Automated Customer Service
Love, Death & Robots kicks off season 2 with Automated Customer Service, an episode that heavily borrows concepts from Wall-E. Here, we see the idyllic Sunset City where robots cater to humanity’s every beck and call. In a lavish house however, a vacuum robot turns hostile. With the Purge Mode activated, it kills the woman’s pet fish and continues on the hunt. Sporting a red eye, the Vacuubot begins attacking with a laser, shaving a whole line of hair from her. While on the phone to customer care, the blanket atop Vacuubot’s head simply activates the home guard system. This poor old woman is locked inside with Vacuubot. And worse, an automated customer service number. What a nightmare! She does her best to escape, but it takes next door neighbour Bill arriving with a shotgun to save the day. The Vacuubot tasers him while this woman grabs the shotgun and destroys the bot. They both breathe a sigh of relief but it’s only a momentary respite. This destroyed bot alerts all other machines to their location and they’re forced to flee. The pair head off on the run; a modern (or, well, old) bonnie and Clyde ensues.
The Episode Review
This episode of Love, Death and Robots works beautifully to satirically showcase the horrors of modern technology and our over-reliance on tech. When things go bad – they really do go bad. Simple machines here gain sentience and although it’s a story we’ve seen a lot recently from this medium, the comedic tone works really well to offset the initial horror. It’s clear that this is the world we’re gearing up for in our not-too-distant future, especially with the ever-increasing reliance on digital adoption. There’s a lot of similarities to Wall-E here in that respect, but this episode showcases some impressive animation along the way. The character design is certainly unique, and the whole chapter leans into a promising sign of things to come from this anthology.
