Love, Death & Robots Season 4 Review

Season 4 of Netflix’s Love Death + Robots is a fun anthology of creative ideas that consistently entertains but never builds to anything more.

There are huge-scale alien invasions, character-driven stories about pets and technology, and some unbelievable worldbuilding that manages to forge entire universes in just ten minutes. While it can sometimes be underwhelming to have to leave these stories after such a short amount of time, this condensed storytelling is easily the biggest strength of Love Death + Robots.

Just like in the previous seasons, every single episode of Love Death + Robots season 4 is totally different. Opening with what’s essentially a six-minute long music video with live music from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and ending with a Medieval fairytale about house cats fighting Satan could easily come across as too scattered or disjointed, but when you go into the season expecting such huge variety and unpredictability, it makes for an extremely fun viewing experience. You never know exactly what’s coming next, and that’s the unique selling point of this series.

Season 4 of Love Death + Robots also feels a little lighter on the sci-fi elements than previous installments, which could be a strength or a weakness depending on personal taste. Episodes like “Can’t Stop” and “How Zeke Got Religion” are almost totally void of science fiction, but they have their own distinct strengths too. The latter is a particularly strong episode, with its dynamic animation and unwavering focus on occult horror making it a clear highlight of the season.

However, that’s not to say that sci-fi is altogether missing from Love Death + Robots’ new season. Episodes like “Spider Rose” and “The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur” are deeply rooted in the classic tropes of the genre, telling stories of alien invasions and intergalactic gladiators that fully make use of the show’s limitless possibilities. These also happen to be the episodes featuring Love Death + Robots’ signature hyper-realistic animation, which is just as impressive as it’s always been.

Ultimately, season 4 of Love Death + Robots is a playground of imagination that’s brimming with creativity, even if the stories themselves aren’t as memorable as those of the previous seasons. There’s none of the allegorical storytelling or rich subtext that usually makes the show click so effortlessly, but in its place there’s an obvious penchant for experimentation that’s more liberal with its use of genres. There are a handful of unfortunate misses in the season, too: both “Golgotha” and “Spider Rose” have brilliant concepts but cut themselves short before reaching their full potential, and “Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners” feels more like a lighthearted interlude than a full episode in itself.

Love Death + Robots season 4 isn’t quite as innovative or boundary-pushing as the installments that came before it, but it’s still a very engaging anthology that audiences can easily breeze through. Its 10 very short episodes come in at just under two hours altogether, so viewers will have no problem binging their way through this series and experiencing the huge array of different genres and styles in one sitting.

Love, Death & Robots Season 4 is now available to stream on Netflix.