Security Unit 238776431 is the property of the Company, a powerful mega-conglomerate located in the galaxy’s Corporation Rim. Programmed to serve, the heavily armed robot soldier does not love its job. “I was built to obey humans,” explains SecUnit (Alexander Skarsgård) in the series premiere of Murderbot. “But humans… well, they’re assholes.”
Unbeknownst to its owners, however, this SecUnit — a misanthropic robot in the vein of Marvin the Paranoid Android (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and Bender (Futurama) — just hacked its “governor module,” freeing itself from techno-slavery. Though it could kill its human captors and set off on its own, SecUnit does not want to risk discovery as a “rogue” bot, which would result in being stripped for parts and melted in an acid bath. Choosing instead to bide its time, the SecUnit — which decides to rename itself Murderbot — reluctantly joins its next assignment: Working for a team of researchers from Preservation Alliance, a distant planet that rejects the Corporation Rim’s harsh laws and embraces an egalitarian form of government. Murderbot resigns itself to protecting these “hippie scientists,” though all it really wants to do is watch entertainment “content” downloaded from the Company’s satellite feed.
Murderbot, adapted by Chris and Paul Weitz (About a Boy) from Martha Wells’ popular book series, has a hilarious premise, an admirable cast, and a lavish, Apple TV+ budget. It also has a real pacing problem; the first half of the 10-episode season is puzzlingly light on plot momentum and laughs. While the action, characters, and comedy do ultimately gel by the end, viewers will likely have to wait for a season 2 to see Murderbot reach its killer potential.
Apple TV+
Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, Sabrina Wu, David Dastmalchian, Noma Dumezweni and Tamara Podemski on ‘Murderbot’
Preservation Alliance leader Dr. Ayda Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) and her team of scientists — Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski), Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), Arada (Tattiawna Jones), and her wife, Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu) — embark on a research expedition to an uninhabited planet with Murderbot in tow. (Though Mensah says her team is “not comfortable with the idea of a sentient construct being required to work for us,” the Company will not provide insurance for their research project unless the team takes security.) Murderbot has little interest in Mensah and her “weird” crew. Still, it easily homes in on the team’s subtle interpersonal dynamics, as when its pulse-rate monitor identifies a love triangle between Pin-Lee, Ratthi, and Arada. It also quickly realizes that Dr. Gurathin, an “augmented human” whose brain can perform some computer functions, suspects that it might be rogue.
The unit keeps one “eye” on the scientists, and the other on its favorite soap opera, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, which features a romance between a dashing captain (John Cho) and a beautiful Navigation Bot (DeWanda Wise). But when Mensah discovers that another research team on the planet has been killed by unknown assailants, Murderbot is forced to engage with its “helpless and useless” clients.
It may be a (literally) heartless machine, but Murderbot shares more in common with its clients than it’s willing to admit. Like many humans, it is uncomfortable with sustained eye contact; it would rather take an acid bath than give a speech; and it prefers the company of TV characters to real people. Also, its coworkers drive it up a wall. Unfortunately, the Planetary Alliance gang insist on treating Murderbot like one of the team, inviting it to ride in their transport vehicle (instead of the cargo bay, where SecUnits usually travel) and giving it a crew uniform to wear when its armor is damaged.
Murderbot’s struggle to accept being embraced — figuratively and literally — by its human clients, who insist on valuing its input and individuality, is the show’s comedic engine. When Murderbot gets really desperate, it searches Sanctuary Moon and other TV shows for examples of small talk (“Tell me, Dr. Arada, what planet are you from originally?”), which it mimics with comical discomfort. For nearly five episodes, though, the Weitz brothers stall their lead character’s development by relegating its emotional turmoil to excessive voiceovers. Murderbot’s inner monologue can be funny (“I don’t have a stomach so I can’t throw up, but if I did, I would”), but it also keeps the story in a holding pattern: Mensah and her team try to connect with Murderbot; it stonewalls them while stewing over how annoying they are; repeat.
Apple TV+
Alexander Skarsgård on ‘Murderbot’
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The debut season of Murderbot is based on the first book in Wells’ series, All Systems Red, which clocks in at about 150 pages. I mention this because the Apple TV+ adaptation suffers from “season-long pilot” syndrome — a common malady in which a new streaming series spends much of its initial 8 to 10 episodes restating its premise. The Weitz brothers, credited as the series’ sole writers, hew close to Wells’ source material for their adaptation, but there simply isn’t enough story to fill 10 episodes, even at around 25 minutes each. As a result, the season is nearly half over before Murderbot’s dynamic with its team, and the ongoing mystery about the slaughtered researchers, really start to develop.
When Murderbot finally starts voicing its annoyance to Mensah and the team, the series gets a lot more entertaining. “I wish I didn’t have to, but of course I can hear you,” grouses SecUnit, after Pin-Lee complains about its eavesdropping. “I’m a highly advanced piece of technology.” Skarsgård, a stealth comedic presence in Succession, also puts his Nordic reserve to good use as Murderbot. The actor enhances his character’s long inner monologues with his eloquent ice-blue eyes, which can convey emotions ranging from disdain and discomfiture to despair and devotion. Dumezweni makes Mensah believable as both a thoughtful leader and an overly anxious empath prone to panic attacks. And Pen15’s Anna Konkle drops in for an amusing turn as Leebeebee, a survivor from the other research team who can’t stop speculating about Murderbot’s anatomy.
Viewers who stick with Murderbot will be rewarded with a moving finale, one that solidifies the characters’ relationship with SecUnit and seems to set up the story from Wells’ second book, 2018’s Artificial Condition. Apple TV+ has yet to announce a renewal, but the streamer isn’t opposed to giving expensive sci-fi series multiple seasons, so it’s not unreasonable to believe that Skarsgård’s restless robot will be back. Now that Murderbot finally found its voice, it deserves a chance to use it. Grade: B-
The first two episodes of Murderbot premiere Friday, May 16 on Apple TV+.
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