Love, Death and Robots season 2 decoded - Endings of all 8 episodes explained

If you’ve watched Love, Death and Robots (LDR), chances are you’ve gobbled up the new season already. With incredible animation in different styles, futuristic plot lines and anthologies that make you think, the two seasons of LDR successfully broaden the horizons of what audiences know of sci-fi and plot twists.

Receiving a 92 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.5 out of 10 on IMDb, LDR has proved itself to be a fan favourite. Created by Tim Miller and David Fincher, eight episodes of the second season expanded on the LDR universe and its various facets. As always, most episodes were left open for interpretation. Here’s our take on the ending of each episode in the second season-

Episode 1: Automated Customer Service

Plot: In a world where AI has become integral, Jeanette battles her AI vacuum cleaner which has turned against her. She must fight for survival and protect her dog while an extremely unhelpful automated customer service keeps making things worse for them.

Ending explained: After Jeanette successfully destroys her Vacuumbot, the AI targets her as an enemy and forwards her personal information to all the robots in the neighbourhood. This leads Jeanette, her neighbour Bill and her dog to embark on a journey. They will live a life on the road and protect themselves from murdersome robots.

Taking a deeper look: The company that manufactures these robots is obviously vicious and predatory, trying to trap its customers into constant and lifelong commitment of buying their products. Jeanette gets misguided by the customer service throughout her plea for help and even when her life is in apparent danger, she is unable to turn her Vacuumbot off.

The story takes an even darker turn when we realize that the AI has a termination whitelist, which stops the robots from eradicating a customer’s DNA from the face off the planet. This reveals that perhaps Jeanette is not the first to face a malfunctioning robot and that the company profits off of these robots by holding the lives of their customers to ransom.

The episode obviously ridicules automated customer services and the advent of AI which can possibly turn against the human race. It critiques excessive reliance on technology. Jeanette’s decision to go on the run from all robots is also symbolic for her choosing a life of freedom instead of feeding into a system where robots will murder her unless she pays a subscription fee to live.

Episode 2 : Ice

Plot: Far off in the future, humans are ‘modded’ and enhanced in order to increase their strengths and endurance. The few that aren’t modded are not accepted in society. Two brothers experience a rift when their lives become drastically different, since the younger one is modded, unlike the elder one. They decide to participate in a dangerous race with a local modded crew to see giant frost whales.

Ending explained: When Fletcher hurts his leg in the process of running from breaking ice, unenhanced Sedge has to carry his modded brother on his back and bring him to safety. This proves to the rest of the crew that even an ordinary human being like Sedge could achieve a feat that their enhanced structures were known for doing.

Later, when Sedge realizes that Fletcher had never hurt his leg, he looks extremely hurt for just a moment. Knowing that his brother took the life threatening risk just to make his unmodded self look cool in front of a new crew, Sedge’s anger melts away and he joins the modded crew on their adventures.

Taking a deeper look: Sedge is ridiculed by the locals for being unmodded and even his own family does not believe in him. This leads to him bubbling in frustration - he does not have any friends, he cannot find acceptance in a society where he is seen as inferior and he is tired of his younger brother outperforming him at everything. Thus, when Fletcher fakes his injury and risks his life just to give Sedge a chance to prove his worth, the brothers’ bond becomes stronger.

The episode is also a comment on how technological enhancements in the human body will become so common one day that those who do not undergo such procedures will be seen as the outcasts.

Episode 3: Pop Squad

Plot: Briggs, a cop in an alternate, future earth, is fighting overpopulation by killing illegal ‘breeders’. Giving birth to children is illegal and any child who is found is instantly wiped out by cops like Briggs. When he ends up killing two children, he is haunted by what he has done and the moral dilemma of his job catches up to him.

Ending explained: Those who do not choose to live an immortal life, full of vitality and youth, are condemned to stay in a poverty stricken section of earth where children are hidden. The rest of the population thrives and receives ‘rejoo’ - an elixir that allows them to stay young forever, provided they don’t reproduce. When Briggs goes to meet a mother and her baby girl, he realizes for the first time that there is a certain joy to raising kids.

Taking a deeper look: Pop Squad delves into the moral dilemma of who deserves an endless life and the means that politicians across the world might take in order to curb overpopulation. The episode raises important questions of the motivation behind forming families, raising children and the framework of tackling overpopulation in the future.

Briggs’ final decision to spare the life of the mother and Melanie results in him losing his own life - but at least through his death, he gives Melanie a chance to live, even if the society does not accept her kind.

It is also believable that the population that takes rejoo does not reproduce at all. But should they do so, their government might be controlling the process by only regenerating the most desirable DNA that will further propagate their idea of an ideal society where everyone takes rejoo.

Episode 4: Snow in the Desert

Plot: Snow, an albino man with a rare genetic mutation that makes him immortal, is on the run from bounty hunters who wish to claim a reward. He has lived on a scorched planet for the last 200 years, all by himself. But his loneliness is healed when he finds an unlikely ally in a stranger named Hiralda.

Ending explained: The bounty hunters who work for Baris brutally attack Snow, whose regenerative powers do not recuperate for lost limbs as quickly as his opponents’ blows. Hiralda turns up and saves Snow, only to be shot in the head by Baris.

Hiralda, who is assumed to be dead by Snow, then reveals herself to be a bot and kills Baris with superhuman strength. Later, Hiralda shares that she is not entirely synthetic - she has a nervous system, blood in her veins and her brain is almost completely hers. Both Hiralda and Snow have been lonely forever and choose to begin a relationship.

Taking a deeper look: It cannot be said if Hiralda really worked for ECB or if she was just faking it to reach Snow. The episode ultimately ends with both of them finding someone immortal to spend their lives with. Since Hiralda is almost synthetic, it is also possible that she tricked Snow into giving her a sample of his immortal genes in their relationship. Overall, Hiralda could either be genuinely in love with Snow or just fooling him to meet her ends at ECB.

Episode 5: The Tall Grass

Plot: When a train mysteriously halts late at night, a passenger named Lairo steps out for a smoke. The conductor warns him not to wander, but he ends up stepping into the lush, tall grass that is on either side of the train. He hears the train chugging away but is unable to get back to it, since glowing humanoid creatures emerge from the earth and attempt to kill him.

Ending explained: Lairo is rescued by the conductor, who scares the creatures with fire and then tells Lairo that the train always mysteriously runs out of steam at this spot. He urges Lairo to not tell anyone about what just happened, since no one will believe him anyway.

Taking a deeper look: An adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s short story of the same name, this episode combines horror, fiction and mystery. The conductor, at the end of the episode, suggests that the tall grass surrounding the train is like a portal between two worlds that allows the creatures to cross over and hunt stranded humans. As the train progresses on its journey, the grass glows even brighter - perhaps the spread of these creatures is widening. It is uncertain if the train will even make it out of the tall grass in time.

Episode 6: All Through the House

Plot: Two kids, Leah and Billy, wake up in the middle of the night when they hear a noise downstairs. They tiptoe to their living room, waiting for Santa Claus, but are horrified when they come across a creature who is far from who they expected.

Ending explained: A deformed creature coughs up a present each for the kids as they shiver in fright. Before leaving, the creature praises them for being good children. The creature then leaves the same way it came - from the chimney. He even likes cookies and milk, but he is nothing like Santa Claus. Right before leaving, the creature warns the kids to be good.

When Billy unwraps his present, he finds it to be exactly what he was looking for. Before they go back to bed, the kids find themselves staring at the ceiling and Leah asks an important question - what would have happened if they were naughty?

Taking a deeper look: The first thought that comes to the viewers’ mind is that naughty kids are probably eaten alive by the creature. However, some theories state that the creature perhaps just coughs up coal for naughty children (based on Santa’s history with coal as presents for naughty children). The creature could also be Krampus, who is allotted the duty of scaring naughty children into being good on Christmas.

Episode 7: Life Hutch

Plot: A space pilot crash lands onto a new planet where he seeks refuge in a life hutch. But a malfunctioning maintenance robot makes survival difficult for the pilot.

Ending explained: The pilot tries to save his life by playing dead, but the robot is not that easy to outsmart. Ultimately, the pilot wins the fight by using his flashlight to trick the robot into attackings its legs. By maiming the robot, the pilot is able to destroy the robot by crushing its head.

It is also revealed that the pilot was engaged in a war with an unknown alien entity when a piece of shrapnel hit his spacecraft, sending him plummeting. After killing the robot, the pilot sends out a rescue signal and is presumably saved by other pilots.

Taking a deeper look: The robot had no reason to attack the pilot, but it probably did so because the life hutch had already been damaged prior to the pilot seeking shelter in it. This means that perhaps other pilots had taken refuge in the hutch and had been attacked by the malfunctioning maintenance bot.

The ending is ambiguous - if the pilot’s army has won the battle then he’s going to get rescued but if they haven’t, then he has just invited the alien right to his location.

Episode 8: The Drowned Giant

Plot: A two hundred-foot-tall naked body washes ashore a village, taking the villagers by surprise. They gather around for days to inspect the body of the giant but eventually lose interest. Meanwhile, a local scientist examines the body’s slow decay.

Ending explained: The body of the giant slowly deteriorates on the beach. The villagers take it upon themselves to leave graffiti on the body. Some are seen building sandcastles, others skateboarding on it. Eventually, the local wildlife starts eating away at the body. The scientist laments the villagers’ showcasing parts of the giant’s body as attractions throughout the city.

In the end, the scientist wonders if the giant was to come back to life, would he pick up the pieces of his body from the village before returning to the sea?

Taking a deeper look: Stories of giants have been prevalent in human history. It is possible that the giant is from Greek origin or from a fairytale. Also, the fascination of the villagers turns to pure economic gain quickly. The body of the giant returns back to dust - even an entity as colossal as the giant ultimately returns to nature.