Spider Rose

A traumatized cyborg seeks revenge against the people who killed her lover. Along the way, she finds possible healing, though.

This was an interesting episode, and certainly more in line with what I was hoping for. After a music video and a sophomoric comedy short, we finally get a science fiction story. The science fiction elements were pretty cool, but the short runtime meant that you didn't really get a lot of detail.

The art is amazing, which perhaps explains why it's so short. It's in a pretty realistic style and has a solid emotional base. You get to know the cyborg's suffering fairly well during your brief time with her, and her emotions come through well in the artwork. The voice acting captured the characters well, too.

I would have liked to have seen something a bit more exciting during the climax, but the action sequences were done well. It definitely gave off vibes of Heavy Metal, especially the climactic fight, which was gory and intense.

The most essentially science fiction part of the episode is not really the cyborg. It was her payment for a salvage job -- an alien pet that gives her a reason to live besides vengeance. It was interesting and kept the episode from being something as straight-up "here's some badasses in a gunfight" like Kill Team Kill.

Overall, definitely an episode for people like me. If we had an entire season of episodes like this, I would be satisfied, but I hope we get some more crazy stuff like ZIma Blue, The Witness, and Jibaro.

This one was maybe the closest to what Love, Death and Robots used to be, and yet, you will not find me re-watch it. It has elements that we have explored before, but this time, it is told in a less shocking or exciting fashion. Nothing unique about our character, we've seen this done multiple times, just about watchable. I'd say it was ok-ish overall, but just below average. Unfortunately, it will not get better than this when it comes to storytelling or vibe...which is annoying and disappointing for something that used to make people go "whoah, now what is something creative". I also found something about our character's face being a bit too much in terms of animation, but that is just a small thing, might be just me.

Three episodes in, and I already feel like dropping Love, Death & Robots. It is no longer the show it once was. The depth, the atmosphere, the philosophical undertones that made earlier seasons so compelling are all missing. What we have now is a shallow parade of flashy visuals and overly emotional characters, with none of the layered storytelling or attention to detail that defined the earlier episodes.

Red Rose stands out, but only slightly. A post-apocalyptic galaxy, a lone cyborg yearning for lost humanity, and a mysterious presence that seems important only to amount to nothing more than a background footnote. The episode tries to evoke an emotional shift with its ending, but it feels forced, like it is begging the viewer to care rather than earning that reaction.

Overall, the show seems more focused on spectacle than substance. What was once bold and thought-provoking now feels hollow and overproduced.

The first two episodes of this season were disappointing. I was pleasantly surprised that "Spider Rose" gives us a small glimpse of the show's former glory.

Now, the episode isn't a masterpiece, not by any means. In fact, in my ranking of Love, Death & Robots episodes, it would probably fall around the middle. This is the show at its core: a visual feast for the eyes coupled with an interesting sci-fi concept. As far as the story for this one goes, I didn't necessarily love it, but it was more than passable. "Spider Rose" manages to capture the grief of a woman who has lost what she loves, but the runtime is too short for me to truly get attached or emotionally resonate with her. Nonetheless, it does an effective job of establishing context. The villain is fine. Nothing extraordinary, but he fulfills his purpose. My one question would be why he sends the real copy of himself to attack Rose when he could've just sent more copies and safely hid himself.

Animation is great as always, pacing was decent, the ending was predictable, but it fit the vibe of the episode. Solid episode all around, one of the standouts of Season 4.

A bio-mechanical femme in a vast orbiting web-like space station controls a strange alien artifact, barters with extraterrestrials, seeks revenge for a dead mate, and acquires a strange pet. All of which is interesting but given the 15 minute running time, the disparate storylines just don't gel - too bad as they generally start off interestingly. The designs of Rose (the cybertrix) and the aliens are imaginative as is the rendering of Rose's vast mechano-environment. With a bit more focus, this could have been one of the top L,D+R episodes but even as is, it has so far been my favourite from the anthology's unfortunately weak fourth season.