Love, Death & Robots

Definitely a step back from S1. None of it really had the depth of some of the better episodes of S1.

Still not without its charms though. I really liked the Santa episode a lot.

Snow Desert or whatever it was called was fucking insane animation. I was a bit high, but it legit took me a bit to realize it wasn't actual people.

Zweischneid said:

Dunno. Pop squad was one of those I was expecting "more" from, not least because it is a reasonably interesting (though probably not super-original) set-up.

Spoiler: Pop Squad

Blade Runner but hunting illegal kids, kids vs. immortality. Some getting pregnant jokes and obviously/predictably, main guy is gonna go soft on killing kids and a speech on "living forever isn't "truly living". But then ... that's it? I feel like this needed another wrinkle in the story. Something .. dunno .. to make the themes come together.


Also, funny enough, Snow in the Desert shared many themes .. i.e. people going all-in on getting immortality while those that have it aren't actually too thrilled. But it IMO similarly wasted the interesting world-building and set-up, though the action was a bit more fun in that one.

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no, you're right. pop squad wasn't as great as the season 1 greats, but i kinda feel like it was the only one that had any kind of emotional heart?

i also keep forgetting about the santa claus one. can't remember the name but i loved it.

This season was a disappointment compared to the first, which while having a few stinkers (Yogurt episode and the Blue pool cleaner one), was overall amazing.

Sanrith Descartes said:

One Easter egg I noticed was the toy store in pop squad makes an appearance in the giant whale dick episode. The guy drives past the same store near the end. Ipswich Collectibles.

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Yeah. With different spellings though. Not sure what the point was.

Zweischneid said:

Yeah. With different spellings though. Not sure what the point was.

Spoiler: Collectibles

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Blur did, i think, 3 of the episodes themselves. i'm guessing someone at a board meeting mentioned it and they split up into separate teams and didn't talk about it again until it was done and they were like, oh... wait, which one of us spelled ipswitch wrong?

I enjoyed it enough but as stated, season 1 was just better. These felt really short this time. Some actually were. One of the best ones was the shortest one. I liked the twisted version of Santa. The Train was just boring. The story about how the world made a choice around living forever and apparently not having children was the story I wish had gone on much longer. That is a potential real world situation that might come into existence this century.

Worth the watch.

snow in the desert so far, much better then the previous.
Solid story. Insanely good animation.

Also, holy shit, this is "Kenshi." are those fucking Shek?!


"all through the house" forest god winter spirit santa right out of "The Ritual" is pretty great.

"the tall grass" needed more. "used to be people I guess. idk maybe. or idk, lol portal to another world. also, train always stops here, but I didn't bother giving a REALLY fucking clear statement to stay the fuck out of the grass."

"ice" is a lame ass gatica remake, but way less good.
"automated customer service" is silly, but ok.
"pop squad" yeah. wants to be heady. but kindof just retreading old ground. and, really all I could think was. well yeah. Immortality is going to require population control... sure, in our society that would be an insane freedom to give up. but, in this one presented, thats the law, and breaking that law was on you. the ruins suggest it was required to prevent climate change as well. the overall world pop is reduced, to make it sustainable without bailing out to the stars.

"life hutch" also needed way more.

"drowned giant" is quite good too. its portrayal of how people would really act. its recreation of an old timey poetic journalists log.

The problem I had with Pop Squad was that, while preventing people from having children is an absolute requirement for widespread immortality, it was pretty heavy handed. 'Cop with a gun' is really the best solution that society could come up with ?

Given the age of the first kids he's also clearly terrible at his job ;p

The 3D rendering in Snow was pretty insane. I really had to pay attention in some parts to pick up the "uncanny valley" bits.

Also, regarding Ipswich, first thing that comes to mind is Lovecraft.

yeah, honestly, the biggest takeaway from this season is just the insane CGI. snow in the desert skipped right past the uncanny valley and with pop squad? i don't know what what it was but the emotion on the characters were more lifelike then a lot of live action.

Even though probably weaker than S1 as a whole it was still good. Santa episode, Pop Squad, Snow in the Desert all top tier. In fact the only really weak one I thought was Ice.

Caliane said:

"ice" is a lame ass gatica remake, but way less good.

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It's the opposite of Gattaca - the story of that is that the human spirit can't be predicted via genetics and the drive to succeed can overcome your innate traits.

The story of Ice is that you can't compete with the superior race in any way, even if one of them tries to make you feel better about yourself.

velk said:

It's the opposite of Gattaca - the story of that is that the human spirit can't be predicted via genetics and the drive to succeed can overcome your innate traits.

The story of Ice is that you can't compete with the superior race in any way, even if one of them tries to make you feel better about yourself.

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that's the backdrop, but that's not what the story is "about." it's just about brothers getting along despite their differences.

if it was about not being able to compete in any way, the older brother would have thrown a fit when he figured out that his brother was faking his injury. instead he smiles and realizes that all the mods and upgrades everyone is getting doesn't actually change who you are. his whole issue was that he didn't feel like he fit in anywhere. "he's the only un-modded 16 year old within 12 parsecs (i forget the range they said)." but his brother showed him that fitting in wasn't about the mods.

it was one of the weaker episodes (same guy who did zima blue) but his stories are deceptively deep. i mean i don't like his stories, i think he leaves a whole lot out that allows people to connect the dots correctly, but his ultimate points are still pretty decent.

Ya, takeaway from Ice was that fitting in doesn't mean you have to be the same (modded), just that you can display qualities that other people can respect or appreciate. The unmodded brother will never be able to compete on a physical level, but he showed the other people that he had balls and could handle the same risks.