasn’t as punchy, for whatever reason. Maybe it was because it was kind of hard to root for the main character. Not bad, but not great.

Mason’s Rats

This one was excellent, and oddly heart-warming, in a way. It feels like a bit of a spiritual sequel to – and iteration upon – The Dump (season 1).

I winced a number of times during this episode, primarily because I’ve had a pet chinchilla for a number of years now[7] and have, in the intervening time period, grown perhaps somewhat more sympathetic to rodents than the average person. This is not to say that I want a horde of rats in my basement (their tails are gross, among other things), but I still don’t root for them to get graphically murdered, especially when they’re heavily anthropomorphized and wearing cute outfits. For a short, engaging instalment that knows what it is and doesn’t try to overextend itself, Mason’s Rats fits the bill. A good episode for introducing people to the show, if they don’t mind animated graphic violence (and, if they do mind, they probably won’t dig LDR overall).

In Vaulted Halls Entombed

First of all, this wins the trophy for most ominous-slash-epic title of the season. You know you’re in for some sepulchral shit when you see “entombed” in the title, and “vaulted halls” makes brings the Mines of Moria to mind.

In Vaulted Halls hits us with excellent animation throughout. Love, Death & Robots is getting super close to crossing the uncanny valley but isn’t quite there yet. Honestly, you don’t need to get your animation all the way across for projects like this – if anything, the not-quite-real faces of the characters are off just enough to be disconcerting, which adds to the feeling of unease many of these shorts are trying to immerse the audience in. This style is perfect for, say, an episode about a Special Ops team encountering a Lovecraftian Elder God. I guess the closest comparison (within LDR) would be Shape-Shifters (Season 1), the one with Special Ops Werewolves fighting Taliban Werewolves.[8]

In Vaulted Halls flies by, despite its (relatively, for the series) long runtime – and I won’t spoil it, but I thought that the ending was suitably creepy. Give it a watch.

Jibaro

This one’s trippy as hell, but not in a bad way. Jibaro sports some of the series’ most impressive animation yet, as well as really engaging sound design – particularly when it’s centered around the main character, a deaf knight. It falls into the category of episodes that nag at the back of my brain for a rewatch – not because the story is particularly confusing, but because the construction of each scene is so intricate that I feel like I’ll discover something new every time I watch it.

Look, I liked this episode, OK? Even though it is weird as fuck. I can’t really tell you if it’s objectively good or not, but I likedit.

BONUS ROUND: My Top 5 LDR Episodes (All Seasons)

[In chronological, not preferential, order]

Three Robots (Season 1)

Beyond the Aquila Rift (Season 1)

Pop Squad (Season 2)

Bad Travelling (Season 3)

Mason’s Rats (Season 3) [I may swap this out once I’ve had time to digest the season a bit more, but for now, the rats have won the day.]

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[1] Yes, I’m sure the pyramid-robot has a name, and no, I’m not looking it up.

[2] The art style, not Sable. See my review.

[3] I really should get back into No Man’s Sky one of these days. From what I’ve heard, Hello Games has done a stellar job rehabilitating and expanding the title.

[4] …that, and a few hundred other things. Look, there is a lot going on in Death Stranding.

[5] You sick bastard.

[6] See, it’s like Grimdark Fantasy, but instead it’s sci-fi, and we’re all fucked.

[7] He’s more of a roommate, but you get the idea.

[8] I’m not kidding.