After receiving critical acclaim for the first volume of episodes and winning various Primetime
Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Netflix brought back Love, Death + Robots for a second and
third season. Though not having as many episodes as the first volume,
these two brought forward some stories that were just as compelling if not more so. With
new stories come new characters and thus another new morality scale to explore.
Hi, I’m Brad with WickedBinge and this is Love,
Death + Robots Volumes 2 & 3 Characters: Good to Evil.
Two quick disclaimers before we begin: like with our previous video,
we will only be focusing on characters who have a more obvious morality ranking due
to the lengths of the episodes. As such, we won’t be including Steven from “The Drowned
Giant” or any of the characters from “Night of the Mini Dead,” for example. In addition,
we will be excluding the three robots and the cat from “Three Robots:
Exit Strategies” as the episodes doesn’t change their moral standing.
As usual, we’ll start with the most noble character and work our way down
to the most evil. The characters in this first category are… The Good.
Our gold medal of goodness goes to Hirald from “Snow in the Desert.”
After Snow is challenged to a fight by a group of bounty hunters, Hirald comes to his aid and helps
him to survive. She joins up with him again and reveals that she’s an agent sent by Earth Central
Intelligence, noting that they want to study his regenerative ability for the greater good
but only if he comes willingly. Hirald aids Snow again when a merchant named Baris and his goons
attack Snow for his bounty, helping to kill off everyone despite getting injured herself.
The silver medal of goodness goes to The Conductor of “The Tall Grass.”
During a temporary breakdown, the conductor is seen requesting that the protagonist Laird return
to his cabin whilst the problem is being fixed. Laird asks for some time to smoke to which the
conductor agrees, requesting that he not stray too far from the train. He mentions that he will
call for Laird twice before resuming travel. When Laird is attacked by a myriad of ghouls,
the conductor comes to his rescue, deterring the creatures with a torch.
The bronze medal of goodness goes to Jeanette & Bill from “Automated Customer Service.”
In a futuristic retirement community, Jeanette has the unfortunate witnessing of her dog getting
attacked by her “Vacuubot”. She immediately decides to call customer service to fix the issue,
eventually putting her life on the line when the robot goes into “purge mode” and threatens to
attack her and her dog. Bill comes to their rescue and helps them take out the robot and escape,
driving them out of the community as they’re pursued by all the other robots.
Following them, we have Fletcher and Sedgewick from “Ice.”
Sedgewick has a hard time fitting in on the ice covered colony planet,
due to being and “extro” who’s not modded with superhuman abilities. When his brother
Fletcher goes out to hang with other modded teens like him, Sedge is insistent on coming despite
his brother’s protests. While the teens are outrunning the ice whales attempting to breach,
Fletcher seemingly injures his leg and Sedgewick comes to his rescue.
The two of them barely escape the final breach, with the modded teens accepting
the “extro” into their group. It turns out at the end that Fletcher faked the injury so that
Sedge could earn the group’s respect, but he doesn’t seem too upset about it.
Next up is Mason from “Mason’s Rats.”
In this episode, Mason discovers that the rats pilfering his barn are advanced enough to stand
on two legs and create weapons to fight back with. He calls upon Traptech Pest Control to
help take care of the issue, only to have the rats take out several of the machines
he implements. Mason begins to feel compassion for the rats as they have a last stand against
the destructive assault bot and takes it out himself. He builds a companionship with the rats,
especially once he discovers that they can distill a pretty good whiskey.
Following him is Snow from “Snow in the Desert.”
Snow is an albino blessed with regenerative genes, making him practically immortal. Because of this,
he is being sought after for an enormously large bounty,
so he prefers to operate solo. He’s able to hold his own in a fight with bounty hunters
in a bar and fights Baris and his goons with Hirald’s help in the end. We learn that he
works solo because of his immortality and that it caused his wife to end her life. However,
he’s able to reconsider partnership when he discovers that Hirald is a cyborg.
Afterwards is Torrin from “Bad Traveling.”
Torrin is sent as a negotiator when a thanapod ends up occupying the ship that he and the
crew reside on. The creature requests passage to Phaiden Island to which Torrin agrees in exchange
for his life being spared. He then takes advantage of this position to get the captain’s gun and take
control of the ship. Torrin suggests dropping off the creature at an island much further
away in order to trick it and save the inhabitants of Phaiden Island from being feasted upon. He puts
the two island journeys to a vote and ends up shooting two crew members who chose to risk the
lives of strangers. As the thanapod continues to get hungry, the crew attempts a mutiny but to no
avail; Torrin shoots all of them and feeds them to the creature, knowing that they all wanted to
sacrifice the inhabitants of Phaiden Island rather than save countless lives. He then proceeds to set
the ship’s hold ablaze to kill the thanapod and its offspring while he makes an escape.
Coming afterwards is Dr. Galina Mirny from “Swarm.”
Having lived on an alien planet inhabited by “the swarm” for two years, Dr. Mirny
spent a lot of time researching and understanding the creatures;
marveling at how the different roles help maintain the ecosystem. When her coworker
Dr. Afriel remarks that the species could be made subservient and help humanity expand,
she is initially hesitant but agrees as long as no harm comes to the hive.
They begin to do experiments using artificial hormones but it triggers a hostile response from
the swarm and Galina is forcibly assimilated since she showed more care to the species.
After her are the U.S. Green Berets and Sergeant First Class Morris from “Kill Team Kill.”
On a task to investigate a series of mysterious attacks, Sergeant Nielsen and his team encounter
a cybernetically enhanced grizzly bear. Several of the team members are killed,
but SFC Morris is able to drive the bear away and rescue them. He then leads them
to a secret underground CIA base in order to lure the bear back to them where they have
the upper hand. The team manages to lure the creature to the base where they manage to take
it down but are unfortunately caught up in the bear’s self-destruct explosion.
Rounding out this category is the Marine Forces
Special Operations Command squad from “In Vaulted Halls Entombed.”
Sgt. Coulthard and his team are sent on a mission to retrieve a hostage from a group of insurgents,
following them into a cave. However, they quickly discover that both the hostage and insurgents had
been devoured within seconds by spider-like creatures in the cave. After a few of the
members are consumed, only Sgt. Coulthard and Private Harper are left. Harper tries
to coerce Coulthard to escape, but he as well as her fall victim to an eerie voice calling to them.
It’s discovered that it belongs to an ancient deity who manages to manipulate both of them.
With the Good Characters wrapped up, we now move
into more neutral territory. These characters fall in… The Grey Area.
Starting off this section is Briggs from “Pop Squad.”
In a future where humanity is given drug-based immortality, breeding is outlawed in order to
control overpopulation. Briggs is a detective in charge of eliminating any illegally bred children
whilst they’re parents are prosecuted. After a harrowing execution and a casual comment made
by his lover, Briggs begins to have a mental battle with himself. He ends up following a
woman named Eve to discover her harboring her toddler daughter. He begins to sympathize with
Eve when she mentions children help to bring joy back into their lives. He chooses to spare
them but Eve attempts to kill him, resulting in a skirmish. Briggs leaves the house to come face
to face with his partner, who realized that he had just let a “breeder” and child live;
the two end up shooting each other, resulting in both of their deaths.
From the same episode, we have Eve and the other “breeders” from “Pop Squad.”
The “breeders” are initially shown to the audience to be criminals who are breaking
the overpopulation laws. However, through Briggs’ personal investigation into Eve and
her daughter Melanie, we learn a deep reality. “Breeders” came to be because they got so tired
of the drug-based immortality and didn’t want to be stuck in an endless cycle forever. Having
children allowed the parents to rekindle their appreciation of the world by seeing it through
their kids’ eyes. They wanted to truly live and have experiences worth being alive for.
Next, we have the rats from “Mason’s Rat.”
These rats are initially seen as a nuisance as they pilfer through Mason’s supplies and
have clearly advanced to be intelligent and capable of creating weaponry. When
Mason attempts to get rid of them, they prove to be very fortuitous,
even fighting to the last stand. After Mason intervenes to rescue them from pest control,
they share their whiskey creation with him as a show of thanks and a sign of cooperation.
Following them is “the swarm” from “Swarm.”
Made up of different creatures, these alien races have different roles to maintain the
ecosystem of the planet they solely exist within. Using artificial pheromones,
they are experimented upon which eventually leads to them assimilating. Dr. Mirny in order to gain
an audience with Dr. Afriel. The hive speaks with the doctor through Mirny,
stating that they had been able to consume intelligent species and reduced them to just
being simple and symbiotic. The swarm hive states that it can help humans do the same willingly,
or it can forcibly assimilate Dr. Afriel into its hive of knowledge instead.
Dr. Simon Afriel from “Swarm” is next.
This scientist makes his way to the swarm to see the work that Dr. Galina Mirny had been doing for
two years. When he realizes the capabilities of the alien species, he mentions how they can help
humanity’s expansion through subservience and they could experiment to see if it would work.
Once Dr. Mirny is on board with the promise of no harm to the creatures or their environment,
the two of them begin testing. After some time, Dr. Afriel is told by the creatures
that they haven’t been fed by Mirny and he demands them to take him to her. He discovers
that the creatures have become hostile to him and he speaks with the hive mind of the
swarm. After the hive offers him a choice of giving up his knowledge willingly or forcibly,
Simon sees it as a challenge, stating humans would never become parasites of the swarm’s influence.
Coming up after him is Jibaro from “Jibaro.”
This deaf knight is on a mission with a group of conquistadors when everyone but
him falls victim to the siren’s cry and dies. He manages to get away from her in a panic,
but encounters her again when it’s revealed she slept next to him. He
takes advantage of their infatuation for one another and knocks her unconscious,
ripping off all her gold and jewels. Subsequently, when he drinks from the river tainted with her
blood, his hearing is restored and he ends up falling victim to her call.
Finishing out this category is the siren from “Jibaro.”
This siren is well aware that those who may seek her are after the gold and jewels that
cover her body, so she uses her powers to cause those who hear her to either attack one another
or drown in an attempt to get to her. She’s intrigued by Jibaro’s lack of influence and
develops an infatuation for him. However, when he attacks her and steals her jewels,
she takes advantage of his restored hearing to call him to his death as her revenge.
With our Grey Area complete, we now enter the dark side. These characters are… The Bad and The Evil.
At the top of this category, we have the ghouls from “The Tall
Grass” and the spider creatures from “In Vaulted Halls Entombed.”
These two are being ranked together as they both function essentially the same;
they’re mysterious creatures that only attack due to their need to consume flesh in order to
survive. While they both pose a threat to their respective protagonists,
they’re clearly just trying to make sure they feed themselves.
Following them is the crew sans Torrin from “Bad Traveling.”
The crew is quick to put Torrin at the mercy of the thanapod that decided to reside in their ship,
assuming that he would be eaten due to his frail nature. When he takes the position of
the captain for himself and forces them to vote for the fate of the creature,
two of the members are executed for choosing to sacrifice an island full of strangers
over traveling to an abandoned island. As they continue to travel, they attempt to
assassinate Torrin but he catches on to the plot and chooses to forgive them this once. However,
they decide to mutiny and attempt to murder Torrin in his sleep, to which all of them
are shot. Torrin had known right from the get-go that they all shared the same thought
and had no moral value for those who lived on Phaiden Island where the thanapod wished to go.
Next is the cyborg bear named Project Barghast from “Kill Team Kill.”
When the bear is first revealed, it proves to be a deadly creature as multiple rounds of gunfire
seem to have little to no effect on it. However, SFC Morris is able to drive it away with a remote
control and rescue the team. He informs them that Project Barghast is a genetically engineered
grizzly bear meant to assist the military teams, but it unfortunately went rogue. When the team has
a final stand with Barghast, they’re able to take it down for the most part, but it
intentionally self-destructs to have the final upperhand in its rogue programming.
After that is Baris from “Snow in the Desert.”
After hearing about Snow’s regenerative abilities, Baris puts forth an enormous
bounty to whomever captures him. When several bounty hunter teams are taken out, Baris gets
his team together to get his hands dirty and deal with Snow himself. The merchant seemingly
kills Hirald when she comes to Snow’s rescue and attempts to wipe the albino out completely,
but not before being killed himself by Hirald who’s revealed to be a cyborg.
The bronze medal of evil goes to the thanapod from “Bad Traveling.’
After attacking the ship, this creature decides to take up residence in the hold. Torrin discovers
through negotiations that it wishes to travel to Phaiden Island, seemingly to feed on the
people who live there. Torrin agrees to the deal as long as he remains alive. During the journey,
the thanapod grows hungry and needs meat, forcing Torrin to come up with strategies to feed the crew
to the creature. During its time on the ship, it’s revealed that the thanapod has several
offspring and needs to eat sooner rather than later. It feasts upon the rest of the crew after
Torrin eliminates them, but is set ablaze when Torrin attempts to kill it and make his escape.
The silver medal of evil goes to the Vacuubot from “Automated Customer Service.”
During a cleaning of the home, the Vacuubot gets into an altercation with Jeanette over
the placement of a photo on her dresser, resulting in her dog being attacked. In
her attempts to turn it off, she manages to activate “purge mode” and is hunted down by
the robot. The Vacuubot attempts to eliminate Jeanette and her dog, but occasionally gets
swayed into performing household chores whilst on the hunt. It tases her neighbor Bill when he
comes to their rescue, but ends up being shot and destroyed. In reaction to this,
every “Vacuubot” in the surrounding area will chase them down for the rest of their lives,
with the customer service call stating that being removed from the blacklist will take six years.
Finally, the gold medal of evil goes to the deity from “In Vaulted Halls Entombed.”
There isn’t much interaction that is shown with this godly being, but its power proves to be
truly terrifying. The deity manages to influence Sgt. Coulthard attempts to release the creature,
forcing Private Harper to murder him. The deity then shifts its power of influencing
release to Harper, showing visions of cities in ruin if it were to be let loose.
Before we close out our list, let’s award some sinner medals.
The Darwin Medal goes to the U.S. Green Berets team. They mistake the bear for a honey badger
and clearly aren’t in the knowledge of what’s been going on recently.
The Pride Medal goes to “the swarm.” The hive mind
clearly revels in how many intelligent species it’s been able to assimilate.
The Sloth Medal and Gluttony Medal go to the thanapod. It makes its residence
within the ship and demands transport and food.
The Wrath Medal goes to the deity. It wants nothing more
than to wreak havoc and cause destruction.
The Envy Medal goes to Sedgewick. He wants to be able to fit in with his
brother and his friends despite not being modded.
The Greed Medal goes to Jibaro. He attacked the siren and relieved her of her gold and jewels.
And the Lust Medal goes to the siren. She draws men to her and attempts to become
intimate with Jibaro when she learns of his aversion to her call.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree. And let us know where you would rank
the character from Volumes 2 & 3 of Love, Death + Robots. Make sure to
hit that notification bell and binge our other videos. But most importantly; Stay Wicked!