Let’s Talk Love, Death, and Robots: Sonnie’s Edge

Hey y’all! Today’s post is about Love, Death, and Robots episode Sonnie’s Edge. For many, this is probably the first episode you’ve seen, and it has a special place in my heart. If you’re a fan of giant monster battles, then this one is probably right up your alley. The post contains some spoilers, so you should watch the episode on Netflix first, but it is pretty gory (“gore galore”, in the wise words of my favorite character. More on that in a second) and contains some pretty dark topics. I’m going to provide a brief summary below regardless. So go ahead, pull up a chair, and let’s talk Sonnie’s Edge.

The Rundown

In an alternate future, underground “beastie” (different word for monsters) fights are prevalent. A pilot links with a beastie, controlling them, and fights another beastie to the death. Sonnie and her crew, Wes and Irvina, who are on a 17 match win streak, arrive at the venue for one such bout, where they are greeted by Dicko, the master of that arena, and his “assistant”. The assistant catches Sonnie’s eye, while Dicko offers the crew money to throw the fight. Sonnie vehemently refuses, and Irvina explains Sonnie’s history to Dicko.

A year prior, a group of “estate” (I’m assuming the upper echelon caste, but they never elaborate on that) people captured and raped Sonnie. After they were finished, they proceeded to cut Sonnie’s body up. So Sonnie has a personal vendetta against them, and treats every victory in the arena as an attack on the men that violated her.

Sonnie and her opponent enter the arena, boxing match style. After the most hype pre-fight announcement ever, the two link with their respective beasties, Khanivore and Turbo-Raptor. The fight ensues, with Sonnie taking the upper hand early (literally, she rips off dude’s arm). After somewhat cheating, Turbo-Raptor gains the advantage, almost killing Khanivore. With some serious ingenuity, Sonnie manages to kill Turbo-Raptor and win the match.

Afterwards, the crew goes back to their lodging for the night to celebrate. Wes and Irvina go into a room, while Sonnie spies Dicko’s assistant walking around in the back, and pursues her. In the room where Khanivore is kept, the assistant reveals that she is terrified of Dicko, but sticks around because of the security he provides. She mentions that she’s jealous and also scared of Sonnie, because of what she does and asks how she does it.

Sonnie tells her that fear is the main thing that keeps her winning. The two begin to get intimate, until the assistant extends her fingernails and stabs Sonnie through her head (think Lady Deathstrike from Marvel). Dicko reveals himself, saying that Sonnie should have taken his deal. But somehow, Sonnie still speaks, so the assistant crushes her head. Sonnie is still speaking.

Sonnie reveals that the night of the rape, when Wes and Irvina found her, the perpetrators broke her skull. She reveals that she is actually Khanivore, and the body of “Sonnie” is actually just a shell. Sonnie kills the assistant and captures Dicko, asking if he’s afraid.

This one is kind of wild, and I seriously recommend you watch the show, since I left out a lot of interesting details for time’s sake

And incidentally, there’s only one theme from this that I want to talk about today from this episode, but I do have something to say before we get in.

My favorite character is the fight announcer

That was like the most hype intro to any fight ever. I’d get in the ring, with no beastie, after that. I can’t decide whether I would want my life narrated by him or Morgan Freeman. Ok, back to our actual topic.

The theme I want to talk about is fear, and particularly the fear of death

This is a pretty dark one for most people to discuss. Most of us try to avoid thinking about death, even though it’s one of the only things that is guaranteed in life. To live is to die. It’s inevitable. Which is why I feel like this topic is so poignant, and is something we should discuss.

If you’re like me, you’re probably not gonna die if you don’t go to work, like Sonnie would. Your boss isn’t gonna be like “you’re five minutes late” while they load their Glock. And in alot of ways, our lives now are considerably less dangerous than our ancestors’.

But yet, anxiety disorders run rampant in modern society, and in many ways, fear controls much of what we do. We’re afraid of being rejected, so we don’t ask out our crush. Or we’re scared of heights, so we don’t go somewhere, like the Great Wall of China (11 year old me). Fear is something we deal with on a daily basis.

A teacher in high school once told me that there are two root fears that most fears stem from: the fear of isolation and the fear of death. People are afraid of death because it’s the biggest unknown. People generally don’t come back and tell us what life after death is like. No one knows what happens after. But sometimes that fear paralyzes people, keeping them from acting.

Ironically, fear does the opposite for Sonnie

Sonnie’s edge is her fear of death. It spurs her to action, because if she doesn’t win in that arena, she dies. That’s it. But the interesting thing in our case is that actually meditating on death, not avoiding it, can help us live more fulfilling lives.

Many consider the samurai to be some of history’s best warriors. But one thing the samurai did was meditate on death daily. Which makes sense. Death is a potential outcome for anyone participating in combat. If you’re afraid of death though, then given the option, you’ll make a choice that preserves your life. But if you accept and welcome the potential of death, then you’ll fight your hardest, and do what needs to be done to accomplish your mission.

We can apply this logic to our lives as well

Sonnie’s edge, the fear of death, is important because it gave her the motivation to do what she needed to do.

I recently learned about a man by the name of Kevin Kelly. He co-founded a tech magazine called Wired, which covers tech advances, as well as implications of those technologies and their usages. But what I really find interesting is his view on death. He had a clock created that, based on a whole bunch of tests and actuary tables, that tells him how many days he has left to live.

If you’re anything like me, that weirds you out. Trust me, I get it. But his reasoning makes sense. If you accept that you will die, and you think about the time you have left, it makes you realize that you don’t have alot of it. What that does it makes you think about what matters to you. And that reflection gives you clarity on what to focus your life on.

And that’s really the point I want to drive home this week

So in actuality, it’s really not the fear of death that gave Sonnie her edge, but the acceptance of that fear. She understood the risk every time she stepped in the arena, but accepted it and used the fear that environment created to her advantage. And we are the same way. Ironically, we have to accept death in order to truly be free from it. Don’t get me wrong, we’re never going to escape death, and we’re all going to die eventually. But at least we can die having lived a life a that we are proud of.

Take some time to think about death in its entirety. Give yourself that gift, as insane and counter-intuitive as it may sound. It will make you more focused, happier, and more ready to take on the world and live your best life.

I want to thank you for talking humans with me today. Check out my other Love, Death, and Robots posts here. If you liked the article, please subscribe! And If you think someone would get something from it, please share! If you want to continue the conversation or just want to talk, you can leave a comment, hit me up via the Contact Me page, or you can find me on Instagram at @ryokeniii. As always, don’t forget to talk humans with someone this week. Peace!