Love Death + Robots Season 1 Episodes, Ranked

With season four of Love Death + Robots making its premiere last week, the time is now to revisit – and more importantly, re-rank – every season of the anthology series, beginning with the first season from 2019. Enjoy!

18. Episode 15 – “Alternate Histories”

There are probably plenty of people who get a chuckle out of “Alternate Histories”… but this short just doesn’t work for me, on just about any level. Framed as a demo for an app called ‘Multiversity’, “Alternate Histories” is thankfully the second-shortest episode of the series, a small respite for the painful six-minutes that entails this story, where we observe numerous butterfly effect simulations of different Hitler deaths (you know, like stabbed by a child or suffocated in Jell-O). There’s an interesting nugget of an idea buried under the garish, ugly animation style of this episode, but it’s one already better explored elsewhere. I mean, if you want to see what these animators thought Hitler drawing his own naked dick would look like interests you than maybe you’ll enjoy “Alternate Histories” – otherwise, “Alternate Histories” is arguably the emptiest (and definitely the ugliest) entry in season one.

17. Episode 8 – “The Witness”

“The Witness” is a classic example of form over content; the wild, spastic art design of “The Witness” is one of the first season’s signature visual styles; unfortunately, it is also one of the hollowest embodiments of the show’s central themes. That means lots of animated titties, a main character who is a sexy sex worker, and a third act plot twist that screams “why?” more than “wow!”; there’s probably no larger dichotomy between the quality of animation and story than in “The Witness”, which utterly wastes its strange, colorful motif on a laughably mindless sci-fi story that is much dumber and simplistic than it thinks it is.

16. Episode 4 – “Sonnie’s Edge”

While the concept of “Sonnie’s Edge” occasionally melds into a potent mix of horny cyberpunk and kaiju action, it’s ultimately an individual collection of scenes untethered to anything particularly meaningful. Slick, bloody, and incredibly blunt, “Sonnie’s Edge” goes from violent kaiju battles to naked boobs to elitist horror like it has ADD, unable to decide whether it wants to ogle at titties, or deliver a strong story about a bond between woman and animal, harnessing trauma into a colorful violent release of destroying the patriarchy. “Sonnie’s Edge” is far too simple and brutalist for any nuance to be found – which is particularly unfortunate, considering it is one of the longest episodes of Love Death + Robots’ freshman season.

15. Episode 6 – “Secret War”

Love, Death + Robots takes on Diablo-ish vibes, with a tale of Russian soldiers in 1920’s Serbia, trying to take out an army of demons accidentally released by the government. “Secret War” isn’t aggressively terrible; it’s just aggressively boring, another example of sanitized photo-realistic CGI unable to coalesce with the material on the page in any meaningful way, everything just stiff and facile enough to completely fail to deliver a compelling visual narrative. There are moments where the episode’s lack of dialogue is somewhat engaging, but the underwhelming story arc and limp ending make for an unimpressive entry, despite its terrific effects and impressively relentless bloodshed.

14. Episode 7 – “Sucker of Souls”

Set in a cave no reasonable human being should ever want to enter, “Sucker of Souls” is a collection of action movie cliches, where a group of mercenaries protecting an archeologist face the wrath of one very angry, hungry, self-healing vampiric creature. There’s some fun to be had here (mostly cat-related), but “Sucker of Souls” really just wants to spray blood on the walls and hear its main character say “motherfucker” a lot; with its simple visual style, there’s plenty of room for “Sucker of Souls” to have fun with dialogue and narrative, but it never really gets those three elements in harmony at any one point. The “twist” at the end of the episode doesn’t really add much to the proceedings, either, making “Sucker of Souls” an entertaining entry, but a thoroughly forgettable one.

13. Episode 12 – “Shape Shifters”

In a world where werewolves are members of the United States military, wolfy jar heads are alienated from the rest of their team, and begin questioning their mission to help humans defeat “terrorism”. As a story of brotherhood and an examination of pack mentality, there is a lot to enjoy about “Shape-Shifters”; however, if you’re looking for intelligent commentary on the war on terror, this is most certainly not it. The ruminations on racism between the first and third acts aren’t entirely congruent; but by centering the photo-realistic short one of the series’ stronger, more grounded protagonists (a level-headed man just trying to make sense of his purpose in the world), “Shape-Shifters” ends up being just a bit more than the sum of its disparate parts.

12. Episode 5 – “When the Yogurt Took Over”

The shortest entry of the Love, Death + Robots‘s first season, “When the Yogurt Took Over” is an episode that certainly plays more presciently in 2025 than it did in 2019. Its premise is simple: genetically engineered yogurt becomes sentient, solves the national debt, and then proceeds to take over the world. Though its not a particularly funny or illuminating episode, “When the Yogurt Took Over” is one of the more effective short episodes of the first season (particularly if you can forgive what are probably the most gratuitously pointless CGI boobies of the series) , an effective, if superficial allegory of our growing dependence on technology – and what might happen if said technology ever decided it outgrew humanity itself.

11. Episode 11 – “The Dump”

“The Dump” is an unabashedly dumb story about a redneck living in a garbage dump; but it is also one of the mroe charming entries of the series, like a much darker, disturbed version of Up. “The Dump” is about a defiant old man mourning his best friend and his life, and how fiercely protective he is of his home and the strange creature living in it. How “The Dump” gets to its final, wonderfully gross moments isn’t the most creative, original material, but it’s a pleasure to watch, even though it doesn’t stray from its calcifying template of nudity (there is some serious CGI dick flop in this episode), blood, or predictable final twists. It is clear the people behind the creation of “The Dump” were having an absolute blast, and that fun is infectious, elevating an otherwise perfunctory episode purely on its personality.

10. Episode 2 – “Three Robots”

There aren’t a lot of entries in Love, Death + Robots that are primarily comedies; “Three Robots” is easily the most successful of that small subset, occupying something on the opposite end of the spectrum from entries like “Alternative Histories” or “When the Yogurt Took Over”. Following three robots traveling the post-apocalyptic ruins of modern society, “Three Robots” finds most of its simple comedy from three intrepid, wise-cracking robots viewing today’s world from the lens of the future, and how iconic Americana trademarks might be viewed as relics of a forgotten world. If this episode had a better ending (honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t enjoy it more), it might be higher on this list; regardless, “Three Robots” is the most successful example of the series engaging with a lighter tone, though it doesn’t make for particularly interesting fare (which makes it odd to consider it’s the only Love Death + Robots entry to have a sequel later in the series).

19. Episode 10 – “Good Hunting”

A mix of traditional huji jing storytelling and the larger bullet points of Alita: Battle Angel (with some beautiful animation from Red Dog Culture House to really set the tone), “Good Hunting” is one of the more emotionally poignant, understated episodes of Love, Death + Robots. When a young boy with a knack for engineering secretly befriends a shape shifter hunted by the locals (including his father), he learns important lessons about identity, agency, and war; though there aren’t any unique twists or ideas thrown into the familiar formula of “kid friends marginalized magical creature”, the execution of “Good Hunting” is undeniable, easily making this one of the more watchable, satisfying episodes of the first season.

8. Episode 17 – “Blindspot”

“Blindspot” is a wonderfully dumb episode, a futuristic Mad Max homage featuring a gang of robots causing mayhem on a post-apocalyptic highway. The 80’s action archetypes are on full display in “Blindspot”, and the colorful, slightly eclectic art style is a great setting for the short-but-sweet explosion fest of this episode. It also features a particularly hilarious ending, ending a high octane seven minutes on a surprisingly dry moment; in this day and age where nobody reads privacy notices or the bullet points in their contracts anymore, the final moments of “Blindspot” are hilariously telling for the future of humanity – or at least, the technology they create.

7. Episode 3 – “Ice Age”

“Ice Age” is quietly one of Love, Death + Robot‘s more ambitious episodes; and one of its best, completely absent of the ridiculously gratuitous nudity and immaturity so forward-facing in the show’s first season. It asks a simple question: what would you do if you found a tiny mini-civilization with rapidly advancing technology… living in your freezer? A study of the world across millions of years of time (and also an underhanded exploration of deities), “Ice Age” features the least amount of animation work in the series, yet is one of the most representative entries of what makes this series tick. Starring Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, “Ice Age” is light and playful, but also darkly prosaic about the arc of humanity, a wonderful mix of ideas and tones distilled into a very strong, focused episode.

6. Episode 2 – “Beyond the Aquila Rift”

Another simple premise executed beautifully; “Beyond the Aquila Rift” is a sharp distillation of the show’s titular premise, marrying all of its core genres into one horrific Alastair Reynolds adaptation (one of two in the season, which is still awesome). With its impressive visual effects work, relentless horniness, and unsettling intrigue, “Beyond the Aquila Rift” is an incredibly effective slow burn (for a 14-minute short film, of course), building to an incredibly effective climactic moment, earning its entry as one of the show’s early defining entries.

5. Episode 9 – “Suits”

“Suits” is a rather straightforward, contained story about farmers fighting off an infestation of alien bugs in mech suits (like a rural Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 of sorts); and because of that simplicity, it just works. It’s got a cast of eclectic characters, never tries to go out of its way to be Shocking or Fucking Cool; it is just a well-executed take on a classic tale of man vs. giant ass alien bugs, with a particularly haunting final shot that seals its place in the top half of Love, Death + Robots episodes.

4. Episode 14 – “Helping Hand”

“Helping Hand” is a rather simple tale, told with a single dark twist – like the end of Gravity‘s first act, with the added bonus of some solid body horror thrown in. A master class in tension building, “Helping Hand” is a crescendo of anxiety building from the first frame until its unsettling climatic moments, following a woman who ends up floating through space with a broken suit due to random happenstance. Though not a significant technical or narrative achievement on its own, “Helping Hand” is a really solid execution of an incredibly simple premise – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

3. Episode 16 – “Lucky 13”

There are times where Love, Death + Robots‘ photo-realistic CGI sanitizes the material on the page; at times, it can make entries feel like rejected video game intro cut scenes, a kaleidoscope of particle effects, strange facial animations, and ridiculously overwrought camera movement untethered to anything meaningful thematically. “Lucky 13” is the antithesis to this template, utilizing some wonderful voice work by Samira Wiley for one of the most emotional episode of the series (perhaps the truest embodiment of the Love in its premise) – which, considering it is strictly about one pilot’s relationship with her futuristic airship, is a particularly impressive feat. Despite its flashy action scenes, “Lucky 13” is a focused, subtle tale of loyalty and faith, and the intersection between technology and humanity – easily one of the most unexpected pleasures of season one.

2. Episode 18 – “Zima Blue”

From its matte painting-esque visuals, to the questions it asks about consciousness and happiness, “Zima Blue” is an absolute dynamic piece of art, one of the true standouts of Love, Death + Robots‘ first season. A striking adaptation of an Alastair Reynolds short story (second on the list!), “Zima Blue” utilizes its art style to illuminate the most thoughtful entry of the anthology – in many ways, it almost feels too tame and reflective to be included in this series; it is an episode that demands patience, utterly abandoning the nipples, blood spurts, and toxic masculinity that is pervasive through the rest of the series. It is the Rectify of Love, Death + Robots, right down to the important metaphorical presence of a swimming pool, a wonderful distillation of what the science fiction anthology series is capable of, when its many creative elements align.

1. Episode 13 – “Fish Night”

I’ve always wanted to see more animation adopt the techniques seen in films like A Scanner Darkly; “Fish Night” is exactly that, a dreamy short about two salesmen who have a transcendent experience while stranded on the side of a desert highway. Beautifully animated and exceptionally written, “Fish Night” is an effortless entry amidst the dozen or so try-hard science fiction episodes of the series – and lives up to the show’s promise of marrying innovative animation techniques with classic science fiction storytelling. Equally psychedelic and reflective, “Fish Night” is Love, Death + Robots realizing its potential as an anthology series, the beautiful, darkly poignant highlight of its first season.