Stream It or Skip It: ‘Eden’ on Netflix, Offering Hope for Humanity in a Bleak, Dystopian Future

In the dystopian sci-fi world of Eden, humans vanished over 1,000 years before the time the show takes place. What’s left are clusters of robot settlements filled with mechanized workers that grow and harvest apples. One day, a pair of robots happen upon a human baby named Sara (Ruby Rose Turner). The workers, A37 (Rosario Dawson) and E92 (David Tennant), take it upon themselves to care for the infant, despite their preconceived notions about humanity and the rules of Eden Three, which forbid them from caring for the tiny human.

EDEN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The Robotic Code of Ethics is displayed as a narrator goes over them. The screen cuts to two massive robots duking it out in a desert, with one clearly coming out on top. We see a close-up of the loser’s cockpit, revealing a fiery-haired young girl. It’s Sara.

The Gist: In a world where humanity has been gone for over 1000 years, two robot apple-pickers take in an infant human named Sara. Though the world has all but outlawed humans, with an evil robot dictator named Zero working to eliminate any that seem to crop up here and there, there’s still some goodness left in the world. That much is clear from the robots who want to do their best to shield Sara from harm. But when Sara finds there may be more humans left, how will her world and the way she views it change?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Though the bright and cheery coloring won’t bring gritty series like BLAME! to mind, parallels can certainly be drawn to the way that humanity has been all but eliminated in both shows. Though the malicious Safeguard AI is responsible for the downfall of humans in BLAME!, the bleak outlook for those left to struggle is very much the same.

Our Take: After farmer robots A37 and E92, take in the infant Sara, despite being woefully ill-equipped for doing so, Eden kicks off as a tale that follows the young girl’s growth over the years as she develops into an intelligent and curious young woman. We see humanity’s impact on the Earth’s environment and the downfall of the pale blue dot we call home. The world, with only robots at its helm, is doing just fine on its own. Sara’s robot parents work to keep her safe from the tyrannical Zero, all the while Sara continues to deal with life as one of the only humans on a planet without her own kind. We’ve seen stories like this one before, but Eden imbues a sense of warmth and excitement not often noted in similar media. There’s still a thread of hope for Sara (and even humanity) as you watch the robots’ interactions and get to know each individual player. There’s reason to believe there’s a bright light at the end of the bleak tunnel, even though most of humanity is long gone.

Sex and Skin: None here.

Parting Shot: Sara works to communicate with others as the realization sets in that there’s someone in Eden Three, but she has no idea who it might be. We have a glimpse of exactly who it is (Zero) and upon seeing such, the episode fades out. And it seems the future is grim, for the time being…

Sleeper Star: Zero is the machine dictator of Eden Three, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, and he’s satisfyingly terrifying and intimidating. Resembling something out of a Western fantasy series or a space death knight, he commands a certain awe if you find yourself in his presence, and he steals the scenes he’s in. Simply looking at Zero might make any surviving human a little uncomfortable.

Most Pilot-y Line: One of the most pilot-centric lines actually comes at the tail end of the first episode, where Sara happens upon a device that beckons visitors to come to Eden Three. “There’s someone in Eden Three…but who?” Sara wonders aloud. It should be cause for celebration, but we know that it’s the vehicle for Zero to track down the human “threat” so it can be removed.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Eden is a bright, warm, and colorful depiction of a dystopian future where humans have all but disappeared. It’s disarmingly cheerful, even when dealing with some particularly bleak subject matter. For anyone looking for a quick watch that deals in heady subject matter, sci-fi tropes, and great-looking robots, good and bad, Eden is absolutely worth a look.

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over a decade for publications like G4, Popular Science, Playboy, Variety, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, GameSpot, and more. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s collecting retro consoles and tech. Follow her on Twitter: @MolotovCupcake.

Watch Eden on Netflix