I did not read the books, and I did not play any of the games (although I heard at least one of the games is of great quality in storytelling) so I went into this show more or less a blank slate.
And boy it is bad.... The writing is just dreadful. I think the writers assumed prior knowledge to the world and characters, and lean on that assumption too heavily.
From the very beginning it is poorly written. Timelines are messy and unclear, exposition is done terribly, worldbuilding looked like an afterthought and taken from a first draft, the pacing is all over the place and inconsistent over time as well inconsistent for each subplot. Episode structure is even irratic. They presented us a continuous story, but several episodes focused more on little episodic adventures that did not impact the main storyline all that much. And for a show with only 8 episodes, that is deadly and lead to other stories being rushed or simply put on hold for the next season (I assume.)
Toward the middle of the show, it started to get a bit better and I thought it could be promising after a bit rocky start, but in the end they could not deliver and it turned into an utter and complete trainwreck (oh that last episode, I almost fell out of my chair several times from disbelieve.) Rushed plot resolutions, while other characters stories crawled to a complete standstill with close to no progression or character development, in somecases even for the whole season.
What the show does have going for it: Photography, sets and costume design are beautiful!
I really did not want to dislike this, but it looked like they actively tried to make me stop watching.
Note: This review is about season 1.
I see this new show is being compared to 'Black Mirror' often, both before and after it's release. It also looks like it is supposed to be something (entirely?) new that has not been done before. At least that is the impression I got from what the creators said about the show, and comments from critics and audience.
I can say it is a very interesting show to watch, but I cannot call it revolutionary. Also the comparison with Black Mirror goes no further than this also being standalone episodes with (maybe) a vague unconfirmed connection between the episodes (I am particulary curious about the gouls in " Suits" "Sucker of Souls" and "The Secret War") and a destructive post-apocalyptic fatalistic mood in many of the episodes.
The biggest virtue of "Love, Death & Robots" is also it's biggest problem. It's lack of an overarching tone in favour of basically treating every episode as it's own short film. This makes it possible to do a lot of different things with each episode, and play with perspectives, artwork, stories, genres, characters, twists etcetera. Unfortunately the differences in tone between episodes is sometimes so big it feels like not even the same series. From extremely dark self destructive themes to absurdistic and parody comedy that feels almost like ripped from a youtube channel.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching this series very much, and it got me engaged, thrilled and made me laugh louder than many other shows did. I sincerely hope we will get more seasons from this in the future. It is hard to make a good overall descirption of what this show really is though, because it can be all over the place. For me personally it reminded me most of the Animatrix shorts. Especially the steampunk and cyberpunk influences. Also the major differences in art from episode to episode is very nice to see, and exposes the viewer to a nice broad sense of expression. Some CGI episodes are not very well done, but others are absolutely gorgeous. And ofcourse the more creative animated episodes are worth it every time.
In the end this show is just a lot of fun to watch, if you can deal with the severe gore, violence and nudity. And/or if can enjoy the dark and absurdistic humour, then watch it. The episodes are very short (the longest is about 14 minutes, the shortest maybe 7? Yes, it is very much aimed at the short attention span genereation of now) it is not a big issue to sit through an epiosde or 2 you won't like that much. And the full season only takes about 2~3 hour to finish.
ps. When Topher Grace unexpectedly showed up, I laughed and I laughed hard :laughing:
This series succesfully shows the exact opposite of blockbuster movies: Create a great story with mediocre special effects and lesser known actors.
The writers behind this show do an amazing job creating one wonderfull Fairy tale adaptation after another. I did not like their previous work, but I think the writing is getting more mature (but they still make some errors that are frustrating.) But mostly they are not afraid to change major aspects of the fairy tales if necessary.
The creaters of this show also worked on 'Lost' and the 'TRON: Legacy' movie.
I really love how Rumpelstiltskin plays the evil maniac, especially during the first season. But there are more noteworthy roles in there, like the evil queen, her mother, Belle, Hook or Peter Pan. Emma Swan is pretty well played, but compared to the extreme characteristics of the fictional characters she is a bit bland.
The things I dislike most are probably some repeated main themes (family feuds/bad parent-child relations) and that they copy the characters of fairy tales a bit too literal from the Disney franchise from time to time.
Overall I think it is on of the best non-comedy shows of the past few years.
PS. I am glad Lady Gaga never replied on the invite to play the Blue Fairy.
Note: This review was written after watching the first 2 seasons.
