Commentary: ‘Love Death + Robots’ Should Take Advantage Of New Endings

Love Death + Robots has been an interesting animated anthology for Netflix. Because every episode is a brand new story, it allows the series to adapt a whole bunch of different works for streaming audiences. But adaptations are also an opportunity to adjust and make changes to a story. No adaptation must follow the exact plot of the work it is adapting. In the case of the show’s latest season, “Spider Rose” was adapted from a short story by Bruce Sterling. The adaptation is more or less faithful besides the ending, which actually reversed the roles of two characters. It’s an interesting flip of the script, but it was also a missed opportunity to elevate the changes into something more.

The episode centers on a woman who now goes by the moniker of Spider Rose (Emily O’Brien) after losing her lover. She’s a being who has upgraded her body by merging it with technology. She lives in a web like space station and seeks revenge on an alien named Jade Prime (Feodor Chin). She has rare power source that she’s looking to trade for weapons. Instead, a creature offers her a pet as a companion. It even allows her a trial period with the animal to see if it’s a good fit. After a battle with Jade Prime, the space station is without food. Spider Rose allows the pet to eat her before being picked up by its owners. But the creature absorbs some of Rose’s DNA, allowing a part of her to live on.

It’s extremely disheartening to see the pet end up consuming her in order to survive. The blow is softened by the fact that Spider Rose gives herself willingly. But still, it’s a tragic ending. It’s also different from the short story from which it’s based, but not by much. Spider Rose eats the creature to survive instead of the creature eating Spider Rose. However, that ending is just as dark. It’s understandable why the production team would flip the ending, but if they were okay with changing it to begin with, they should have done something completely unique. There’s a redemption story somewhere in this plot that would allow Spider Rose and the creature to both survive. There was no need for the show to hold on to a dark ending when they decided to alter it from the original.

Love Death + Robots is now streaming on Netflix.