Love Death + Robots Episode “Bad Traveling” Made me Sick to my Stomach

…and It Wasn’t Just Because of the Nasty Giant Crab

By Jordan, co-host of The Side Characters

Warning: Spoilers for LD+R S03E02, “Bad Traveling”

As an African American man thrust into the nerd worlds of anime, comics, and sci-fi at an early age, it was an understatement to say that I was excited for season 3 of Love Death + Robots. I watched the first season of LD+R at a major transition point in my life and was blown away by the quality of animation, as well as the creativity, of the stories it presented. The series thoroughly explores sexuality, violence, humor, and the intricacies of the human experience in sci-fi and fantasy settings with breath-taking animation. I was whisked away by season 1 and upon the release of season 2 ate it up as well. Needless to say, when season 3 was announced, I set aside a few hours on the release day to binge it. 

There were high and low points during season 3 of LD+R, but a major disappointment for me presented itself in arguably the best episode of this season. Episode 2, “Bad Traveling” (or how I describe it to my friends, “the Big Crab Episode”) left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and not just because of the gore and general creepiness of the episode. Within the first few minutes of the runtime a black man is torn apart by the monster crab, the “Thanapod,” and dragged below deck. The man’s body is then used by the crab as a mouthpiece to communicate with the leftover crew of the ship. This takes away the character's autonomy and turns him into a tool that is simply used for another's means. As I watched this, I could only think about how throughout history, black men’s bodies have been stripped away from them and used for other purposes. What particularly left a bad taste in my mouth was that the other characters who died in the opening, two white men, were simply left alone. 

My true horror didn’t come until a little bit later in the episode. During this time, the crew of the ship was made to vote on whether to take big crab to its desired location, an island where it can feast on the helpless inhabitants, or to trick the crab and take it to a deserted island. If the crew delivered the crab to the island, the crew’s lives would be spared; on the other hand, the crew would possibly face retaliation from the monster if they tricked it. After the vote, the captain reveals that he memorized the ballots and knows which of the members on the crew made the cowardly choice to release the crab on the unsuspecting civilians of the island. He claims that there are two cowards on the crew and intends to execute them. After pointing the gun at a young white man and asking a black man to step to his right, he then shoots the two-remaining black members of the crew in the head with one shot. Needless to say, I was shocked by this sequence. In today’s climate seeing two black men mercilessly executed by a white authority figure made me sick to my stomach. To make matters worse, it is later revealed that everyone except the captain voted the same way, and thus specifically murdering the only two black men on deck is deemed unnecessary. You can try to explain this away with a million different excuses, such as the captain was thinking strategically and removing those who were physically stronger than him in the event of an uprising. But the fact remains the same, two unarmed black men were executed for the same crimes as the rest of the crew, who would later be given the chance at self-defense. Furthermore, this act feels performative and meant to control an image, especially before the reveal about the votes. This is reminiscent of how authorities throughout US history have sought to control how the public sees the black population. By shooting them first, the episode tells us that out of the entire crew, these two were the cowards while the rest kept their integrity. 

This is not an isolated event in media. Black men are often killed in the media over white characters for various reasons, such as to show the seriousness of a situation or to show how strong an enemy is. This has happened so often in media that it has become not only a trope (The black dude dies first) but also a joke. In movies featuring black characters or other characters of color, they die disproportionately to white characters. This happens frequently throughout media, and I was painfully reminded of it when watching “Bad Traveling.” Even if the writers intended on using "Bad Traveling" as a a commentary on this trope, they have easily fallen directly into using the trope itself, leaving minorities left to view themselves being brutalized by white figures without purpose.

Diverse representation throughout media has vastly increased, especially within the last ten years. So why does this even matter? Love Death + Robots is one of those shows that excels in minority representation, not just people of color, but many other ethnicities and the LGBTQ+ community as well. This was one of the things that drew me to LD+R in the first place. But just because something has diverse representation doesn’t mean that the representation is presented in a positive light. Using any minority as a prop to be killed off is dehumanizing as it takes away character agency and autonomy and replaces it with a show of force or violence. This type of portrayal should be limited throughout media. Sure, all humans are subject to violence and death, but my point is more of how this is shown. Like in “Bad Traveling,” it is admitted that all the characters committed the same offense, so instead of killing off the two remaining black characters, any of those characters could have been killed at that moment. No matter how it was intended, in that moment specifically killing off the two black characters rather than anyone else can be seen as a deliberate cinematic choice. 

We need to take a step back and think about how we represent minorities in media. In creating new stories and ideas, we need to think to ourselves: “Am I showing this character as nothing more than a prop with no autonomy, or am I building a character that matters?” Media is experienced by those of all cultures and walks of life, so media should not cater exclusively to white faces. It is a long road to proper representation, but it is a road we are already traveling down. New creators everyday are changing media as we know it. It’s time to use this momentum to weed out offensive tropes and change how we view minorities. This task doesn’t just fall on new creators but on old creators as well. 

Overall, I enjoyed season 3 of Love Death + Robots. Ever since season 1, it has been a show that has changed the way I view animated media and storytelling. I hope that the momentum of the show does not slow but only continues to create new and unique stories. Despite the hiccups, diversity in media is continuing to increase. All we can do is critically think about the issues with minority portrayal in media and change for the better.