The animated story from the popular Netflix show “Love Death + Robots” hides a profound commentary on life beneath an entertaining surface.

By Javan Pastoriza

What if someone who had experienced the wonders of a lifetime told you that you already have everything worth having?

The story of Zima Blue from the series Love Death + Robots explores exactly this idea in a captivating artistic style and powerful commentary on life. The series, an animated anthology released in 2019, is filled with a brand-new adventure told in a unique artistic style in every episode. Towards the end of the first season, we are brought along for an intergalactic ride into practical philosophy.

Since the show’s release, three seasons and 35 episodes have been produced with fantastic reception, scoring an 8.4 out of ten on IMDb and an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, and earning a loyal fan base as one of Netflix’s most-watched original series.

Directed by Tim Miller, who made his debut with Deadpool (2016), and produced by Blur Studio with individual episodes hailing from different animation studios across the world, the show is still available to the public on Netflix.

In our episode, we zoom in on news reporter Claire Markham. She has finally achieved an interview with the legendary Zima, an artist whose influence reaches millions across the galaxy, related to his final work of art unveiling.

Markham reflects on the rumors of the enigma that is Zima and his origins. It was said he began in humble portraiture, but his search for deeper meaning led him further. He reached for the cosmos, creating brilliant murals that spanned billboard-sized canvases displaying the universe, and was wildly successful.

One strange day, Zima revealed a new piece with a single blue square in the center. This was just the beginning of several decades of new pieces with different shapes planted onto their surfaces, always the same shade of blue. Eventually, Zima reached his “blue period,” creating blue works on a cosmic scale and spraypainting asteroid belts blue.

When Markham arrives at Zima’s home, he towers over her as a man with artificial parts, and explains he wants Markham to tell his story after 100 years of press silence. Markham continues explaining the rumors surrounding Zima, and how he slowly replaced his human body for the sake of art and communing with the cosmos.

Zima brings Markham to his swimming pool and explains to Markham the story of a young female inventor who invented many robots, becoming especially fond of her pool-scrubbing robot. As such, she modified the robot to have free will and awareness of its surroundings. As the robot outlasted its inventor and was passed through the hands of many more, it gained more sentience and intelligence, and became Zima himself.

Zima never was a man, and his final art will involve the swimming pool he came from that displayed a solid shade of Zima blue — the first thing Zima ever saw. In fact, Zima reminisces that this shade of blue was all he knew, and all he needed to know. 

Markham’s interview is over, and as the galaxy gathers to look upon Zima’s final work of art, he dives into his swimming pool and slowly disassembles himself. To the shock of the crowd, Zima breaks down into a machine that has just enough to appreciate its surroundings, just enough to extract simple pleasure from a job well done. 

Zima’s search for truth is over — he is going home.

So, we have a nice story about a robotic artist, but what does any of this have to do with real life?

In my opinion, Zima is a metaphor for the overly ambitious human state of being. Initially, Zima is growing into himself and becoming intoxicated by achievement. The study of humans is not enough for him; he wants to discover what the meaning of reality is.

On his way, Zima realizes that reality is showing him the truth. And the truth is, that everything functions best when it is aligned with its own nature. Just as Zima has no place attempting to comprehend the mysteries of the cosmos, we have no business becoming obsessed with progress or innovation. 

The fact of the matter is that we are not objective beings who can thrive on omniscience or limitless power. We are humans, and just like Zima recognizes his happiness was supreme when he was fulfilling his basic pool-cleaning purposes, so, too, are we supremely happy when we respect our humanity.

We are not meant to be gods amongst this plane of existence. We are the machine that is fulfilled by its purpose, the machine that extracts true pleasure from a job well done, and that job as far as I can tell is to work with joy, love one another and enjoy this gift of life. Happiness really is a shade of Zima blue.

“This piece was written without the aid of studio-provided materials while SAG-AFTRA is on strike. These unions represent our writers, actors, and artists across TV and movies in their fight for a fair and equitable contract. SAG-AFTRA asks those who cover shows and films to refrain from promoting stricken content at this time.”