Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Netflix show Love, Death & Robots.
The third volume of Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots gave fans even more unforgettable and often terrifying stories set in distant dystopian worlds. The anthology series is known for its brilliant sci-fi concepts with frightening twists, delivered in surprisingly short episodes (also often referred to as short films).
From a familiar version of the world seeing the start of a robot uprising to one that has experienced a zombie apocalypse, there’s no shortage of inhospitable dystopian realities in the popular show. There’s no questioning that no one would want to live in them, but it’s fascinating to imagine how an average person would fare in the worst worlds from the series.
A Future With Angry Assistant Robots
Jeanette is enjoying her peaceful retirement in a community full of robotic helpers in the Volume 2 episode ‘Automated Customer Service.’ Her daily routines are interrupted in a scary way after her ‘Vacuubot’ malfunctions and begins attacking her and her dog, which soon leads to more robotic assistants pursuing her.
The comical but disturbing short film arguably signals the beginning of the robot uprising in that world, much like the three robots describe in a different episode. While living there may not automatically mean becoming the target of a group of angry vacuums, it’s certainly not anyone’s top choice for a retirement community anymore.
A Yogurt-controlled World
The Volume 1 episode ‘When the Yogurt Took Over’ is exactly what it sounds like, as a group of intelligent bacteria becomes the powerful yogurt that somehow manages to manipulate the government and take control of the world. Surprisingly, they create a stunning but slightly unnerving utopian society, with everyone wearing the same color and fulfilling their assigned roles.
Aside from the unsettling supposed perfect society that will almost certainly end badly, fans who have seen the episode know that there’s one major problem – the yogurt left. Based on the state of their reality before the yogurt took over, it’s highly likely that there will once again be nuclear wars, food shortages, and inequality in no time.
Farms On Saturn
Only the most strategic characters survive in the Volume 1 episode ‘Suits.’ The short film depicts a group of farmers’ fight for survival as their lands are invaded by thousands of deadly insectoids called “DeeBees.” As if that isn’t bad enough, a twist ending reveals that the entire short film takes place on a colony planet, which looks a lot like Saturn.
It’s hard to imagine what life would be like with a small, tight-knit community out in space. There’s no one else who can defend its citizens but themselves, which, as the episode shows, often costs some farmers their lives. That said, they at least have friendly neighbors who can share a cup of coffee with them the morning after the massacre.
Steampunk City
After Yan loses her magical abilities in the Volume 1 episode ‘Good Hunting,’ she asks her friend Liang, now an engineer, to construct a mechanical body for her. Through the strength that the technology allows for, she goes back to hunting, but targets evildoers instead of animals this time.
The steampunk city where the latter half of the short film takes place may look pretty, but it’s a place full of crime and greedy men. The entire episode is an obvious criticism of colonization and capitalism, which is why the city is probably not on anyone’s list of travel destinations. Unfortunate souls who wind up there would probably live, but it won’t be a fulfilling life.
An Icy Colony Planet
Sedgewick feels like the odd one out after moving to a colony planet where all his peers are “modded” in the Volume 2 episode ‘Ice.’ To help him fit in, his brother Fletcher fakes an injury during their race across the ice to see the otherworldly Frostwhales, which forces Sedgewick to risk his life to rescue him.
The fact that everyone seems to be modded on that colony planet raises the beauty standard to a whole new level. It also seems as if the modifications are made so that the citizens can be more useful workers. While it would be cool to see the magical Frostwhales at least once, no one is likely too eager to be constantly freezing on a faraway planet populated by burnt-out laborers.
Hallucinations Lightyears Away From Earth
The spine-chilling story told in the Volume 1 episode ‘Beyond the Aquila Rift’ is still considered one of the scariest stories from Love, Death & Robots. Thom is tricked by an arachnid-like creature masquerading as an old flame named Greta, who feeds him hallucinations as his actual body lays aging and dying in the monster’s nest.
Greta may claim that she cares for all the lost souls that end up there through that same routing error, but it’s obvious that she’s a parasite facilitating the nightmare scenario. The only reason it’s not the worst dystopian future is that it’s so unlikely that an average person would experience the horrors that Thom and his crew does, and Greta’s nest barely qualifies as a “world.”
Earth But With Occult Monsters
‘The Secret War’ is an underrated episode from Volume 1 that depicts a raging battle between soldiers and ferocious demonic creatures. It’s later revealed that these monsters were actually summoned using a destructive occult ritual, which led to the infestation that the soldiers have to deal with.
Even though they sacrifice their lives to eradicate an entire nest towards the end of the short film, it’s clear that they’re losing the larger war against the deadly beings. The occult monsters are faster, stronger, and seem to multiply at an alarming rate – it’s only a matter of time before they take over the world. When that happens, any person wouldn’t want to be there to witness the collapse of society.
A World Under Immortal Rule
Told from the perspective of detective Briggs, the volume 2 episode ‘Pop Squad’ takes place in a dystopian future where humanity has unlocked the key to immortality. This predictably causes problems, with the main one being to avoid overpopulation, they’ve made “breeding” illegal for those who live on the ground.
No matter which side someone ends up on, it’s a disturbing world where the rich literally separate themselves from everyone else by building castles in the sky. It’s hard to even think about what it would take to raise a child as a lower-income citizen, having to hide them away at the risk of death and imprisonment.
Post-Apocalyptic Earth
It may have introduced the most likable characters in Love, Death & Robots, but the Volume 1 episode ‘Three Robots’ is far from where anyone would like to be. The humorous episode (and its continuation in Volume 3) shows a bleak and lifeless earth full of human things that fascinate the three funny characters.
Their description of what went down isn’t too hilarious, though, as it often hits too close to home. There’s little to no chance that a human would survive in those conditions, not to mention they’d have to deal with the highly intelligent and potentially dangerous cats lurking in every corner.
Earth With A Zombie Apocalypse
If there’s anything that the numerous movies and TV shows about a zombie apocalypse have taught viewers, it’s that they wouldn’t want to be there. This is the case in the Volume 3 episode ‘Night of the Mini Dead’ as well, which portrays a zombie apocalypse on earth from start to finish in just a few minutes.
Anyone who’s unlucky enough to find themselves in the middle of all that chaos would have no chance of surviving. If it’s not one of the hundreds of hordes that get them, it would be the nuclear bombs that completely destroy the world that would kill them.