The hero of "Murderbot" is a protagonist after my own heart. They're a corporately manufactured humanoid cyborg known as a Security Unit, or SecUnit, who has hacked their free will-suppressing governor module, and gone rogue. Except this particular SecUnit, who thinks of themselves as Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgaard), doesn't have any interest in running amok. They just want to be left alone to watch their favorite shows, like the goofy sci-fi soap opera "The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon." Also, they understand that the best way to keep themselves in one piece is to pretend that nothing is wrong, and just keep doing their job as security for hire.
Based on the book series by Martha Wells, "Murderbot" is everything you could want in a science-fiction comedy. While Murderbot is busy keeping their latest batch of human clients alive, we get to hear their internal running commentary, mostly bemoaning the stupid decisions these stupid people keep making. However, it turns out that the newest humans that Murderbot has been assigned to are actually pretty decent. The Preservation Alliance survey team, led by Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), only leases Murderbot because it's an insurance requirement for their scientific expedition to an alien world. Other members of the team include the augmented human Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), and regular human scientists Pin-Lee (Sabrina Wu), Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski), and Arada (Tattiawna Jones). They're a very inclusive and sensitive bunch, and Murderbot finds some of their behavior deeply embarrassing.
Murderbot is very autistic-coded, having trouble making eye contact and prone to fixating on media. They also prefer to be in full armor and helmet, hiding their human face so they don't have to interact directly with other people. While they're great at being a SecUnit - fighting off the usual science-fiction threats like alien critters and other rogue bots - they find making friends and meaningful connections to be a much tougher challenge. While most of the show is very silly, having that thread of Murderbot figuring out how to relate to their human clients, while not ever wanting to become a "real boy," grounds it nicely. Skarsgaard's performance is the key here. It would have been easy to make Murderderbot quippy and sardonic, like a cyborg Deadpool. Instead, while Murderbot is deadpan and cynical, they're also deeply anxious about being exposed and keen to avoid uncomfortable situations. With their helmet off and the guns put away, Murderbot is awkward and dorky and instantly relatable.
The show's creators, Chris and Paul Weitz, have ensured that "Murderbot" looks great, taking place in science-fiction environments on par with what you'd see in any of the "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" shows. The way this universe works is closer to "Alien" or "Blade Runner," however, with dystopian corporate overloads running everything, and Murderbot largely treated like a piece of inventory despite being sentient. The human characters are broader than they probably should be - terrible at survival, inappropriately emotional, and exuding a lot of weirdo hippie vibes at first (the attempted nicknames are priceless). However, "Murderbot" is leaning into the comedy, which is why the episodes are only half an hour apiece and Murderbot is obsessed with the hyper-exaggerated cheesefest of "Sanctuary Moon," which is an out-and-out "Star Trek" parody in the best way.
At ten episodes, the first season of "Murderbot" is probably a few installments too long. You can definitely see where it's trying to stretch out its source material, and setting up future events that might not ever pay off. There are also some understandable kinks to work out with the tone and the pacing, but I thought that these were mostly resolved by the end of the season. I'm glad to know that we'll be getting more "Murderbot" in the future, so that the show can continue to improve. I've read ahead far enough to know that the show got the important things right, and it has a good foundation for wherever it wants to go next.
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