Upamanyu Biswas
The eighth episode of ‘Love Death + Robots’ season 4, titled ‘How Zeke Got Religion,’ presents an alternate version of history as a World War II special air unit is tasked with infiltrating the Nazi airspace and eviscerating a critical site. However, things go awry when a mysterious power is unleashed, threatening the survival of the aircraft’s crew and their very sanity. As we approach the ending, it becomes evident that lines are blurred between the natural and supernatural, using it as a pretext for the spiritual and religious message at the center of the narrative. Meanwhile, the group is faced with a life-and-death scenario of grave peril, especially due to the nature of the power unleashed by the Nazis and the risk it poses to the rest of the globe. SPOILERS AHEAD.
What is the Nazi Beast?
After the special unit takes to the sky in their aircraft (The Liberty Belle), they soon find themselves approaching their target within Nazi soil. In anticipation of the drop, the team gets the bombs ready to fire. While the rest are busy with the logistical details, the operation’s de facto leader, Coombs, keeps a nervous gaze over a device in his hand. Using its readings, he tells the group to refrain from dropping the bombs until he gives the green signal. Meanwhile, in the Nazi base below, an officer wearing the Swastika recites demonic verses, summoning something ethereal from an abyss full of fire. Moments later, the bombs rain from the sky and blast everything to smithereens. However, the ethereal and supernatural being stretches its arms out before launching an assault on the ship.
When we first see the beast on the plane, it is evident that its origins are otherworldly, meaning they hold some religious connotation. One of the crew members begins reciting verses from the Bible as a way to stave off the beast. However, Coombs tells him to refrain because it will only enrage the beast further. This piece of evidence suggests that the creature is rooted in Satanic mythology and has been summoned by the Nazis to exact death and devastation on the Allied Forces. Zeke, the titular character of the episode, watches his friends get annihilated and brutalized by the creature as it kills everyone in an increasingly depraved manner. The mere sight of the demon is enough to inspire fear and terror within the aircraft team, who also realize their supernatural enemy heavily outguns them.
Why Does Zeke Pick Up Religion?
After struggling against the superior monster for a while, one of the surviving group members comes up with an improvised plan to eradicate it from existence. Using a metal cross belonging to his comrade, he nails it on the beast’s forehead using a knife. Although it seemingly has an effect on the creature, it is not enough to stop it entirely. As such, Zeke’s part in the battle becomes crucial because he ends up delivering the final blow. Using a gun, the titular character shoots the monster at the exact spot where the knife and the cross meet. The bullet’s energy drives the cross into the beast, leaving it floundering in desperation as its visage shatters into a million pieces. Subsequently, a huge collection of arms slithers out of the creature before it vanishes for good. The crew survives, and Zeke finds himself eying the prayer book and cross with renewed interest.
In the beginning, we learn that Zeke is an atheist who has no time for scriptures or God. Instead, he is largely skeptical about the existence of a higher power, a stance that runs contrary to his comrades. While they are all devoutly Christian and seek answers for a deeper purpose in life, Zeke has no time for such useless ponderings. It indicates that the character is unrelenting in his non-believer stance and that he has never encountered anything that might incite his spiritual tendencies to come to light. This all changes following his encounter with the Nazi beast. The monster’s appearance and the method Zeke and the team used to dispatch it convince him that the answers he seeks can only be found in religious text, affirming his feeling that he was wrong to be a non-believer.
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