Netflix is the home of a brilliant sci-fi show that manages to achieve storytelling feats in minutes that many Hollywood movies struggle to nail in several hours.
Like most streaming services, Netflix is a mixed bag when it comes to sci-fi offerings. While some of its long-canceled shows, like Altered Carbon, The OA, and Sense8, are still remembered as masterpieces, others, like Another Life and Jupiter’s Legacy, have faded out of relevance. Among the better Netflix sci-fi shows lies an experimental gem that adopts an anthology format.
Since it is an anthology, some of its episodes are far better than others. However, the better ones are so good that they put even big-budget Hollywood movies to shame.
Love, Death & Robots’ Best Episodes Are Masterclasses In Short Storytelling
One of the most memorable episodes from Love, Death, & Robots season 1 is “Zima Blue.” In a matter of ten minutes, the episode makes you ask many an existential question about:
What it means to be human?
Is being more “conscious” even worth it?
Is meaning found in endless progress, or in returning to what once made us whole?
The questions it forces one to ask suggest it must be a complex, cerebral work. However, beneath its thought-provoking themes and ideas lies a very simple and minimalist story that stays with the viewer long after the episode’s credits stop rolling. The episode becomes a metaphor for its story itself by portraying how deeply human insights can be found in the simplest of ideas.
Another one of my favorites is “Jibaro” from season 3, which does not even have any dialogue. It heavily relies on the golden rule of storytelling (“Show, don’t tell”) and conveys a disturbing tale of greed, lust, and longing.
“Jibaro” almost makes one realize that language in itself can be a constraint and some of the most primal and raw human emotions can only be captured through overstimulating yet scintillating visuals.
Season 1’s “Beyond the Aquila Rift” is not often ranked among the show’s best episodes. For me, though, the episode made me grieve for someone I had never met and long for a life I had never experienced.
That’s the magic of Love, Death, & Robots. It makes you feel things in minutes that many feature-length films cannot in hours.
Why We Need More Experimental Sci-Fi Shows Like Love, Death & Robots
Mainstream shows, especially in the sci-fi genre, often adopt familiar tropes and “grammar” that audiences find easier to digest. However, if one traces the history of these tropes and well-worn ideas, they, too, were once considered novel and experimental. This is where the value of experimental shows, like Love, Death & Robots, comes in.
They not only bring something refreshingly new to the table but also expand the avenues of how we perceive storytelling. The more creators experiment, the more the medium evolves.