Main cast: Girvan “Swirv” Bramble (Jibaro)
Director: Alberto Mielgo

Jibaro, our titular character, is a deaf knight.

At least, that’s what I think the title refers to. The word is Puerto Rican, and I believe it refers to some kind of farmer, which I guess the knight comes closest to.

There is no conversation here, as this is an artistic episode and a big part of it is silent due to the knight being deaf and all. Hence it is never explicitly stated who or what Jibaro is.

Why am I overthinking this anyway? This episode isn’t that important! Let’s just move on.

Now, back to the plot. I’m not sure how a deaf knight can live for long out there on the battlefield, given that it’s not like he can hear sounds of enemies approaching or anything, but I suppose anything is possible in the name of creative liberties.

Still, his deafness saves his hide, when his fellow knights encounter a siren-like creature in a lake whose song and scream drive the knights into a murderous frenzy. The knights all butcher one another before those that remain rush into the lake and drown.

All except the knight, a fact that vexes the creature and sees her trying to do her best to take him down. Eventually, she becomes besotted with him, because we all how it is with things we can’t have or get to go our way.

Sadly for her, the deaf knight only cares for one thing: treasure, the more the better. This siren-thing is bedecked with precious stones and jangling shining things, so all he sees in her is something to be killed and looted. Oops.

Now, this is a visually impressive spectacle, although people that cannot stand shaky cams have better watch out because some scenes move around a lot like the person shooting the thing is caught in a massive earthquake. The artistic styles and aesthetic of the whole thing is gorgeous, perhaps too gorgeous as it’s very obvious that the whole thing is too bright and clean to be taken seriously as something that could have happened even in a fantasy medieval Puerto Rican setting.

However, as a story, this episode blows chunks.

The people behind this one sacrifice plot coherence in favor of showing off their animation style and artistry, to the point that I can only roll up my eyes when the deaf knight for some reason keeps coming back to the siren-thing’s lake when he’s supposed to be running far away.

Also, things just happen, no explanation necessary. Plot developments show up out of the blue, things happen just because, and the last few minutes of this one is just the two characters doing what seems like an epileptic fit occurring while they are dancing in electrocution realness.

As an animation project, I suppose this one could get an A, but an episode to entertain me, well, this one can shove its own pretentious head up its arse.

So that’s it, the third season of Love, Death & Robots. I have to admit, it’s definitely better than the dull second season, almost recapturing the feeling of newness and excitement of the first season. It’s a shame that this and the previous episode are not exactly amazing, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next season!