Murderbot: FreeCommerce

"Stay calm. It will be okay. You have my word."

I had planned to review the first and second episodes together, but I had too much to say about the first one. So I'll try to get my review of episode two up tomorrow or Monday.

This thirty-minute pilot includes a tremendous amount of exposition. Of course, we're being introduced to an entirely new universe as well as a completely different type of being as the lead in our story. Fortunately, nearly all of this exposition was delivered by Alexander Skarsgård, who is very good at this sort of thing.

We begin at Mining Station Aratake on the Corporation Rim as a Security Unit (Skarsgård), a cybernetic being, is wrapping up its security job. The miners it was protecting think it's fun to torture the SecUnit and vomit all over its feet. In turn, the SecUnit thinks humans are assholes, and certainly, these people are indeed assholes. It is most likely desperation at its circumstances that pushes it to hack its own "Governor Module" and attain free will, and secretly name itself "Murderbot."

So does it run away and be free? No. Murderbot has few options. It has little choice but to continue working for the Company that owns it. If it went rogue (does this happen a lot?), its human components would be dissolved in acid and its metal components broken down for parts.

But Murderbot's circumstances change, big time. At Port FreeCommerce (see episode title), Murderbot is rented by a whole new group of people from Preservation Alliance for a job on Mining Survey OQ17Z4Y. When the Corporation goons try to upsell these hippie scientists an expensive SecUnit, Mensah, their leader, brings up enslavement and instead buys a cheaper model that is being phased out, i.e., Murderbot. The scientists have a group hug and ohmm together before buying it. Later, they paint designs all over their habitat and dance around the campfire. Okay, they're hippies, we get it.

The Corporation is lying to them, and they clearly don't realize the danger. And voila – Bharadwaj and Arada are attacked by a big, unexpected worm monster (could that be a petite, or indeed enormous, homage to Dune?) Murderbot warned them twice to leave the area. Why wouldn't they listen to it?

Physically, Murderbot is a superhero, as we see it flying around planets in the credits. Here, it jumped down an enormous hillside to rescue Bharadwaj and Arada, got swallowed by the worm monster and burned its way out, and then picked up the injured Bharadwaj to carry her to safely while talking down Arada, who was in shock. It did just what EMTs in medical shows do (Med Center Argala), taking off its helmet and getting her to talk, all while ignoring the massive hole in its human-appearing torso.

But when this literally wins it applause, Murderbot is confused and is socially inept. It cannot make eye contact and watches everyone through the ship sensors. Why is it different with these hippie scientists? Is it because Murderbot never encountered decent humans before? Murderbot asks itself, "Was I trying to get caught?" Is it seeing these humans as possible allies and acting out subconsciously? (Does it have a subconscious?) Mensah plays into this by telling Murderbot to grab one of the crew uniforms to wear to a crew meeting. Ratthi calls Murderbot a "handsome fella." Mensah thanks it for saving their lives and they all clap. This has clearly never happened to Murderbot before.

And yet, let's add to the confusion. There's seven seconds of a fragment of memory from before Murderbot was refurbished, a memory of Murderbot killing people. What happened? And could it happen again? For that matter, why did it name itself "Murderbot"?

I was going to talk about the cast next, but Murderbot did it for me, much better than I could have done:

"Arada, the biologist, was married to Pin-Lee, the lawyer. And Arada had a thing for Ratthi, who was an expert on wormhole travel and who made his own jewelry. But Ratthi didn't realize, because Ratthi had a thing for Pin-Lee. Judging from their pulse rates, they were contemplating sexual activity. Horrible. Everyone admired Mensah, the head of the expedition and an expert on terraforming. She had about five million children. Okay, seven. Gurathin was an augmented human. He had implants that modified his neural capacities and allowed him to interface with data systems. I mean, he obviously couldn't process as fast as me. So you know, whatever. And Bharadwaj was a geochemist who was secretly hoarding soap in her room."

Hoarding soap in her room?

For me, the standouts here were Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), the character I remember the best from the books (other than Murderbot itself), and Gurathin, an enhanced human that isn't treated at all like SecUnits are, but who comes across as more robotic than Murderbot. Mensah is having panic attacks about their situation, while Gurathin is paranoid and already fixated on the possibility that Murderbot is malfunctioning, just like the rogue bots in the entertainment feeds.

And of course, that's the other big part of the story: Murderbot's addiction to space operas. "I had watched 7,532 hours of content since then. Shows like World Hoppers, Med Center Argala, and my all-time favorite, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon."

Which is very Star Trek-y. John Cho plays the the ship captain. Clark Gregg in that get-up with the wild facial hair made me laugh out loud. Its catch-phrase is "Boldness is all." and Murderbot takes that one to heart. The fiction of this universe apparently makes heavy use of "rogue bots" which is of course what Murderbot is. The captain and the navigation bot are having an affair. No wonder Murderbot finds this particular show fascinating.

So far, so good. So what's wrong with Murderbot?

I read the book series awhile back, and my first impression was that the show is too superficial and they're leaning way too much into the funny. Yes, Murderbot's internal monologue in particular is funny. But that is so not what the heart of the books is about and I think it threw me a bit.

Mensah mentioned enslavement, and that is a huge, unacknowledged-as-yet part of what is going on here. Murderbot is clearly an intelligent human-like being whose "Governor Module" kept it enslaved, forced to follow orders or be destroyed. What was done to it, and all creatures like it, is horrifying. But hey, episode one. I'm ready to give it time.

Although honestly, casting Alexander Skarsgård also felt wrong, even as much as I love him, and seven seasons of playing my favorite vampire on True Blood involved much love on my part. But Murderbot is genderless. Skarsgård, even with the uncomfortably revealed Ken doll genitals, never appears genderless. He is the epitome of tall, handsome and masculine.

At the same time, having Skarsgård on this project as the lead and as an executive producer is no small get. Not many actors could handle the constant narration and make the character so appealing. I'm probably watching it in the first place because it's Skarsgård.

It also feels weird that the episodes are only half an hour long.

Bits:

How far into the future is this? No way to tell. Not that important.

Murderbot is genderless, so I am using "it." Should I use "they"? I always find it confusing because "they" suggests plural, more than one being. I'm open to suggestions.

Quotes:

Murderbot: "What should I call myself? 'Security Unit 238776431' just doesn't have the right ring to it. How about 'Freedom Unit'? Or 'Rogue Bot'? No, that sucks. Maybe... 'Murderbot'? Murderbot. All right. Let the adventure begin."

Murderbot: "Planetary communes, or freeholds, generally meant ‘shit show'."

Murderbot: "'The equipment doesn't matter'? That's a new one. I'd had plenty of clients who would gladly sacrifice a life for some expensive equipment. Of course, I myself was an expensive piece of equipment. How long would it be until they realized there was something wrong with me?"

Ratthi: "I didn't know it had a face."
Arada: "Yeah. It's kind of a sweet face."
Ratthi: "Yeah, it kind of is."
Gurathin: "Ugh."

Murderbot: "Which is worse? Speech, or acid bath? (weighting it) Speech. Acid bath."

So I don't quite know where I stand on Murderbot yet, as you can probably tell. But I'll definitely give it a season to sell itself to me. What did you all think?

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.