We all enjoy a good dose of sci-fi horror anthologies, and Love, Death, and Robots were no exception. This Netflix original series drew a lot of attention right away due to the distinctiveness of the stories and the innovative presentation. It swiftly grew in popularity, and by the time the second season aired, it had risen to the top 10 most-watched shows on Netflix. The number of episodes in the second season was reduced, but the quality of the programs appeared to have improved. The animation, in particular, was breathtaking, and we were captivated by some chilling tales of technological horror.
The stories ranged from humans facing the wrath of wicked aliens to the more common humanity vs. machines battles, as well as those involving demons and other deadly monsters. The climatic surprises made the stories memorable, and some of the episodes were downright stunning. We will walk you through some of our favorites from this amusing series in this video. These are unquestionably some of the scarier episodes, so turn down the lights and enjoy the show!
Sonnie’s Edge – Season 1, Episode 1
The series begins with a bang, and the very first episode holds a lot of promise. The story is premised on a dystopian cyberpunk future, and we see a young woman and her ragtag group indulge in some gruesome deathmatches. In these violent fights, engineered beasts are trained to tear each other apart to death, and this is considered entertainment. In this underground world of savage deathmatches, Sonnie is unbeatable and has a clear edge over the others. This undefeated fighter seems to have some kind of secret up her sleeve. On one occasion, Dicko tries to bribe her to lose a fight, but she refuses. In that particular fight, Sonnie wins once again, and shortly afterward, she meets Dicko’s mistress named Jennifer.
Sonnie starts to reveal that her success is not because of what everyone speculates, and there is something more to it. It is something that is pretty simple, and yet it is the toughest to guess. In a crazy turn of events, Jennifer betrays Sonnie, and it turns out that Sonnie has walked right into their trap. Jennifer stabs her in the face using a kickass knife-hand glove weapon. Just when it seems as if the deception has worked and Dicko and Jennifer start believing that they have killed Sonnie, another twist is revealed. Sonnie had actually switched places with her fighting monster, and thus, she was perfectly fine the whole time. She then goes on to kill her assailants, and the scene suddenly cuts to black. In a creepy final sequence, she is heard whispering, “Are you scared now?”
This episode was a real shocker, especially because of the unexpected twists that simply blew our minds. It is based on a short story by Peter Hamilton, and some changes were made in the episode. There are plenty of hints throughout the narrative that points to the climactic twist, but you only realize them after it is all over. A creepy, violent, and intense storytelling was the perfect start to the series, and we were immediately into the show for a few more such gems!
Sucker of Souls Season 1, Episode 5
Have you ever heard of Dracula being scared of cats? Well, this story shows how the feline is just what you need when vampires attack! The story starts off with an archaeological dig that is being overseen by a group of hired mercenaries. Initially, we see Flynn, one of the mercenaries, and Dr. Wehunt, the headman behind the excavation, running away from something through the underground tunnels. The assailant remains unseen for quite a while, and we see Flynn trying to shoot at the attacker using his pistol. They had previously discovered a mysterious cave that had some unexplained writings in it. In the process of the excavation work, a vampire was awakened, and it immediately killed Simon, one of the interns. Watching the deadly vampire transform, Flynn informed his employees Gary and Micky and tried to escape with Dr. Wehunt.
When they are finally confronted with the vampire, it turns out to be Dracula. It immediately tries to kill Flynn, but something stops it from finishing him off. It is nothing but a cat that caught its eye. As it retreats, Dr. Wehunt reveals that Dracula has fear and deep hatred for cats, and it can be used to escape. Flynn then uses the cat to scare Dracula away, and the two are soon reunited with Gary and Micky. However, their troubles are far from over because they have been trapped from the main exit.
They soon figure out that Dracula has been following them all this time, and Dr. Wehunt desperately looks for an exit route through the maze of secret tunnels. Meanwhile, the team of mercenaries set up explosives, and Dracula is killed in one of the explosions. These tunnels take them to secret prison cells, and inside them, there are many more of such similar vampires. The episode ends on a cliffhanger as we see these vampires attack the team!
You cannot have a perfect short story without a suggestive ending that could be just about anything! One of the highlights of this particular episode was the tremendous claustrophobic fear that grips the viewers hard. The concept of something terrifying pursuing the protagonists through underground tunnels is itself quite terrifying. The makers did add a quirky characteristic to Dracula because we have never heard about his aversion to cats! Overall, this was another satisfying episode that managed to make us jump in our seats quite a few times.
Beyond The Aquila Rift – Season 1, Episode 7
Space travel just got a morbid touch in this episode! The story opens with a freight spaceship called Blue Goose on just another usual trip to a surge point gate. It lines up in the queue to enter the gate, and the captain, Thom, checks with his fellow passengers Suzy and Ray if the spaceship is prepared to enter through the gate. Once they are sure, they enter their surge tanks and prepare for a faster-than-light journey to take them to their destination. However, when Thom and Suzy wake up, they find themselves way off course! They have somehow ended up in a repair facility, where their spaceship has been docked.
Thom is greeted by one of his old friends named Greta, and she explains their situation. They ended up in Saumlaki Station located in the Schedar Sector, which was clearly caused due to some kind of routing error in the navigation system of the ship. Suzy is not quite ready to buy the absurd explanation and her disbelief and shock are quite apparent. But she is way too weak and stumbles over. Thom and Greta get her back to her tank, and Thom is taken outside into the Saumlaki Station.
In the next sequence, we see Thom and Greta conversing at a bar. They enjoy the view outside, and Greta, dressed seductively, confesses that she hoped that she would get to bump into Thom someday. Apparently, the two had a fling four years ago, and since then, they had lost touch. After sharing a passionate moment in Greta’s cabin, Thom is shocked by some twisted revelations. Greta confesses that she was not completely honest with him, and they are not actually in Schedar Sector. The routing error was much more severe and they were 150000 light-years from the Earth. Thom is quite rattled by this knowledge, and he calculates that this means almost a few centuries have passed back home on Earth.
Greta reveals that she ended up there in a similar accident, and they decide that it is time to wake up the others. This time, when Suzy wakes up, she is disoriented and seems to question the real identity of Greta. She goes on to attack Greta, but the latter uses a tranquilizer to put her back to sleep. Once they are back at the cabin, Thom observes that the minor wound inflicted on Greta by Suzy has miraculously disappeared. He suspects something wrong and demands to know the truth. Greta finally realizes that the truth has to be revealed and she tells him how the entire surrounding is simply a simulation being fed to him.
She claims that he is not ready to handle the horrific truth, but Thom’s persistence makes her cut out the simulation. He is horrified to watch all the crew member’s long-dead bodies and a giant spider-ant alien creature with multiple eyes in place of Greta. It turns out to be an alien hive, where the wrecked ships have ended up for eternity. Thom loses his mind, and the alien creature realizes he cannot handle reality and places his mind back into the simulation. He wakes up in his tank once again, and Greta greets him just like before!
This has to be one of our favorite episodes in Season one and the sheer shock in the plot unnerved us. They played with concepts of space-time and alternate reality, and it was all perfectly presented in the form of a horrifying story. Let us just say that we would not be a part of any space mission anytime soon!
Good Hunting Season 1, Episode 8
It is China in the early 20th century, and Liang is a young boy who accompanies his father on a bounty hunt. His father is a spirit hunter and the bounty is for Tsiao-Jung, a Hull Jing, or a shapeshifting fox-like spirit. She briefly entrances Liang, but soon his father traps her in a half-transformed state. They chase her to her den, and Liang meets her spirited daughter Yan, who blames humans for attacking them. Yan claims that humans and Hull Jing could fall in love, but her mother warns her to stay away from the humans. Soon, Liang’s father beheads Tsiao-Jung and asks Liang if he saw any of her offspring. He lies to save Yan, and they leave with the father stating that the last of its kind had been killed.
Liang’s father dies five years later, and China has started to experience rapid modernization now. Liang is not too sad about his father’s death because he was extremely old-school, and he would not have been able to accept the changes in society. Liang maintained a good relationship with Yan all this while, but magic is on the decline, and she now finds it very difficult to transform into her fox form. Liang moves to Hong Kong and becomes skilled in advanced robotics engineering. In the meantime, Yan meets him once and reveals that she is totally stuck in her human form, and now she has to use her beauty to seduce men for money.
When she comes back the next time, she tells Liang that the Governor of Hong Kong is a perverted man, who is turned on by machines. He has transformed her body into a machine to be used for his twisted fantasies and tired of his oppression, she killed him. Yan decides to hunt down people who oppress others, and Liang agrees to help her. He helps her get a flexible chrome body, and she changes into a robotic Hull Jing that preys upon the tyrants. In the final sequence, this crime-fighting Hull Jing is seen taking down three men who were trying to assault a young woman.
We have a thing for stories that don’t necessarily portray monsters as evil. The real evil might just be lurking in society among the so-called normal people, and the Governor is a classic example of that. The relationship between Liang and Yan was adorable, and it was fun to see a crime-fighting paranormal entity evolve with human help! This one is certainly among the catchy stories in the series.
Shape-Shifters – Season 1, Episode 10
We have usually seen werewolves as antagonists, but in this story, the werewolf is also a hero. The plot is premised in a world where werewolves exist and their presence is reluctantly accepted. They are often discriminated against, and humans don’t treat them as their equals. Two werewolf friends serve in the US Marines and they are deployed in Afghanistan. Lt. Decker and Sgt. Sobieski is the werewolves, and one day as they are escorting a convoy, the Taliban militia launches a surprise attack on them. Decker has enhanced senses, and he quickly locks onto their position. The forces soon fire upon their locations and return to the base safely. However, some of their fellow soldiers don’t seem to be too happy with their presence. They are mocked and ridiculed and there is a clear hatred for them among their comrades. Sgt. Sobieski is assigned Watchtower duty, and that night, the base comes under a brutal attack.
They realize that their hopes of receiving any immediate support are slim, but Lt. Decker races ahead of the backup to reach the base. But it is a little too late because he finds every soldier in the base, including his friend Sobieski, brutally slaughtered. It becomes clear to Decker that a werewolf is behind the attacks, and so there is a werewolf among the Taliban forces as well.
Major Reyner orders Decker to go and find the werewolf behind the attack and bring him in. He sneaks out into the vast stretches of the desert, and soon enough, he comes across an old man and a young fellow. They are both werewolves and transform into their true selves to fight Decker. After an intense battle Decker prevails and manages to defeat them both. However, the treatment that he and his friend received during their service has left him disgusted. After returning to the base, he resigns from his service and burns the body of his friend in the desert.
We were bowled over by the uniqueness of the plot. To add the concept of werewolves to general world politics and the war was a fine idea, and the implementation couldn’t have been any better. It is a well-made episode that dwells on human emotions and the pains of any form of discrimination!
The Secret War – Season 1, Episode 18
The episode opens in the wilderness of Siberia, and we see a Soviet soldier carefully monitoring a village, where there seems to be some kind of a disturbance. He and his fellow soldiers soon arrive on the spot and find that there has been a massacre and some monsters have ripped apart the villagers. The soldiers assume the probable path that the monsters might have taken and pursued them. However, one of them is a bit skeptical about not moving in together. They have broken up into small groups to cover more ground, and that might not be the best idea when you are about to encounter vicious monsters of supernatural origin. To make matters worse, they learn that no air support would be available for them because they are all engaged in Stalingrad.
Very soon a nasty firefight ensues and the monsters ambush the soldiers. Several of them are killed, but eventually, the team wins the battle. But there are clearly more of these monsters lurking around, and the remaining soldiers are not too sure how to deal with them. Lt. Zakharov and Sergei find a journal near a frozen body that they discovered earlier. This journal seems to have some more information about the monsters. It turns out that the monsters were summoned according to a Soviet plan to use dark magic. However, things did not go as planned and the monsters that arrived could not be controlled.
They slaughtered the black magic practitioners who brought them in the first place and Sergei believes that this piece of information must be communicated back to the base. The forces must bomb the place to stop the marauding monsters, but there is also a risk that the Soviet Union government would kill them to stop their failure from leaking out. Meanwhile, they observe a group of soldiers being attacked by the monsters, and they watch helplessly from a distance.
After they uncover a massive ghoul barrow in the mountains, they decide that one of them would have to gallop away in their horse to give the news to the headquarters. The others would fight the monsters to buy him some time. The plan works, but all the fighting soldiers fall in battle. The monsters brawl among themselves regarding their share of the kills when suddenly a massive bombing raid destroys them all!
This one was quite a thrilling tale of scary monsters against a conventional army. The sacrifices of the others to make sure that all of the monsters were killed make for a gallant storyline, and the narrative stayed true to its timeline, which was during the battle of Stalingrad in 1942. In a nutshell, this was an engaging episode that kept us on the edge of our seats till the very end.
Automated Customer Service – Season 2, Episode 1
Automation can come with its share of disadvantages, but murderous robots are probably the worst you can get! This episode tells a bizarre story of a world, where humans are over-reliant on robots. They are way too lazy and get most of their work done by these efficient robots. An old lady and her husband have got one of these robots to do all their work, but the robot soon changes from obeying commands to running after their lives. Due to some malfunction, the robot turned into an evil version of itself and chases after the old lady. She calls the manufacturer, hoping to find a way to get rid of the attacker, but the solutions are way too tough for her. The operator advises her to use her pet to distract the robot, aka vacubot, but she is reluctant to sacrifice her pet.
There is another way to deactivate the evil side of the vacubot, but for that, she would have to turn of the purge mode manually. As you can understand, this is quite a task when the said vacubot is after her life. As the chaos unfolds, her husband tries to shoot the robot, but it tazes him for a couple of minutes. It misses hitting the old lady, and she uses the opportunity to shoot and destroy the vacubot. However, their problems have only just begun. The operator tells her that now, every robot is after her life, and she should run away immediately. She throws away her earphone because clearly, the operator is absolutely useless, and she drives away in her car.
This was another open-ended episode, and the climax is for you to figure out! There have been so many stories about violent robots attacking humans, but one designed to clean and be a house-help turning rogue is certainly quite unique. This episode was a perfect beginning for the Second Season, and the crisp narrative made it a very interesting one.
Pop Squad Season 2, Episode 3
Pop Squad is a moving story of conscience and compassion. The plot is premised in a dystopian future, where everything is controlled by the rich. Humans can live forever, but producing offspring is strictly prohibited. To ensure that the population stays in check, a detective named Briggs has been assigned a SWAT team-looking gang of goons. They hunt down those who disobeyed the law and their task is to end the breeders. The episode opens with one of their missions, where they end up in an apartment. Briggs pulls out a toddler and ends his life even after his desperate pleas. The toddler even tried to offer Briggs his stuffed dinosaur, but it had no impact on his tough heart. Or did it?
Ever since that incident, Briggs is quite traumatized by his deeds. It suddenly dawns upon him how he has killed many innocents and he has helped the corrupt thrive all this while. He is obsessed with the stuffed dinosaur and even traces the shop that sold the toy. He observes a woman buying a box full of toys, and he follows her to her place. We are shocked to find that she lives in an old shack in the woods, and she has a little daughter. When Briggs confronts her, she explains that this child makes her life worthwhile, and she is more than just being in love with herself.
We learn that the mother is 218 years old, and in order to protect her child she tries to grab the gun before Briggs. She fails, but Briggs has now had a change of heart and he lets them go. Just as he is about to walk away, he encounters one of his partners named Pentel. They both shoot each other at the same time, and Pentle dies on the spot. But even Briggs is injured and he walks into the mountain forests with a bullet in his chest. He is in pain, but he is finally satisfied with the choice that he made!
Something scary doesn’t necessarily require a morbid monster or murderous alien. This episode terrified us just by its mere projection of the heartless selfish futuristic society. The most shocking bit about the story is how absurdity seems a possibility someday! The character of Briggs had some serious depth, and it was emotional to watch him transition from his ruthless self to a compassionate human who recognized his crimes. It is a must-watch episode in the Second Season, and certainly among the most thought-provoking ones.
The Tall Grass Season 2 Episode 5
We salute the efforts of this episode for making a delightful train journey into a spooky story. The episode begins as we see a train chugging through a vast prairie late at night. Larid is a passenger, and probably the only one traveling that night. When the train comes to an abrupt halt, he gets down to examine the cause, and meets the rail man. Out on the gravel tracks, the rail man informs him that they are just stopping briefly to build up steam. He also warns Larid not to venture far away from the train. As per their protocol, he would call for him twice when the train is ready to go. If he doesn’t answer by then, the train would leave and he would be left in the middle of nowhere. Larid lights up a cigarette, and observes something strange at a distance!
There are some unexplained blue lights glowing and fading between the tall grasses all around. Larid decides to explore the origin and wanders out. There are some rustling noises in the grasses around him, and he is a bit unnerved by the whole thing. Suddenly, the rail man calls for him once and then twice. Although Larid shouts to him, he cannot see the direction of the train through the tall grasses. He runs aimlessly, hoping to reach the train, but he witnesses a shocking thing instead! He finds out that the light was coming from a grotesque humanoid creature and it lunges at him with a horrible cry. Larid panics and tries to flee in desperation, but soon he is being pursued by many of these creatures. Luckily, he spots the lights of the train and runs to the tracks.
The creatures catch up to him, but the rail man comes to his rescue just in time. He uses fire to scare away the creatures, and they both get onto the train safely. The rail man explains that these creatures are probably the souls of people who got lost in the prairies and they try to take a passenger every once in a while. The creepy episode ends as we watch the creatures try to chase the train, but it simply speeds away into the night.
This episode gave us the jitters. The anticipation was a bit too much to handle at times, and the creature designs were simply out-of-the-world. The unexplained lore of the creatures added to their mystery, and they could be just about anything from monsters to aliens. We are glad this story gave us closure because it would be too tense to watch this one end on a cliffhanger.
All Through the House Season 2 Episode 6
Christmas Eve is supposed to be a time for all the happy stuff! Well, not if it is a part of a sci-fi horror anthology! This episode tells you the story of a house in the suburbs, where two children are very excited about Christmas. Billy and Leah are two siblings, and that night, they wake up to some strange sounds coming from downstairs. They are overjoyed at the thought that Santa Claus must have snuck into their house, and they are curious to get a glimpse of the jolly old man in red! When they come downstairs, they observe from their hiding and find something behind the Christmas tree. Initially, it takes the shape of Santa, but soon enough, the figure changes into a hideous monster.
This monster has no eyes, and it looks absolutely terrifying with its forelimbs and hind limbs and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. It also has a tentacle-like appendage and uses it to consume the milk and cookies that were left for Santa. It then proceeds to inspect the tree and the arrangements around it. The terrified children try to sneak out, but the creature is alerted of their presence. It approaches them menacingly but then speaks to them in a raspy voice telling them that they have been good. It even offers them a friendly pat on their heads and leaves them a regurgitated, neatly wrapped Christmas present. All’s well that ends well, but the children cannot help but wonder what would have happened if they hadn’t been good!
If you are a fan of unexpected whacky stories, this one is clearly for you. The idea of replacing Santa Claus with a monster was a masterstroke, and it was not really an evil entity even though it looked like one. We have witnessed many Christmas horror stories, but this one is a fresh take on the whole concept!
Life Hutch Season 2 Episode 7
We end our list with another story of space and robots! Terence is a space pilot, who was a part of a human force of pilots that attacked the death-star-Esque planetoids. Terence managed to open fire into the deadly stars, but the impact damaged his ship severely. He had to crash land onto one of the nearby moons, but his troubles are far from over. He figures out soon enough that his spacecraft is beyond repair, and he spots another structure at a distance. He heads to the structure, which turns out to be another spacecraft that has crash-landed. His oxygen levels are steadily depleting, and he reaches the other spacecraft just in time.
Inside, he finds the maintenance robot that appears to have been broken. However, it is perfectly fine and it has been rewired to kill anything that moves. If Terence can stay perfectly still, the robot does not attack him, but soon the maintenance machine crushes his hand while investigating the wall that he lays against. He uses his helmet and a flashlight to distract the machine away, and later, he uses one of the detached legs of the robot to destroy it.
These exciting, thrilling stories and many more await you in this brilliant show. If you haven’t checked it out already, it is high time that you did. We can promise you that it would be totally worth your time and the stunning, twisted tales would be thoroughly entertaining!