Life Hutch
Love, Death & Robots returns with an episode titled Life Hutch, beginning with an exhausted pilot crash-landing on a strange alien world. With an oxygen mask on, he heads aboard a remote base known as Life Hutch, where a maintenance robot tries – and fails – to turn on. Instead, it completely malfunctions and starts attacking this pilot. When a helmet falls on the ground, this robot smashes it to bits. This shows just how dangerous it really is. High above the planet, numerous ships engage in an epic space battle, with different ships crash-landing down to the craggy, barren wasteland below. Our pilot is not in a good way and after having the bones crushed from his hand, finds himself grabbing a flashlight and outsmarting the creature. He beats it down to the ground and breathes a sigh of relief. Grabbing a med-kit, this pilot manages to call for aid. He awaits help to arrive, as the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Out of all the episodes this season, Life Hutch is arguably the most ambiguous. There’s not a lot to work with here and the episode relies on the same cat and mouse chase that Automated Customer Service thrived with. Unlike the comedic and satirical tone in that one, the episode here focuses a lot more on man’s creativity and ingenuity against machines. The ideas are certainly interesting and the space battle high above is another neat inclusion too. Unfortunately this also comes at the expense of crucial background around what’s happening. While some of the episodes work well without it, personally I feel like Life Hutch needs some form of exposition. Despite that, the animation is still very impressive and the episode does well to add a good sense of tension to this sci-fi world.
