We’re never going to fight over the idea that Tim Miller’s ‘Love, Death + Robots’ has long stood as one of the coolest shows in this streaming age.
It made a great deal of popularity in the first season because of its awesome collection of sci-fi stories that merged ironic humor with cutting-edge animation, graphic violence, intellectual ideas, and rapid-fire storylines. The best part of Love, Death & Robots is its broad ability to incorporate a wide variety of artists and shine a light on their different styles and unique strengths.
This third season, while obviously not as varied as the 18-episode first, still has a wonderful range of styles and storytelling: anime, Pixar CGI, experimental 3D rendering, the uncanny valley of video games, and stop-motion animation are all represented here.
Now, there’s this one episode that has been trending for quite some time now. Jibaro.
Set in the jungles of Puerto Rico, a group of conquistadors and priests are stopped when the deaf conquistador Jibaro disrupts a mysterious gold-clad water siren. Though her screams and disturbing yet erotic dances cause the rest of the men to launch themselves into a frenzy, Jibaro is immune.
The rest of the dialogue-free short follows Jibaro and this siren’s complex relationship in an installment that explores man’s greed, responsibility to Mother Nature, and the many forms lust can take.
This episode is such a stunner. Jibaro features some of the most visually stunning imagery in this platform at full stop. It’s a total masterpiece that rivals the best of experimental cinema, with the most inventive and forward-thinking animation in the entire series.
This Jibaro episode is directed by Alberto Mielgo, one of the most adventurous directors of his time. He also even won three Emmy Awards for the best episode of Love, Death & Robots season two, The Witness, to even winning an Academy Award for his short film The Windshield Wiper.
